Lagging Indicator

A lagging indicator is a reactive safety metric that measures outcomes after they have occurred, such as total recordable incident rate (TRIR), lost-time injury frequency and workers' compensation costs.

What Is a Lagging Indicator?

Lagging indicators are retrospective metrics that quantify the results of safety failures - injuries, illnesses, fatalities and their associated costs. While essential for benchmarking and compliance reporting, they tell you what went wrong only after the damage is done.

Common Lagging Indicators

  • Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR / TRIF)
  • Lost-Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR)
  • Severity Rate (days lost per injury)
  • Workers' compensation costs and experience rating
  • Fatality count
  • Number of regulatory violations or orders

Limitations

A low injury rate does not necessarily mean a safe workplace - it may just mean injuries have not happened yet. That is why pairing lagging indicators with leading indicators provides a more complete picture of safety performance.

Automated Lagging Indicator Reporting

Make Safety Easy automatically calculates TRIR, LTIFR and severity rates from your incident data, generating the reports you need for WCB submissions, COR audits and client prequalifications.

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