Why Conduct a Gap Analysis?

Why conduct a "Gap Analysis"?

To measure what is being done to improve your safety performance!

If you don't, then you will have no idea if what you have been doing has been effective.  You need to know what is working well and what is not working in order to adjust your plan!

What Gets Measured Gets Done AND What Gets Celebrated Gets Done Well

Measure what you ask the employees TO DO… that will help you eliminate the hazards and create a safe workplace.  Remember that SMART safety goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant, and Time Targeted!

The Solution Is Obvious

- OSHA Act

Provide a safe and healthful workplace Free of recognized hazards

Then shouldn't we be educating employees about hazards, looking for and correcting hazards?  Shouldn't we want employees to bring hazards to our Attention so we can fix them before someone gets hurt?  Shouldn't we want employees to report more close call or near miss?  Don't we want to find the problems so we can fix them before someone gets seriously hurt?  Shouldn't this be a Goal you want to continue to improve?

A primary goal of any safety action is to remove, reduce, or otherwise manage hazards.  It’s obvious then that the first step must be to recognize the hazard!

While it is extremely important to identify hazards in the planning stage, Hazards are not static, they change over time as environmental, equipment, human, and management factors change!  Hazard Recognition is a never ending necessity at all stages and levels in each and every task!

Increase workplace inspections to identify new or previously missed hazards, Find and fix more hazards, Train employees about hazards and JSA procedures (more than once so they remember! Find a positive way to increase reporting of near miss or close calls and investigate a near miss just as you would an OSHA recordable or lost time (in a timely manner) and then recheck that JSA you wrote to perform that task.  If that JSA is well written, employees have been well trained on the tasks, hazards, and controls to prevent accidents, and you have a close call or  near miss........then you missed something and need to address it.

• How many inspections you do and how many hazards are being found and how long it takes to get hazards corrected are leading indicators of how effective your inspection and hazard reporting programs are
• How many training sessions and how well the employees retain the information are leading indicators of how effective your training program is.  If your hazard reporting is low, but you still have close call or accidents, then perhaps you should focus training on hazards or unsafe acts
• How many hazards are found and corrected in a timely manner are leading indicators of how effective your safety program really is

Some possible Safety Goals

• Increase the number of inspections for hazards by X % over the previous year
• Increase the number of hazard reports received by X% over the previous year 
• Increase the number of close call or near miss reports received by X% over the previous year
• Investigate all hazardous events within X number of days of the occurrence

What Gets Measured Gets Done

What Gets Celebrated Gets Done Well

Author: Deborah Grow, Safety Specialist

Extensive experience in General Industry, Manufacturing, Construction, Trucking, D.O.T. Compliance, HM126 Hazardous Materials, and OSHA consultation project.  Contact Deborah if you would like to schedule a consultation visit or training