What are leading safety indicators?
Leading safety indicators measure the preventive activities and conditions meant to control workplace hazards before injuries occur. Examples include safety training participation, safety audits, and health and safety meetings. They help managers assess prevention efforts and spot weaknesses, but should be read alongside injury and illness outcomes.
Key facts
- CCOHS describes leading indicators as proactive, preventive and predictive measures.
- Examples include training participation and how often safety audits and ergonomic assessments take place.
- NIOSH recommends indicators that are valid, reliable, and help identify weaknesses in safety programs.
- Training can be evaluated on whether participants met its learning objectives, not attendance alone.
Which measures can you track?
CCOHS gives examples such as engagement in training and orientation, the share of managers and workers with health and safety training, and how often safety meetings, ergonomic assessments and safety audits take place. Choose measures tied to the prevention activities you want to evaluate.
How do you assess whether activities are useful?
CCOHS recommends measuring impact, not only activity. For training, check whether participants met its key learning objectives. Comparing prevention activity with later outcomes shows whether the program is working.
Frequently asked questions
Are near misses leading indicators?
CCOHS lists near misses and close calls among lagging indicators, because they record events that already happened. If you track how often near misses are reported, define that measure separately from the count of events.
Can leading indicators replace injury data?
No. CCOHS recommends using leading and lagging indicators together.
Sources
- Health and Safety Programs - Leading and Lagging Indicators, Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (accessed October 28, 2026)
- What Measures Can Companies Use to Evaluate Safety Management Practices and Identify Opportunities for Improvement?, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (accessed October 28, 2026)
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