Software is no newcomer to safety. We have been compiling our OSHA and MSHA logs, tracking our training, and categorizing accident data for years. Much of the bookkeeping function of safety is now available as a software application. But safety software is missing out on its greatest opportunities - to measure upstream indicators of accidents and to correlate these with accident data in a predictive and prescriptive way.
Safety software programs, like safety programs, tend to be stand-alone units: specific applications to perform one specific task. Safety thinking tends to be likewise one-dimensional. Many managers and safety professionals continue to look for a simple solution to a complex problem. Many such programs have improved safety, but none has really solved the whole organizational problem of accidents. The search for the program of the month or the magic bullet has distracted us from the "systems approach" that will most likely yield the desired results.