Evaluation and measurement comes at the end of our injury prevention framework, but it’s really the beginning, middle, end (and everything else in between) of your MSD prevention process.

Measurement is important because if you’re going to be putting time and effort into the MSD prevention process, you need to make sure you’re getting results. You also want to optimize the process and get the most out of it.

Using effective health and safety metrics isn’t always easy. We’ve written before about the difficulty of using impactful leading and lagging indicators of safety performance.

So first, we need to establish the fundamentals. We need to make sure we’re tracking what is important and using that information to continuously improve the process and prove its overall value.

Measurement Fundamentals

Measuring each part of the process is important for two main reasons.

1. Continuous improvement opportunities. You’ll be able to use the data you collect to drive continuous improvement. Using both leading and lagging indicators, you’ll be able to put the data together to get an idea of where the most risk lies. This will inform your priorities in the coming months.

2. Proving value. Measuring results will allow you to prove the value of the process and garner more support for it, creating a positive snowball effect.  Over time, you should see major reductions in injuries, severity of injuries, lost-time days, workers compensation costs and many other lagging OHS metrics.

So what should you measure and when should you report the results?

We recommend a monthly report and an annual audit of the entire process. Let’s go over each.

Monthly Report

The monthly report is a snapshot of the progress made over the course of the month. It should include:

• Early intervention. Track the total number of new early reports, early reports that resolved with no injury and reports that ended in an injury.
• Education. Track the number of formal education sessions for that month. Include management training, supervisor training, engineer training and group team member training sessions.
• Ergonomics. Track the number of ergonomic opportunities identified and ergonomic improvements made.

Annual Audit

The annual audit should review the results over the past year and check to make sure each element of the MSD prevention process is in place and working effectively.

For example …

• Establishment: Have injury / illness logs and workers compensation records been reviewed to prioritize and develop a game plan for the MSD prevention process and document reduction goals related to MSD cases, MIR, lost/restricted workdays and costs?
• Education: Have employees received formal and 1-on-1 follow up training? Do they understand basic ergonomic principles and good work practices?
• Early Intervention: Do employees have a clear way to report fatigue and discomfort before it requires medical attention? Do you have a prevention specialist on your team to proactively assist employees with a self-care program?
• Ergonomics: Have you developed a prioritized list of jobs for analysis? Is there a schedule and tracking process for control measures?
• Evaluation: Is an annual self-assessment of each element of the MSD prevention process conducted and the results documented?
• Results: Have reduction goals for MSD cases, lost / restricted workdays, MIR and costs been achieved?

This is just a sampling of the annual audit. The full audit contains over forty questions similar to those above.

Measurement templates are coming soon …

This is how we measure and evaluate our process for our clients. If you’d be interested in reporting templates with these exact metrics included, sign up for the Ergonomics Plus monthly newsletter and you’ll be the first to know when they arrive.

See you next week!