Barriers to implementing safety and health benchmarking exercises

Health Benchmarking

Discuss barriers to health and safety benchmarking

Barriers to carrying out a safety health bench marking exercise

"Health and safety benchmarking is a planned process by which an organization compares its health and safety processes and performance with others to learn how to: reduce accidents and ill-health; improve compliance with health and safety law; and/or cut compliance costs" (Health and safety benchmarking: Improving together, 1999, HSE: 1). Just like assessing one's competitors is an important component of improving productivity and quality standards, it is also important that the company gain a sense of 'where it is' in relation to the industry as a whole in terms of safety compliance.

However, there is often organizational resistance to carrying out such exercises. First and foremost, it must be understood that "benchmarking is not just about comparing data or copying your competitors. Benchmarking is more about continuously learning from others, learning more about your organization's strengths and weaknesses in the process, and then acting on the lessons learned" (Health and safety benchmarking: Improving together, 1999, HSE:1). Although there may be fears that the company may fall short in relation to its competitors, the true fear should be that the company is not seeking to continuously improve its processes.

Health and safety benchmarking can result in lower costs for the company. A company that cares about its employees is more likely to attract talented workers. "Savings can come, for example, from reduced insurance premiums, increased productivity and reduced staff turnover" (Health and safety benchmarking: Improving together, 1999, HSE: 1). To show the value of health and safety benchmarking, and to identify critical areas of need, the company should continually engage in safety audits, collecting the data required for more extensive periodic benchmarking exercises. "Performance data (accident and ill-health statistics, percentage of risk assessments completed etc.) give an indication of where priorities may be" (Health and safety benchmarking: Improving together, 1999, HSE: 2). Continuous data collection helps silence critics by showing where needed reforms must be made. It is easier to overcome resistance when there is clear, consistent evidence that personnel are less safe than in previous years or the company is performing below accepted industry standards and reforms are required.

Another barrier which firms occasionally encounter is the question of who should perform the benchmarking. At larger firms, there may already be personnel in place who have the responsibility for this exercise. At smaller firms, there may be a debate as to whether internal or external entities should be responsible. Both have advantages and disadvantages. In the case of internal safety audits, it may be easier to get critical personnel 'on board' and there may be less disagreement because the data is presented by insiders. It "can help improve communication" and is often cheaper because of the ease of obtaining the data (Health and safety benchmarking: Improving together, 1999, HSE: 6). However, using an external organization may give the company the ability to compare their standards with competitors in a cross-industry fashion and bring a more objective eye to the process