NSC 2014 Speaker Q&A with Chuck Pettinger: Analytics can identify hot spots in your culture
Describe to readers what “big data” consists of in terms of workplace safety.
Big data is the generic term for the overwhelming amount of information that is often collected and is hard to grasp because of the size or complexity of the data. Big data is often solely associated with managing large amounts of diverse data. But more accurately, big data is about asking new types questions, exploring hunches, and making data-driven decisions. Predictive Analytics is putting that big data to use through various forms of statistics and machine learning algorithms (artificial Intelligence). In terms of safety, we collect a vast amount of leading and lagging information from training records, perception surveys, suggestions, inspections, audits, observations, near-misses, property damage, incidents and injuries to help diagnose how well a culture, processes, systems, and behaviors are functioning.
What tools or software, etc., are needed for readers to acquire “big data”?
Many practitioners already capture a vast amount of data and only pay attention to a fraction of what it may be telling them. In this age of mobile technology, there are many apps, like SafetyNet, to collect and be able to immediately analyze, act, and prevent injuries. There are many solutions to help the safety practitioner analyze their “safety big data.” Many organizations are already analyzing their own big data and call it Business Intelligence (BI). So, as a profession, we need to use the same tools our C-Suite uses to make their businesses successful – we need look at the Business Intelligence of Life!