Safety Performance Metrics
The prompt
Define safety performance metrics for portfolio. Current incidents: {{describe_last_12_months}}. Output: KPIs to track: incident rate (TRIR), lost time rate, near-miss reports. Benchmarks (industry and internal targets). Reporting frequency. Accountability (who owns reducing incidents). Incentives for safety performance. Why this works
Near-miss reporting rate is as important as incident rate — a team that reports many near misses has a safety culture that prevents incidents, while a team with no near miss reports and low incident rates may simply not be reporting. TRIR (total recordable incident rate) is the OSHA-standard metric that enables benchmarking against industry averages. The incentives section acknowledges that safety incentive design is sensitive — rewarding low incident rates can suppress reporting rather than improve safety.
Risks & review
Safety incentive programmes that reward low incident rates should be carefully designed to avoid creating pressure not to report incidents — OSHA considers incentive programmes that discourage reporting to be a violation of whistleblower protection regulations. Design any safety incentive around leading indicators (training completion, near-miss reporting rate, safety observation participation) rather than lagging indicators (incident count) to avoid this risk.