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, safety culture and OHS 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
Impact case study
Saskatchewan’s construction safety group uses IWH tool to improve safety culture
This case study details how the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association (SCSA) members have been analyzing IWH-OPM scores to adjust their safety practices and how SCSA has been using the data to tailor their outreach.
Published: February 10, 2025
Impact case study
Saskatchewan’s construction safety group uses IWH’s safety culture tool to measure OHS among member employers
Needing a tool to measure the OHS performance of its members firms, the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association turned to the Institute's easy-to-use, eight-item IWH-OPM.
Published: November 25, 2022
IWH in the media
New tools to help businesses improve occupational health and safety performance
An OHS research project aims to make leading indicator information a key part of decision-making through the development of two new technological tools: an app and a dashboard.
Published: Every Worker, March 2015
Impact case study
Leading indicators and benchmarking key to growing success for property management company
Brookfield Johnson Controls turns to the IWH-OPM after deciding to shift focus away from lagging indicators.
Published: December 2014
At Work article
IWH eight-item questionnaire may predict future claims rates
The IWH-OPM, developed as part of the Institute’s leading indicators research, found to predict future claims rates in a sample of Ontario firms
Published: August 2014
At Work article
Ontario firm uses OLIP to track health and safety in suppliers
Real estate services company shares story of how it puts leading indicators to use
Published: August 2014
Impact case study
WorkSafeNB adopts IWH’s tool to benchmark health and safety
Institute expertise tapped to evaluate agency's safety perception tool--and to provide a better alternative.
Published: June 2014
At Work article
At Work article
Leading indicators project tests five tools for ability to predict injury claims
With help from 1,800 Ontario employers, IWH team probes workplace factors for link to future claims
Published: November 2013
Issue Briefing
Developing leading indicators of work injury and illness
Leading indicators have the potential to help identify factors affecting the risk of injury, allowing workplaces to address these factors before injuries occur. This Issue Briefing looks at efforts to date to identify OHS leading indicators and the challenges involved.
Published: October 2013
At Work article
At Work article
New Brunswick’s WorkSafeNB adopts IWH’s safety culture yardstick
Institute of Work & Health’s Organizational Performance Metric chosen after study shows firms’ scores on eight-item questionnaire correlate with claims rates
Published: July 2013
Project report
Project report
Assessment of the utility of WorkSafeNB's Internal Responsibility System Questionnaire and IWH's Organizational Performance Metric: public report
In 2010, WorkSafeNB asked the Institute for Work and Health (IWH) to assess its Internal Responsibility System Questionnaire (IRSQ), a survey tool it had developed to measure safety culture within an organization. As part of its assessment, IWH compared the IRSQ with another previously validated tool designed to measure leading indicators, called the IWH Organizational Performance Metric (IWH-OPM). This document reports on the assessment of these two tools.
Published: July 2013
At Work article
At Work article
Leading indicators may pinpoint positive differences in OHS practices
The Institute for Work & Health is currently conducting a number of studies that may provide important insights on “leading indicators.” The results from these studies will support efforts to improve the way Ontario firms manage their occupational health and safety programs.
Published: February 2011