The sudden shift of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) from an optional public relations reporting initiative into an increasingly mandatory, investor-driven reporting requirement has many companies reevaluating how they use data. While organizations have used “big data” in the past to be more competitive, efficient, and profitable, they’re now seeing the benefits of advanced data analytics in assessing EHS performance. Sophisticated use of data and analytics can reduce incidents and operational overhead, directly impacting the bottom line, improving employee morale, and strengthening the business’s reputation.
Traditional data metrics such as incident rate and lost-time incident rate only track issues after the fact. These lagging indicators reactively measure safety efforts by evaluating past performance rather than current or future conditions. While this data may be helpful for regulatory reporting, it doesn’t provide a complete picture of the cause of the issues that lead to workplace incidents or allow stepping in and disrupting the incident from occurring in the first place.