Organizational safety and health
What is meant by a leading indicator? Discuss the potential benefits of utilizing leading indicators in a safety program, including specific examples of how they are could be applied to a process of your choice.
While there may be many metrics of measuring accident prevalence and safety matters in an organization, leading indicators are the most effective, especially considering that the modern organization are concerned about predicting and establishing foreseeable trends for purposes of mitigating chances of occurrence (Toellner, 2001). Leading factors can be described as all those metrics associated with measurable or quantifiable individual behaviors or systems associated with prevalence of accidents. Leading indicators are employed in measuring; managing and reporting incidences associated with health and safety. With leading indicators, it is possible for an organization to carry out controlling because they can set goals which can be evaluated against the actual performance such as reduction in the number of cases.
There are quite a number of benefits that can be associated with using leading indicators in an organization. Perhaps the most noteworthy benefit is the fact that using the leading indicators can enable an organization’s safety management team predicts the occurrence of an incident (Franklin, 2013). This way, they are in a better position to put measures in place, which can help reduce such incidences. This is because with leading indicators, the main activity is the collection and analysis of data. The second benefit of using such indicators is the actuality that they can help an organization maximize the utility of both resources and time.
There are many processes of mitigating safety issues in an organization. Such processes can gain a lot from employing leading indicators. For instance if I were to manage a chemical manufacturing laboratory, I would employ a comprehensive process where the data on matters of safety would be collected continually for analysis. As a way of using leading indicators, I would ensure to have supervisors performing walkthroughs, safety auditors collecting information and helping identify the best behaviors, as well as a system of reporting where employees would channel their concerns (Toellner, 2001). In this process, the information from the audit, the supervisors and the employees would help my department come up with a clear analysis and curve connecting leading indicators to the number of accidents, for purposes of predicting.
A position for a safety professional has become available in your facility, and you would like to see it filled by a graduate from an ABET accredited safety program. Your supervisor is unfamiliar with ABET and does not initially support your request, but does ask for more information. Describe for your supervisor what ABET accreditation actually is, and the benefits of hiring a graduate from an ABET accredited safety program.
ABET is neither a profit oriented nor a government sponsored organization. it is mainly concerned with the accreditation of programs falling under the wide umbrella of applied sciences, which include engineering, engineering technology, and computing in the united states. ABET accreditation is not ranking but is a strong, standardized and systemic form of assurance. The organization assures the entire stakeholder – both internal and external – that a university or a college program sufficiently meets the standards set by the profession with regard to quality (Patil & Gray, 2009). It is critical to note that there are two types of accreditation – institutional and specialized. For institutional accreditation, the accrediting bodies evaluate the entire institution as a whole, with specific emphasis on the potentiality of the institution to deliver quality instruction to the students of various programs. On the contrary, the specialized accreditation is concerned with the process through which an accrediting body evaluates a specific program in an institution against the quality standards of the profession.
According to experts, specialized accreditation is better than institutional since the later focuses more on resources and equipment of the institution. ABET concerns itself with specialized accreditation. Among the primary benefits of hiring a person from an accredited program is the fact that when accrediting programs, ABET focuses on such essential factors as the capacity of the graduates to lead innovation, apply advanced technology and safeguard the welfare of the society (Patil & Gray, 2009). Accreditation assures the employer and all other stakeholders that the candidate has a solid education and professional background that adequately prepares them for the task. Contrary to common misconception, a person from a program that is accredited in isolation is better off than a person from an accredited institution, by all objective means.
References
Franklin, T. N. (2013). The benefits of leading indicators and analytics. Safety + Health (May 1)
Patil, A. S., & Gray, P. (2009). Engineering education quality assurance: A global perspective. London: Springer.
Toellner, J. (2001). Improving Safety & Health Performance: Identifying and Measuring Leading Indicators. Professional safety. American Society of Safety Engineers
