It’s almost the end of the year, which for many companies means assessing safety performance and setting new goals. Depending on the strength of their safety culture, this process can feel either productive or frustrating.
Companies with mature, healthy safety cultures typically find this process easier. Safety is already part of daily operations, and their goals tend to be direct, specific, measurable, and well understood across the organization.
In companies with less mature cultures, the end-of-year review can be stressful. EHS teams often field a rush of emails and calls about “the safety numbers” and next year’s goals, largely because safety tasks fall only to safety personnel.
If you’re in this situation and dread creating new goals, you’re not alone. Here are three things companies with stronger safety cultures do to make this process smoother.
This step happens long before year-end, but it shapes motivation throughout the year. Many companies integrate safety goals directly into employee performance evaluations. This reinforces the idea that safety is everyone’s responsibility—not an add-on—and should carry the same weight as any other performance metric.
If your company isn’t ready for full integration, start small. Offer optional “extra credit” safety items that boost performance ratings without penalizing anyone who opts out.
For example, completing an OSHA 10- or 30-hour course might offer a positive bump at evaluation time. This increases safety knowledge while also making employees more accustomed to seeing safety reflected in performance tools.
Another differentiator is how companies view the purpose of safety goals. For high-performing organizations, goal-setting is part of a broader continuous improvement process. They identify weaknesses in their safety foundation, then develop goals designed to strengthen those areas.
These companies collect data from near misses, first-aid incidents, training completions, maintenance work orders, observations, inspections, and audits. Some also review overtime and attendance patterns if they believe these might contribute to incidents. They analyze all of this to find gaps, negative trends, or systemic weaknesses. From there, they review any related programs or procedures and translate their findings into next year’s safety goals.
One thing you won’t see these companies do is rely on TRIR to guide goal setting. TRIR was never designed for that purpose and provides little insight for identifying areas that need improvement. If that’s surprising, you’re not alone—many companies still use TRIR incorrectly.
Finally, many companies use a formal method for writing goals, such as SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely) or FAST (Frequently discussed, Ambitious, Specific, Transparent). These formats help filter out vague or unrealistic objectives and ensure goals are measurable and achievable within clear time frames.
Organizations that do this well recognize that safety goals are central to continuous improvement. They invest time in writing goals that are precise and actionable. If you struggle with this part of the process, try a few methods and choose the one that works best for your needs.
Creating meaningful safety goals shouldn’t feel overwhelming. The strategies above can help reduce the stress that builds at year’s end. Having the right tools also makes a major difference, and EHS Insight is designed to support companies through this process.
Whether you’re implementing safety software for the first time or looking for a better solution, we’d love to talk. Reach out anytime—we’re happy to show you what makes our software stand out.