Not much to say here – nor anything particularly new to practitioners – just thought this was an interesting extract from a study that unpacked South African mining company OHS annual reports.
They highlight:
· “where the injury rates and OD rates show a decreasing trend over time, this should not be construed to mean that health and safety have been measured, as the rates only measure occurrences”
· “Thus, company statements such as “Our LTIFR shows we significantly improved health and safety at work” show a misunderstanding of the meaning of the OHS metrices, cautions Safework Australia”
· “The reported incidence rates and absolute counts point to weaknesses in the case companies’ OHS management systems [56] … [and] This also points to a glaring company failure in achieving the expressed aspired end goal of zero harm”
· “It, however, remains unclear from reviewed records whether the fatalities, injuries and ODs were from inherent or residual risks”
· “Apart from having a demotivating effect on workers when targets are not met, the zero-harm approach has a weakness in that companies with inadequate risk assessments may be misled to expend finite financial resources on risks ranked low on the risk assessment matrix”
· It is also unclear whether the reported declining trends in metrices have resulted in actual improvement in the overall OHS status”
NB. I’ll cover the SafeWork Australia report tomorrow that the authors mentioned above.
[PS. No disrespect to the study authors – but unless you’re __really__ interested in the specifics of S.African company OHS annual reports, then may want to skip this paper…cool title though.]
Ref: Rikhotso, O., Shabangu, M., & Havenga, Y. (2024). The Illusive Pipedream of Zero Harm: A South African Mining Industry Perspective. Safety, 10(3), 65.
Study link: https://doi.org/10.3390/safety10030065
My site with more reviews: https://safety177496371.wordpress.com
SafetyInsights.org 
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