Safety performance measurement maturity in Finnish industrial companies

Abstract

Organizations typically have a lot of indicators for their safety performance. Nevertheless, the information is not always used efficiently, and the relationship between the indicators and safety outcomes is not clear. Maturity analysis can provide information on how safety performance measurement can be developed. The aim of this study was to analyse the level of safety performance measurement maturity in Finnish industrial companies. A maturity model for safety performance measurement was used to analyse the current level. Analysis was carried out with a survey (n = 172) addressed to four companies. A maturity matrix was drawn up based on the results. The results showed that the current measurement practices were rather advanced while the use of performance information and commitment to performance measurement were inefficient. Several more detailed development needs were identified. Managerial support and employee commitment related to performance measurement and utilization of performance information (e.g. in planning safety procedures) were found to link positively to safety performance while performance measurement practices (e.g. scope of measures and supportive information systems) did not have this link. In the future, the links between performance measurement and management practices and safety performance should be studied in more detail. Also a further qualitative study can extend the explanations related to the results of this study.