If you’re running a business, or managing a safety department in Canada, you’ve probably heard the phrase “safety metrics” more times than you’ve heard “coffee break.” You’ve sat through WCB rate reviews, watched PowerPoints about lost-time incidents, and maybe even had a safety consultant toss the phrase “leading indicators” at you while pointing at a very complicated dashboard.
But here’s the thing: most workplaces are still looking in the rear-view mirror when it comes to safety. They’re tracking what already went wrong—injuries, lost days, near misses—and hoping that’s enough to prevent the next big event. That’s like trying to stop a flood with a mop.
At Calgary Safety Consultants (https://calgarysafetyconsultants.ca), we’ve worked with companies across industries—construction, warehousing, manufacturing, energy—and we’ve seen firsthand what actually moves the needle. And here’s our take: if you want to measure something that truly matters for Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S), you should be measuring immediate causes—not root causes.
Lagging indicators—injury rates, lost-time frequency, WCB premiums—are easy to track because they’re historical. They show up in your incident reports and insurance bills. But they’re also reactive. They only tell you something went wrong after it’s already too late. You can’t prevent an injury that’s already happened.
Sure, they’re useful for trend spotting and compliance reporting. But if all you’re doing is measuring what went wrong last month, then you’re stuck in reactive mode. The goal of OH&S isn’t just to respond to incidents—it’s to prevent them from happening at all.
Leading indicators, on the other hand, are predictive. They help you get ahead of injuries by tracking the things that contribute to a safe or unsafe work environment—training completion rates, number of safety meetings held, inspections completed, hazards identified and corrected, and so on.
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) defines leading indicators as proactive, preventive measures that provide information about the effective performance of your safety and health activities. In short, they show you whether your system is working before an injury gives you the answer the hard way.
https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/leading-and-lagging-indicators.html
But here’s where many safety programs still miss the mark: they focus too heavily on root causes instead of immediate causes.
Let’s clear this up, because these terms often get tossed around interchangeably, and they’re not the same.
When measuring KPIs, you may consider tracking root causes as part of your analysis. While they can provide valuable insights, root causes are often difficult to accurately identify and are only reliable indicators if all incidents and near-misses are thoroughly investigated.
And yes, root cause analysis (RCA) is great when you’re dealing with a serious incident. You absolutely want to know the systemic flaws that allowed something to happen. But again, root causes are often complex, abstract, and hard to observe directly. You usually don’t spot them until something bad already occurred—and even then, they might be open to interpretation.
Immediate causes, on the other hand, are often visible and measurable in real time. While you still need to actively look for them, they’re easier to spot and allow you to collect data that supports more effective trending and faster corrective action.
Here’s why focusing on immediate causes gives you a stronger, more practical approach to injury prevention:
But again, you have to actively be looking for these causes and record them. We suggest that you do this anytime you have any incident, near miss, or hazard report.
Of all the immediate causes we’ve seen, failure to complete a hazard assessment before starting a job is the one that shows up again and again in incident reports.
Why? Because it’s the gateway to prevention. A hazard assessment forces the worker (and the supervisor) to stop, think, and identify what could go wrong before the task starts. Without that pause, people rush in—often with assumptions, incomplete information, or overlooked hazards.
In Alberta, conducting a hazard assessment isn’t optional—it’s a legal requirement. The Alberta OHS Code (Part 2) makes it clear that employers must identify existing and potential hazards before work begins and take steps to eliminate or control them.
https://www.alberta.ca/occupational-health-and-safety-code
But compliance aside, tracking how often workers skip this crucial step can give you a near-real-time picture of risk.
We’ve worked with clients who began measuring “percentage of tasks started without a completed hazard assessment,” and within six weeks, they cut that number in half—and saw a corresponding drop in incidents.
TIP: Review your overall incident reports and calculate how many are linked to a failure to complete a hazard assessment. Convert that into a percentage. That number becomes your key metric—and if you address the underlying causes effectively, it should decrease each quarter.
Want to build a better leading indicator program? Here are a few more immediate causes that are easy to observe and powerful to correct:
Each of these indicators gives you a pulse on your safety culture and where immediate interventions could prevent harm.
You don’t need a six-figure software system or an IT department to start measuring immediate causes. Here’s a simple approach:
And don’t keep the data locked in the safety office. Share it with the team. Make it visual. If your crew sees that you're tracking real issues and acting on them, participation will follow.
At Calgary Safety Consultants, we specialize in practical, no-nonsense safety strategies that actually work on Canadian job sites. Here’s how we can help:
Real-world experience. We’ve helped businesses just like yours cut injury rates, reduce insurance costs, and build a stronger safety culture—without breaking the bank.
A few years ago, we worked with a mid-size company in Calgary that had experienced several minor injuries and one serious incident in the span of eight months. Their WCB rates were going up, morale was down, and management was frustrated.
Instead of jumping into a complex root cause audit, we asked one simple question: “How often are hazard assessments being done before tasks begin?”
The answer? Less than 40% of the time.
We helped them implement a basic tracking system—supervisors recorded every task started without an assessment. No blame, just data.
In three months, hazard assessment completion rates climbed to 90%. And over the next year, their injury rate dropped by more than 35%. Not because we handed them a shiny new policy—but because they started measuring what really mattered: what’s happening right now on the floor.
If you want to stop injuries before they happen, forget trying to measure philosophical concepts like “culture” or “leadership buy-in.” Those are important, yes—but they’re hard to define, and harder to track. They what you can't see, like root causes, will be easy to uncover.
Start with what’s in front of you. Measure whether hazard assessments are being done. Look for patterns in unsafe acts and uncorrected hazards. Focus on what you can see, count, and change.
That’s how you move from reactive to proactive safety. And that’s where Calgary Safety Consultants can help.
Ready to get started? Contact us today at https://calgarysafetyconsultants.ca. We’ll help you measure the right things—so you can prevent the wrong ones.
Aware360: Safety Metrics You Should Be Tracking – https://aware360.com/blog/top-10-safety-metrics-to-improve-workplace-safety
Leading indicators are proactive measures that help predict and prevent injuries (like hazard assessments), while lagging indicators are reactive metrics that report past incidents (like injury rates and WCB claims).
Immediate causes are visible, trackable, and correctable in real time. Root causes are often complex and only identified after a serious incident. Focusing on immediate causes helps you prevent injuries before they occur.
Start by tracking the completion rate and quality of hazard assessments. This simple step offers high impact and is required under Alberta OH&S law.
Calgary Safety Consultants is here to help you ensure compliance, enhance safety, and streamline your OH&S program. Don’t wait—fill out the form, and we’ll connect with you to discuss how we can support your business. Let’s get started!
Calgary Safety Consultants delivers game-changing COR Audits and OH&S consulting designed to keep your business safe, compliant, and accident-free. With 30+ years of expertise in high-risk industries like oil & gas, construction, and manufacturing, we understand the unique challenges you face. We offer tailored safety solutions that not only meet regulatory standards but also reduce operational risks and protect your workforce. From conducting thorough safety audits to implementing comprehensive safety management systems, we ensure your team is fully supported. Our hands-on, collaborative approach means we're with you every step of the way, helping you achieve a safer, more efficient workplace. Let us handle the heavy lifting so your team stays protected, and your business thrives!
