A Proposal for a Leading Indicator to Diagnose the Level of “Productive Safety” Practices: An Empirical Study of Global Chemical Companies

In safety-critical industries, safety management based on the concept of “protective safety” has reduced accidents. However, in industrial fields where operations have become highly complex due to the development of science and technology and respect for human diversity, the limitations of safety management based on the concept of “protective safety” have been pointed out. In this study, we focus on safety management based on “productive safety” as another strategy for industries where traditional “protective safety” management has matured. “Productive safety” is a concept that shifts the focus of safety management to operators’ successes and their sources. In this study, as a component of a safety management method based on this concept, we established a Productive Safety Leading Indicator (PSLI) to evaluate the status of “productive safety” practices in the workplace. To make PSLI, interview data were obtained from operators at Japan and USA plants of global chemical companies. PSLI consists of three axes which are diversity of adjustment actions, deep understanding, and logical understanding. PSLI enables the analysis of daily adjustment actions and their backgrounds and we found distinctive differences between Japanese and USA operators.