Can safety be measured?

Better Ways to Measure Safety

Days Without Accidents posters may be common in industry, but counting accident-free days does little if anything to prevent accidents.

"Traditional manufacturing safety programs deal with negative information, says Andras Csizmazia, Head of QHSE at Fortaco. “If that’s how we think about safety, then it means the best result is when we hear nothing at all.”

Of course, the seemingly obvious approach is to celebrate those accident-free days. (Fortaco’s cabin vehicle assembly plant in Holíč, Slovakia, has over 888 accident-free days. A unit in Sepänkylä has over 5,000 days!) But factory workers can be as superstitious as 18th-century sailors, and a celebration can be viewed as inviting an accident.

From lagging to leading

Like days without accidents, loss time injury rate or frequency (LTIF) is another lagging indicator of safety. It’s expressed in hours lost per one million working hours. It’s not bad to measure it – manufacturing in Finland averages an LTIF of 30, according to tvk.fi – but like all lagging indicators, it measures only a lack of safety.

Since accident-free days and LTIF are both easy to understand and measure, it’s unlikely the measure will soon be fully replaced. “We’ll of course continue to use lagging indicators, because they’re accurate, and make it simple to benchmark ourselves,” says Csizmazia. “But they’re not of help to predict the future or take actions to change outcomes.”

Heinrich's triangle was one of the first attempts to create a leading indicator of safety. This theory of industrial accident prevention, developed in the 1931, posits that if the number of minor accidents is reduced there will be a corresponding fall in the number of serious accidents. After studying 75,000 accident reports, Heinrich concluded that there is one major injury accident for every 29 minor injury accidents, and for every 300 no-injury accidents.

Larissa Shabunova, Managing Director at Fortaco Estonia, routinely tracks three KPIs at her factories in Narva: number of accidents, near misses, and unsafe behavior. As she works further down the list, the indicators transition from lagging to leading.

In practice, less unsafe behavior and fewer near misses translate to fewer lost-time accidents. Shabunova knows that if she can convince a worker to stop riding a palette jack as if it were a recreational scooter, she will reduce serious accidents.

Fortaco’s Agnieszka Koziara, Senior Vice President of People & HR with Fortaco Group, is also a believer in tracking near misses. “KPIs of risk behavior are the key to unlocking the mindset.” She says zero tolerance for accidents has to be more than just a slogan. “We can’t stop with the motto and pretty words. We’ve got to have zero tolerance for unsafe behavior.”

A new KPI: measuring ideas

Near misses and incidences of unsafe behavior are easy enough to count, but only if employees report them. Adam Czerwiec, General Manager of Fortaco’s Wrocław Steel Fabrications plant, and his team decided to create a new KPI: ideas. Czerwiec’s management team regularly collects ideas for changes from the plant’s 400 blue collar workers.

Ideas are written on a whiteboard on the factory floor and systematically addressed before being erased. “We’re trying to show that all ideas are most welcome, and we’ll at least try to fix the problem, says Czerwiec. “This demonstrates that the workers’ ideas are important. Sometimes, with small issues, we encourage them to help us fix the problem, so it doesn’t just become a worker complaint board.”

Many critical ideas are received, and no idea is too trivial. Last summer, requests were addressed to put drinking water on the production line on hot days. Another request was to remedy missing toilet paper. “The process shows that every worker can be an influencer,” he says. But it’s not only psychological. The ideas serve as a leading indicator.

Czerwiec’s team counts the number of ideas that come from employees, and tracks from which employee group they come. “We still get most ideas from white collar employees and the safety department,” he says. “But our goal for Wroclaw is to be challenged and supported by our blue collar workers in safety.”

No matter how you measure it

For the near future, near miss and safety observation reporting may represent the best indicators for both improving safety and changing culture. But no matter what your leading indicator, no one disagrees that success depends on safety becoming a personal commitment for everyone in the organization.

“People are eager to raise their hands and say ‘this is unsafe,” says Andrzej Wrona, Fortaco’s Director of Operational Excellence. “But once you identify these things management has to react immediately. If you don’t, people will think you’re not serious.”


Fortaco operations solid and safe

Following the outbreak of the Corona virus Covid-19, European governments have taken several health-related border management measures and limitations to people and businesses. The aim is to protect citizens' health and make sure that essential goods and services remain available.

Fortaco has also taken measures to keep our people, working places, and operations safe. We have imposed number of restrictions at our factories to protect our people and prevent infection. We are closely following local regulations and recommendations made by local authorities.

To confirm our earlier messages, we are not experiencing any major disturbances in our operations, and supply chain, and we are continuing with the normal production output. We are in a close communication with our customers and suppliers to secure smooth production and delivery of goods.

We will continue to update all our stakeholders as developments occur, but in the meantime, we hope everyone remains safe and healthy and would like to thank everybody for continued support.

Please do not hesitate to contact local Fortaco representatives for more information.

Marcus Engman
Senior Vice President
Marketing and Sales


Corona virus update, 18 March

Following the outbreak of the Corona virus Covid-19, the European Commission presented guidelines to Member States on health-related border management measures in the context of the COVID-19 emergency on 16 March. The aim is to protect health of citizens, ensure right treatment of people who have to travel, and make sure all essential goods and services remain available.

In all countries, Fortaco has manufacturing operations, there are limitations to enter the country. In addition, kindergartens, schools and universities, as well as public spaces and places are closed for the time being. However, it is important to note that these control measures are not causing any serious disruptions for international transportation.

We are closely monitoring order intake and supply chain situation and try to limit exposure to our operations. So far, we have not experienced any major disturbances in our operations and supply chain, and we are able to continue with normal production output. However, we are connected to the real situation and able to make appropriate actions quickly.

Fortaco has also taken extraordinary measures, based on the best available knowledge and equipment, to keep our people, working places and operations safe. We have imposed number of restrictions in our factories to protect our people and prevent infection. So far, we have not experienced any major bottlenecks in our processes, and our factories are free from the Covid-19 virus.

We will continue updating all our stakeholders as development occurs, but in the meantime, we hope everyone remains healthy and safe. We would like to thank everybody for continued support.

Please do not hesitate to contact local Fortaco representatives for more information.

Kind regards,

Marcus Engman
Senior Vice President
Marketing and Sales


Corona virus update, 13 March

On 11 March 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization declared the current outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic in global scale.

You are aware of the serious nature of the impact that the current outbreak of Corona virus Covid-19 is having on society and business globally. The situation has escalated rapidly, and several countries in Europe have now taken or are planning to take extraordinary actions to slow down the spread of the virus.

Following the extraordinary measures in the countries Fortaco operates:

• In Slovakia and Hungary, it has been decided to limit international travel into the country, and public places are closed as from 13 March 2020.

• In Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Estonia it has been decided to close kindergartens, schools and universities as from Monday 16 March 2020.

Fortaco has taken measures to keep our working places and operations safe. We have imposed restrictions on international travel, factory visits and internal meetings, and we prefer remote work when applicable.

We are closely monitoring the situation together with all stakeholders and following the rules from local authorities. Our goal is to limit the exposure of the extraordinary situation to our operations. In case we learn that your orders or shipments have a potential of being affected, we will contact you immediately.

It is imperative, we all maintain open communication, so we can collectively work through this crisis. We appreciate teamwork and keep you informed as this situation develops.

Please do not hesitate to contact local Fortaco representatives for more information.

With kind regards,

Marcus Engman
Senior Vice President
Marketing and Sales


Corona virus update

On 30 January 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, following the advice of the Emergency Committee convened under the International Health Regulations (2005), declared the current outbreak of COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern.

You are aware of the serious nature of the impact that the current outbreak of Corona virus Covid-19 is having on society and business in China and other parts of the globe, lately also in Europe. Due to the risk of global or local supply chain interruptions, we are monitoring a potential impact to our business.

At this very moment, we have not identified any major manufacturing or transport disruptions in our supply chain. However, we are closely monitoring the situation together with our customers and suppliers. Our goal is to keep the general reporting to the minimum, knowing how much effort is being put on this issue by all stakeholders. In case we learn that you or your customers have a potential of being affected, we will contact you immediately.

It is imperative, we all maintain open communication channels, so we can collectively work through this crisis. We appreciate teamwork and keep you informed as this situation develops.

Please do not hesitate to contact local Fortaco representatives for more information.

Marcus Engman
Senior Vice President
Marketing and Sales