KPI (Key Performance Indicators) vs. Objectives

[samsung]

Interestingly, OSHAS 18001 requires an organization to commit itself to the prevention of injury and ill health in a policy. If an organization commits to prevention of injury, by default, it commits to prevention of accidents.

You may consider it (prevention of accidents) 'by default', but I don't. Even if I accept it as implied, where does it point to making a commitment for 'zero accidents'. Had it been so pressing, OHSAS must have unambiguously mentioned it at the first place. The term 'prevention' is very thoughtfully & uniformly applied not only in H&S but also in environmental matters throughout the world and can never equate 'elimination' or shouldn't be misinterpreted so.

A thunderstorm, by definition of OHSAS, is an incident (accident) but beyond one's control. If it's an occasional feature, how can an organization commit to 'prevention of accidents'. It can't postpone arrival of thunderstorms but it has to prevent the injuries or ill health that might be caused to its' people from this 'incident' because it has committed in it's policy to do so.

As I said before, in the Q world, when one commits to customer satisfaction, they don't naively think that 100% of customers will be happy all the time.

Customer satisfaction is not an event like accidents/ incidents and hence isn't analogous & relevant to the current discussion. One dissatisfied customer can't be equated with an injured person. I had already mentioned an environmental analogy that fits rather well in this scenario.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

A thunderstorm, by definition of OHSAS, is an incident (accident) but beyond one's control.

I never heard that before. When I interpret the OHSAS definition

incident:
work-related event(s) in which an injury or ill health (3.8) (regardless of severity) or fatality occurred, or could have occurred
NOTE 1 An accident is an incident which has given rise to injury, ill health or fatality.
NOTE 2 An incident where no injury, ill health, or fatality occurs may also be referred to as a “near-miss”, “near-hit”, “close call” or “dangerous occurrence”.
NOTE 3 An emergency situation (see 4.4.7) is a particular type of incident.

I would be hard pressed to classify a thunderstorm as an incident. A thunderstorm in itself is not even an emergency. I don't consider a thunderstorm a work-related event. Certainly a storm can create hazards that need to be dealt with, but in itself, I would not agree a storm is an incident, according to the OHSAS definition.

 

[samsung]

I never heard that before. When I interpret the OHSAS definition I would be hard pressed to classify a thunderstorm as an incident. A thunderstorm in itself is not even an emergency. I don't consider a thunderstorm a work-related event. Certainly a storm can create hazards that need to be dealt with, but in itself, I would not agree a storm is an incident, according to the OHSAS definition.

A thunderstorm, sudden outburst of clouds (as recently happened in Leh, kashmir resulting in heavy downpour within a short span claiming hundreds of lives), earthquakes, sabotage, communal riots, terrorist attack, flood, severe droughts, release of dangerous or toxic chemicals/ fumes/ emissions from a nearby factory etc. are Emergency situations which OHSAS recognizes as incidents. If they aren't emergency situations (aka incidents), how would you define them since you are obliged to address them under 4.3.1 & 4.4.7 ?

All such 'accidents' aren't under organization's control but still the organization is obliged to take 'reasonable and practicable' measures to prevent it's employees from injuries and ill health resulting from these disasters.

I think we are missing something somewhere but the authors of OHSAS didn't. They were well aware of the fact that most accidents are beyond human control and that's perhaps why OHSAS nowhere specifies requirements for controlling hazards (source, situation or act and an accident is one of them). OHSAS specifies requirements only for controlling RISK (injury, ill health are risks). Throughout the standard, it only talks of controlling RISKS (of hazards).

Scope
This Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) Standard specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system, to enable an organization to control its OH&S risks and improve its OH&S performance.

Still if you think that the target of 'zero accidents' is valid and worth pursuing, it atleast needs to be 'technically' amended as 'zero injuries/ zero instances of ill health'. Still I don't favour setting a target of 'zero injuries/ill health'.

 

[engr.post]

/ for us on the important things to at least consider.
putting it a different way samsung could you explain your present position in this thread with respect to the terms KPI, objective, goal and target. Please any important connections and deal with the relation of past, present and future time.

If possible, not necessarily but perhaps it will help to confound less, could a considered opinion be offered outside of the context of safety.

best

 

[samsung]

/ for us on the important things to at least consider.
putting it a different way samsung could you explain your present position in this thread with respect to the terms KPI, objective, goal and target. Please any important connections and deal with the relation of past, present and future time.

If possible, not necessarily but perhaps it will help to confound less, could a considered opinion be offered outside of the context of safety.

best

Infact I don't understand what you mean by 'present position in this thread' ! How can I comment upon my own position; others should do it.

Now as for the KPI, Objective, Goal etc., do you want me to explain how I look at these things ? if it's that, I exactly follow what OHSAS has specified in 18001 standard:

OH&S objective: OH&S goal, in terms of OH&S performance, that an organization sets itself to achieve.
NOTE 2 4.3.3 requires that OH&S objectives are consistent with the OH&S policy.

The above definition is self explanatory. If your policy commits for 'prevention of injury', your objective should tell what you are going to do in order to prevent the injuries. You shouldn't be aiming for what your management hasn't committed to.

Let's see how OHSAS looks at the OHS performance,

OH&S performance
measurable results of an organization’s management of its OH&S risks that includes measuring the effectiveness of the organization’s controls.

Again it is simple & straightforward. You have to demonstrate whether or not were you able to keep the risks under control, i.e.; below the acceptable level which the organization itself decides based on it's policy commitments and legal obligations.

As for KPI, it's already discussed. It's a measurable parameter by which you track the progress towards the goal.

As examples of objectives & goal, I would simply quote what we have set for the current year:
1. a) Noise mapping of the entire power plant premises to spot the high noise areas (>90 dB level) by Oct'10.
b) Implementing engineering controls at atleast 50% of the equipment falling beyond 90 dB noise levels by Jan'11. As an interim measure, people's exposure to noise will be controlled by monitoring their exposure time.
c) Comprehensive Noise level survey followed with noise dosimetry to evaluate the effectiveness of controls at the end of March'11.

2. a) Complete phase out of all asbestos products/ appliances by the end of Dec'10. b) Complete ban on new item procurement. This will be achieved by:
(i) providing necessary information to all users regarding available substitutes
(ii) Blocking the asbestos item codes in SAP-MM to prevent generation of Purchase Request at the first place
(iii) Collection and disposal of old/ used items as per procedure & guidance laid down in WI/23-19, 5.0,

3. Comprehensive Safety Audit of the entire premises including mining lease area & contractors' sites by an agency of international repute to spot the underlying system deficiencies and areas of improvement by Dec'10.
a) Vendor engagement - June'10 b) Formation of core team to assist the Audit team - June'10 c) 4 rounds of audit during July'10 to Oct'10 d) Discussion of findings with area managers/ HODs - Nov'10 e) Final discussion with top management - Dec'10 f) Preparation of action plans & implementation of findings - No deadline, will depend on the nature of findings.

There is a list of 10 goals that we set to achieve. Additionally there's a long list of goals set by various departments, safety stewards & safety committees.

Is this what you wanted to know ?

 

[engr.post]

Samsung, that's supertastic. A lot of work and thought has/is obviously been put towards safety performance and undoubtedly has benefitted from your energies. There is no dispute from me on that.

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That added and aside, have we missed anything? And would we know?

For those charmed by a protagonist's certainty on everything I would also recommend recourse to Standard(s). Again, within Standards there are terms not defined, ideas and words open to different interpretations. Agree, Guidelines or parts for the Standard can often assist. Though, Standards are a business so they often refer to other products and Standards. In those cases good posts, threads, forums can help.

Similarly when any-body (human or institution) tells us emphatically that such and such is self-explanatory, simple, obvious and correct be extremely skeptical. Sheer weight of text/prose and passion offer no guarantee of quality. Neither does experience, title, few words or impassionate response, to name a few. Resorting to communication that's been logically developed can help. Brief reviews of where we're at is also helpful amongst other techniques.

Personally I try to avoid personifying debates directly but it is difficult to draw such a distinction when using language and attacking arguments (or lines of argument) coming from a source. But, I see nothing necessarily wrong or alien in receiving attack during debate.

In concluding, Agree, KPI(s) are tracking or measuring the progression - and it appears in the context of the Standard/18001 - good for this term OH&S goal(s), eventually KPIs being used to assess achievement of these goals. Moreover, these goals are (always) also known as OH&S objectives (and so consistent with OH&S policy).

Incidently, what happened to the term 'target'? Could it be that ..dare I say.."zero accidents"?

very best

 

[samsung]

Incidently, what happened to the term 'target'? Could it be that ..dare I say.."zero accidents"?
very best

Thanks for your nice comments. As to the 'targets', the subject has been discussed at length in the thread "Why OHSAS 18001:2007 makes no reference to 'targets'".

 

[engr.post]

No problem, thank you I'll have brief read of that thread.

best

 

[andreww]

KPI is performance indicator. Organization use KPI to measure performance.
Objective is a goal.
To achieve objective/goal, organization have to deploy objective into tasks, then use KPI to measure performance when performing tasks.

 

[DrupatThakur]

Re: KPI vs objectives

Hello Jane,
Some organizations talk about unrealistic objectives like zero accidents (objectives), but looking at it more objectively one can set objectives in terms of KPI, which for example in the construction industry are factors such as LTIF or TRCF.
An example could be accident- free operation for over 20,000 hrs.