Leading OHS indicators
Occupational health and safety (OHS) leading indicators are performance measures that help predict injuries and illnesses, allowing workplaces and system partners to gauge an organization’s health and safety climate, culture and performance before injuries and illnesses occur. Their opposite is lagging indicators such as injury and claims rates, which measure performance based on injuries and illnesses that have already occurred. IWH research focuses on finding and validating the measures that will accurately gauge the likelihood of an organization’s future OHS performance, as well as the best way to use leading indicators to prevent future work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths.
Featured
At Work article
What research can do: Manitoba’s WCB uses IWH research in update of RTW workshop
The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba updates its Return to Work Basics workshop with evidence-based content: the Institute's 'Seven Principles For Successful Return to Work.'
Published: February 24, 2023
At Work article
IWH tool comes out ahead in Australian study of OHS leading indicator tools
In an Australian study of five health and safety leading indicator tools around the world, a measure developed by IWH has come out ahead for its ability to pick up workers’ risk of reporting a physical injury or a near miss at work.
Published: February 7, 2023
At Work article
What research can do: Manitoba’s WCB uses IWH research in update of RTW workshop
The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba updates its Return to Work Basics workshop with evidence-based content: the Institute's 'Seven Principles For Successful Return to Work.'
Published: February 2023
At Work article
IWH tool comes out ahead in Australian study of OHS leading indicator tools
In an Australian study of five health and safety leading indicator tools around the world, a measure developed by IWH has come out ahead for its ability to pick up workers’ risk of reporting a physical injury or a near miss at work.
Published: February 2023
Impact case study
Saskatchewan’s construction safety group uses IWH’s safety culture tool to measure OHS among member employers
When the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association went looking for a tool to measure the OHS performance of its members firms, it turned to the Institute's easy-to-use, eight-item safety culture measure—the IWH-OPM.
Published: November 2022
At Work article
What research can do: Sector safety group helps members measure OHS with IWH safety culture tool
The IWH-OPM is an eight-item safety culture measure that has been used across Canada and beyond to help workplaces measure OHS performance. Among its most recent applications is its use by the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association, which is rolling it out, in several waves, to member firms.
Published: November 2022
Impact case study
WSIB includes Institute safety culture tool in Health and Safety Excellence Program
Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board made a modified version of an Institute safety culture tool called the IWH-OPM available to firms as a voluntary component of participating in its Health and Safety Excellence Program.
Published: March 2022
At Work article
Can an eight-item questionnaire pick up on real-world differences in OHS practice?
How well can a set of eight questions capture something as broad and multi-faceted as an organization’s OHS policies and practices? An IWH study examines practices and policies at organizations that had completed the IWH-OPM. It finds consistent patterns in how high- and medium-scorers approach OHS.
Published: February 2020
Journal article
Journal article
Utilizing construction safety leading and lagging indicators to measure project safety performance: a case study
Published: Safety Science, December 2019
At Work article
Construction safety association develops OHS assessment tool with IWH’s expertise
Building construction employers in Manitoba can now use an evidence-based online dashboard to assess their OHS performance—and see how it stacks up against those of industry peers—thanks to a collaboration between IWH and a sector safety association.
Published: July 2019
Research Highlights
How do OHS leaders use health and safety benchmarking?
Workplace health and safety leaders use benchmarking reports on health and safety performance to help inform decision-making and improve occupational health and safety performance. That's according to an interview-based study of OHS leaders who took part in an IWH leading indicators research project.
Published: July 2019
At Work article
What research can do: SAFE Work Manitoba incorporates IWH tool into safety culture framework
They had a five-year plan with initiatives related to building a culture of safety across Manitoba. But they were missing a definition of safety culture—and a way to measure it. That was when SAFE Work Manitoba turned to IWH expertise.
Published: February 2019