It can be both leading (proactive) or lagging (reactive). It is not simple as it requires organisations to plan and have "quantitative targets" and then track them versus plan!

Leading KPI examples:
1. number of top managers’ OH&S inspection tours;
2. frequency and effectiveness of OH&S committee meetings;
3. frequency and effectiveness of staff OH&S briefings;
4. number of staff suggestions for OH&S improvements;
5. lNumber of actions on “accepted” suggestions implemented in time
6. number of personnel trained in OH&S;
7. number of risk assessments completed as a proportion of those required;
8. number of formal house-keeping standards;


Lagging KPI examples
1. health surveillance reports;
2. sickness absences – employee absences due to illness (occupationally-related or non-occupationally-related);
3. cases of occupational diseases or conditions, such as dermatitis, deafness, work-related upper limb disorders; stress, asbestosis, occupationally – induced cancers;
4. near misses;
5. damage only accidents;
6. reportable dangerous occurrences;
7. lost-time accidents – when at least one work shift (or other time period) is lost by a person as a result of an accident injury;
8. reportable accidents involving absence from work for more than three days;
9. reportable major injuries;
10. fatal accidents


KPI data that can be either leading or lagging -examples, depending on the context:

1) complaints made by the workforce;
2) indicators that demonstrate that the organization’s OH&S objectives have been achieved;
3) criticisms made by regulatory agency staff;
4) regulatory agency enforcement action;
5) complaints made by employees who are not direct employees of the organization or by members of the public.