Safety goals are the backbone of any effective workplace safety program — they transform the broad idea of “safety first” into measurable targets that guide action, improve accountability, and protect workers. From reducing incident rates to ensuring 100% training completion, safety goals give organizations a clear roadmap for preventing accidents and building a stronger safety culture.
In this blog, we’ll break down what safety goals are, explore real-world examples, and examine the challenges companies face when trying to achieve them — helping you understand not just the “what,” but the “why” behind safer, healthier workplaces.
What Are Safety Goals?
Safety goals are clear, measurable objectives that organizations set to reduce risks, prevent workplace accidents, and protect employee health. They turn the broad idea of “safety first” into concrete targets — for example, reducing the incident rate by 20% in a year, achieving 100% safety training completion, or eliminating specific hazards like unguarded machinery.
Why They Matter
- Clarity and Focus: Safety goals give everyone — from executives to frontline workers — a shared vision of what “safe” means in practice. Instead of vague slogans, they create actionable priorities.
- Motivation and Accountability: Measurable targets help track progress and hold teams accountable. Successes (like accident-free months) can be celebrated, reinforcing safe behavior across the organization.
- Prevention, Not Just Reaction: By focusing on proactive goals (like hazard inspections or near-miss reporting), organizations shift from reacting to incidents toward preventing them.
- Business Benefits: Fewer accidents mean reduced downtime, lower insurance costs, and stronger compliance with regulations. In fact, companies with robust safety goals often enjoy higher productivity and morale.
- Culture Building: Safety goals communicate that worker well-being is a core value — not an afterthought. Over time, this builds a stronger safety culture where employees look out for themselves and one another.
Leading vs. Lagging Safety Indicators: Looking Through the Windshield vs. the Rearview
When setting safety goals, two types of metrics often come up: leading indicators and lagging indicators. Think of them as two perspectives on safety — one looks forward to prevent incidents, and the other looks backward to track what already happened. Both are vital to a complete safety strategy.
1. Lagging Indicators
Lagging indicators are like the rearview mirror — they show what has already gone wrong. These outcome-based measures track incidents, injuries, and costs after they occur. Examples include:
- Number of workplace injuries or illnesses.
- Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR).
- Lost workdays or restricted duty days.
- Workers’ compensation costs.
- Overall incident counts.
Because they reflect past performance, safety pros sometimes call these “body count metrics” (dark humor included) — essentially, they record things we don’t want to repeat.
2. Leading Indicators
Leading indicators, on the other hand, are the windshield view — they help you look ahead and steer safely before problems occur. These are proactive, preventive measures that signal whether a safety program is working in real time. Examples include:
- Percentage of employees who complete safety training.
- Number of inspections, audits, or safety observations performed.
- Speed of hazard correction after identification.
- Near-miss reports submitted.
- Attendance and engagement in safety meetings.
These indicators measure what the organization is doing now to prevent accidents tomorrow.
Why Both Matter
To put it simply: leading indicators aim to prevent crashes, lagging indicators count the crashes that happened. One analogy says it best:
- Windshield (leading): shows the road ahead, helping you avoid hazards.
- Rearview mirror (lagging): shows where you’ve been, reminding you of past mistakes.
Focus only on the windshield and you might miss what’s catching up behind; stare only at the mirror and you risk driving straight into danger. The same applies to safety:
- Rely solely on lagging metrics, and you’re always reacting after harm occurs.
- Rely only on leading metrics, and you may lose sight of whether efforts are actually improving outcomes.
The balance of both provides the clearest picture of safety performance: leading indicators guide prevention, while lagging indicators confirm whether prevention worked.
Common Safety Goals and Examples
Safety goals can take many forms depending on the organization’s needs. Some goals are quantitative (numbers-driven targets), while others can be qualitative (focused on culture or behaviors). Here are some common examples of safety goals that companies set:
1. “Zero” Goals
Perhaps the most famous (or infamous) safety goal is the zero incidents or “zero harm” goal – aiming for no workplace injuries or accidents at all. This is an aspirational target that reflects a deep commitment to worker well-being. For instance, many companies proudly display signs like “0 Days Since Last Accident” and strive to keep resetting that counter to zero incidents. Some organizations adopt campaigns such as Vision Zero, which aim for zero work-related injuries or diseases as the ultimate goal. The idea is to send the message that no accident is acceptable. (Of course, while “zero” is a great vision, we’ll discuss later why it can be challenging in practice.)
2. Injury Rate Reduction
Rather than an absolute zero, many set goals to reduce injury rates by a certain percentage. For example, a company might aim to cut its Total Recordable Incident Rate by, say, 10% or 20% this year. An EHS industry example goal is a specific percentage reduction in the TRIR within a timeframe. Similarly, goals could target lowering the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) or Lost Time Injury Incidence Rate – essentially reducing how often serious injuries occur per hours worked.
3. Hazard Identification and Control
Goals often focus on proactively finding and fixing hazards. For instance, an organization might set a goal to conduct a certain number of safety inspections or audits each month, or to increase the number of near-miss reports submitted by employees by a specific percentage. Another example is targeting a high completion rate of corrective actions for hazards within a set period. These goals drive teams to be vigilant and address issues before they cause harm.
4. Safety Training and Competence
Ensuring everyone is trained and competent is a foundational safety objective. Common goals include achieving 100% completion of mandatory safety training (e.g. all employees attend the annual safety workshop or complete OSHA training), or having a certain percentage of managers and workers certified in specific safety programs. As a leading indicator, a company might measure the percentage of workers with up-to-date safety training and aim for that to be as close to 100% as possible. Another goal could be regular emergency drills or toolbox talks – e.g. “conduct safety toolbox talks weekly, 52 out of 52 weeks.”
5. Employee Health and Well-Being
Some safety goals extend to health promotion. For example, a goal might be to reduce work-related ill-health or improve ergonomics. A company could aim to decrease ergonomics-related musculoskeletal complaints by X% or to increase employee participation in wellness programs (like stretching sessions or health screenings). During the height of a pandemic, a healthcare facility’s safety goal might be “zero occupational exposures to COVID-19” or achieving a high vaccination rate among staff – blending health protection with safety.
6. Regulatory Compliance Goals
A very concrete goal is zero regulatory violations – e.g. no OSHA citations during inspections. Organizations might also target maintaining certain safety certifications (like ISO 45001 for OHS Management Systems) or passing internal and external audits with no major findings. Achieving full compliance with safety regulations and standards is both a goal and an expectation in well-run safety programs.
7. Safety Culture Goals
Not all goals are numbers-driven. Some organizations set goals to improve the safety culture and behaviors. For example, a qualitative goal might be to increase reporting of near misses and safety suggestions (signaling trust in the safety program), or to improve survey scores on safety climate. While harder to measure, these goals manifest in things like improved employee morale and engagement in safety initiatives, more open communication about safety concerns, and stronger teamwork on safety matters. Achieving these culture-related goals often goes hand-in-hand with meeting the quantitative targets.
Real-world examples abound. One energy company might have a goal of “Nobody Gets Hurt” as their slogan, emphasizing that even one injury is too many. Construction firms often aim for a certain number of accident-free workdays, celebrating milestones like 100 days injury-free. And famously, many companies reward employees for hitting safety goals – whether it’s an annual safety bonus for low injury rates or a department pizza party for completing a month with zero incidents. (We’ll touch on the pros and cons of those incentives later – because who knew free pizza could become controversial in safety circles?)
Setting and Monitoring Safety Goals in Organizations
Setting safety goals is not a random shot in the dark – it’s a deliberate process. Good safety goals are often described as S.M.A.R.T.: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Here’s how organizations typically set and keep an eye on their safety goals:
1. Learning from the Past
A sensible starting point is to look at the organization’s safety history and current risks. Analyzing past incident reports, injury data, and identified hazards helps pinpoint where improvement is needed most. If, say, last year saw a spike in slip-and-fall accidents, a logical goal could be targeting a reduction in such incidents this year.
As one guide suggests, review your past incidents, find areas that need improvement, and set goals based on that. This ensures goals tackle real problem areas rather than arbitrary metrics.
2. Aligning with Hazards and Risks
Safety goals should correspond to the most significant hazards of the workplace. For example, a manufacturing plant with lots of machinery might set goals around machine safety checks, lockout/tagout compliance, and operator training.
A hospital, facing risks of needlestick injuries or patient lifting injuries, might have goals around safe needle disposal training and proper patient handling techniques. Aligning goals with actual workplace hazards makes them relevant and impactful.
3. Involving the Team
The best safety goals aren’t cooked up in an executive ivory tower – they involve input from those on the front lines. Workers and their representatives often know the most about the hazards of their jobs and have practical ideas for improvement. Smart organizations involve employees (and, if present, union safety committees) in setting goals. This could happen through safety committees, surveys, or brainstorming sessions on how to improve.
When workers help set the targets, they’re more likely to buy in and work toward them. OSHA explicitly encourages giving workers opportunities to participate in developing the program and setting goals for safety. Employee involvement not only generates great ideas, it also creates a sense of ownership – our safety goals, not just management’s goals.
4. Top Management Commitment
Leadership has a huge role in setting and achieving safety goals. Leaders need to champion the cause from the outset. This means visibly prioritizing safety in word and deed. For instance, OSHA’s recommended practices say management should make worker safety and health a core organizational value, commit to eliminating hazards, provide sufficient resources for safety, and lead by example.
When the C-suite and managers are genuinely invested – e.g. they talk about safety performance in meetings, personally attend safety training, and ensure funding for safety improvements – it sends a message that these goals truly matter.
One company case study illustrated this well: management realized they needed to change from a reactive approach and took on safety as a primary mission, with executives (the president, VPs, etc.) going into the field to conduct safety audits and engage with workers directly. This hands-on leadership helped create a new safety culture and drove home that meeting safety goals is a top priority.
5. Making Goals Actionable
A goal without a plan is just wishful thinking. So organizations create action plans to achieve each safety goal. This might include assigning responsibilities (e.g. who will do safety audits, who will conduct training), setting deadlines, and allocating resources. For example, if the goal is to perform 12 emergency drills this year, the plan will specify doing one per month, with the safety manager responsible for scheduling and reporting results.
Larger goals can be broken into sub-goals or milestones – like quarterly targets – to keep momentum. The OSHA guidelines recommend developing plans by assigning tasks, setting timeframes, and determining resource needs for each goal. Essentially, treat safety goals like any business objective: project-manage them.
6. Monitoring and Measurement
Once goals are set and the plan is in motion, companies need to track progress. This is where those leading and lagging indicators come into play. Organizations establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for safety that align with their goals, and they monitor them regularly (weekly, monthly, quarterly). For example:
- If the goal is reducing the injury rate, they’ll watch the TRIR and lost-time injury rate numbers as lagging KPIs to see if they’re trending down.
- If the goal is increasing hazard reporting, they might track the number of near-miss reports submitted (a leading KPI) each month.
- To improve training, they could track training completion percentages or quiz scores to ensure training is effective.
- For a goal of better safety engagement, they might use safety audit scores or survey feedback as metrics.
Modern safety programs often use dashboards or software to visualize these metrics. In fact, with today’s tech, some companies use real-time data systems: one contractor firm built a reporting system for near misses called “Good Catch” that flags safety staff immediately when a near miss is reported, enabling quick corrective action.
By leveraging cloud software and analytics, they were able to act on leading indicators rapidly – and they credit this approach with achieving multiple years in a row with zero accidents or serious incidents.
Regular Review and Feedback
Monitoring isn’t passive; organizations routinely review the data and discuss it. Safety committees might review progress on goals monthly. Management might include safety KPIs in their business reviews. If targets aren’t being met, it triggers a discussion: Why? Do we need more resources, more training, or was the goal unrealistic?
Conversely, successes are celebrated – hitting a milestone like 90 days injury-free might be acknowledged in a company newsletter or a team reward (everyone loves a little recognition). OSHA recommends that management provide positive recognition when safety goals are met or when individuals contribute to safety (like reporting hazards or attending training). This keeps motivation up and reinforces the behaviors that help achieve the goals.
Continuous Improvement
OHS is a continuous improvement process. Once a safety goal is achieved, you don’t just declare victory and rest forever – you set new goals or raise the bar. If a factory met its goal of reducing machine accidents by 20%, next year maybe the goal is an additional 10% reduction or focusing on another area like ergonomics. If goals were missed, organizations will analyze why and adjust their strategies. Maybe the goal was too ambitious (we’ll get to that next), or maybe implementation needs tweaking.
Effective safety management is a loop of plan – do – check – act: set goals, execute plans, check results, and act to refine the program. By cycling through this loop, safety performance should steadily improve over time, and safety goals evolve with the organization’s progress and new challenges.
The Role of Leadership and Employee Involvement
A strong safety program isn’t built by a single safety manager armed with memos and checklists — it’s a team effort. Both leadership and employees must work hand in hand to turn safety goals into everyday reality.
1. Leadership’s Role
Leaders set the tone for workplace safety. When top management treats safety with the same seriousness as production deadlines or sales targets, the message is clear: safety is non-negotiable. Effective leadership means:
- Open commitment: Executives and managers should speak about safety regularly — not only after accidents. Safety belongs in every meeting and decision.
- Providing resources: Goals are meaningless without support. Adequate budgets, staffing, and time must be allocated for training, audits, and improvements.
- Leading by example: Credibility is lost if managers say “wear your PPE” while skipping their own helmet. Conversely, when leaders follow the rules, attend training, and model safe behavior, employees follow suit.
- Integrating safety into strategy: Business decisions — from purchasing new equipment to redesigning workflows — must account for safety impacts, showing that safety isn’t an afterthought but a core value.
- Fostering open communication: Workers should feel free to report hazards or near misses without fear of retaliation. Leaders who thank employees for flagging risks and act promptly to fix them build lasting trust.
- Recognizing progress: Celebrating achievements — whether through awards, shout-outs, or simple appreciation — reinforces that “safety pays.” Recognition keeps momentum alive and employees engaged.
2. Employee Involvement
While leadership sets the vision, employees are the ones who bring it to life on the ground. Safety is everyone’s job, and active worker participation is vital. This includes:
- Participation in planning: Involving workers in creating procedures, assessing hazards, and setting goals ensures practicality and buy-in. They know what really works.
- Taking ownership: Employees should feel responsible not only for their own safety but also for that of their coworkers. Speaking up, reminding colleagues, and suggesting improvements all contribute to safer outcomes.
- Empowerment to stop work: A healthy safety culture gives every worker the authority to halt unsafe operations. Knowing they won’t be punished for calling a “time-out” empowers employees to prevent incidents before they happen.
- Communication and feedback: Hazard reporting must be simple and acted upon quickly. When workers see that their concerns lead to fixes — and receive feedback — they’re more motivated to stay engaged.
- Training and competence: Employees play a key role by embracing training, asking questions, and sharing experience with peers. Veteran workers often enrich sessions with real-world examples, creating peer accountability for safe practices.
Leadership creates the framework and provides resources, while employees bring safety goals to life through daily action. When both sides collaborate openly, communicate honestly, and trust each other, even ambitious goals — like “zero accidents” — start to feel achievable. As the saying goes: “Safety is a team effort.”
Challenges in Setting and Meeting Safety Goals
If setting safety goals were simple, every workplace would already be accident-free. In reality, creating and achieving these goals is more like navigating a maze than following a straight path. Organizations face multiple hurdles that can derail even the best intentions. Recognizing these challenges early helps prevent setbacks and unintended consequences.
Here are some of the most common obstacles:
- Unrealistic Expectations: Aiming for “zero accidents” sounds inspiring, but if framed poorly it can pressure workers to underreport incidents rather than truly prevent them.
- Measuring the Intangible: Numbers are easy to track, but how do you measure safety culture, awareness, or attitude shifts? These softer elements often resist simple metrics.
- Complacency After Success: Long periods without incidents can lull teams into a false sense of security. Ironically, that’s when corners start being cut and risks resurface.
- Conflicting Priorities: Production pressures, tight deadlines, or cost constraints sometimes overshadow safety, making it hard to give goals the attention they need.
- Resource Limitations: Without enough budget, staff, or training time, even well-crafted safety goals remain out of reach.
- Lack of Buy-In: When goals are imposed top-down without employee input, workers may see them as arbitrary and fail to engage.
- External Disruptions: Unexpected events — regulatory changes, supply chain issues, or public health crises — can derail progress despite solid planning.
How Safety Goals Vary Across Industries
The principle of protecting workers is universal, but the way organizations set and pursue safety goals varies significantly depending on the industry. Different environments present unique risks, so a construction crew’s safety targets will differ significantly from those in a hospital or office. Here’s how goals typically vary across sectors:
1. Construction
One of the most hazardous industries, construction focuses on preventing the “Fatal Four” risks: falls, electrocutions, struck-by incidents, and caught-in/between accidents. Safety goals may include:
- 100% fall protection compliance for all work above 6 feet.
- Zero scaffolding or trench-collapse incidents.
- Daily hazard briefings and site-specific safety plans for every project.
- Ensuring all workers complete OSHA 10-hour training.
Because job sites change constantly, goals also emphasize pre-job planning and frequent hazard assessments.
2. Manufacturing and Industrial
Factories and plants center their safety goals on machinery, equipment, and processes. Common targets include:
- Zero machine-guarding violations and strict lockout/tagout compliance.
- Annual reduction in Lost Time Injuries (LTI) through automation or ergonomic redesigns.
- Implementation of preventive maintenance programs.
- Goals for housekeeping (clear aisles, no slip/trip hazards) and quick spill response.
The priority here is keeping people safe around moving parts, hazardous substances, and repetitive tasks.
3. Healthcare
Hospitals face very different challenges: biological hazards, ergonomic strain, and workplace violence. Safety goals often focus on:
- Zero needlestick injuries and 100% compliance with safe disposal.
- Reducing musculoskeletal injuries from patient handling through training and lifting devices.
- Increasing preparedness for slips, trips, falls, and violence prevention.
- Full compliance with PPE use and infection control protocols.
Healthcare goals extend beyond staff safety to overlap with patient safety, such as safer needles protecting both workers and patients.
4. Transportation and Logistics
Whether trucking, aviation, or warehousing, the focus is on vehicle safety, fatigue management, and material handling. Goals may include:
- Reducing at-fault vehicle accidents by a set percentage.
- 100% driver completion of defensive driving training.
- Zero forklift collisions and better pedestrian safety in warehouses.
- Full compliance with hours-of-service regulations to prevent fatigue.
These goals carry public safety implications as well as workplace concerns.
5. Oil, Gas, and Mining
In high-risk sectors like drilling and mining, goals are extremely stringent due to catastrophic potential. Typical goals include:
- Zero fatalities and zero hydrocarbon releases.
- Full compliance with Process Safety Management (PSM) checks.
- Frequent emergency drills with measurable improvements in response times.
- Eliminating hazards such as haul truck collisions or rockfall injuries.
Many firms adopt frameworks like the 7 Golden Rules of Vision Zero, which emphasize leadership, training, and technology investments.
6. Service and Low-Risk Industries
Even low-risk settings like offices, IT, or education set safety goals, though they’re more modest:
- Ergonomic workstation assessments for all staff.
- Regular fire drills with full participation.
- Wellness-focused targets, such as reducing stress or eye strain.
While the risks are fewer, goals still matter to maintain a healthy and safe environment.
The Common Thread
Every industry has its own “most wanted” hazards to eliminate, but the philosophy remains the same:
- Use leading indicators (proactive measures) and lagging indicators (outcomes) together.
- Strive for continuous improvement.
- Ensure every worker, no matter the setting, ends their shift safe and healthy.
(And yes, the safety posters may look different — “Hard Hat Required” on a site, “Eye Protection” in a lab, or “Stretch Your Wrists” in an office — but the goal is universal: keep people safe.)
Conclusion: A Forward-Thinking Approach to Safety Goals
Safety goals in OHS are much more than numbers on a scoreboard – they are a reflection of an organization’s values and its commitment to its people. By setting clear, meaningful safety goals and diligently working towards them, organizations send the message that every employee’s well-being is a top priority. The most effective safety goals are those that inspire action (through leading indicators) and track outcomes (through lagging indicators) in a balanced way. They drive continuous improvement, encourage everyone’s involvement, and adapt to the realities of the workplace.
It’s important to approach safety goals with a forward-thinking and encouraging mindset. Instead of using goals to punish failure, use them to recognize progress and innovate new solutions. Today’s best practices – such as rewarding proactive safety behaviors, involving employees in safety decisions, and leveraging data to predict and prevent incidents – are paving the way for safer workplaces tomorrow. Leadership must champion these efforts, and workers must feel empowered to be partners in safety. When that happens, the results can be impressive: real companies have achieved multi-year stretches with zero serious injuries by building a strong safety culture and responding to leading indicator data in real time. Every near miss reported, every hazard fixed, every training completed is a step closer to those ultimate goals.
Of course, no discussion of safety goals would be complete without a dose of optimism and realism. Will we ever reach a point of zero accidents everywhere, all the time? Perhaps not overnight – humans are not perfect, and neither are complex work environments. But the aspiration of zero harm has already driven significant improvements. As long as organizations remain vigilant about the challenges (like avoiding the trap of underreporting, or ensuring goals are realistic), safety goals will continue to be a powerful tool for change.
Remember, the journey to safety excellence is a marathon, not a sprint. Celebrate the small victories (heck, celebrate with a safe pizza party if you want – just don’t make it contingent on hiding accidents!. Learn from setbacks. Keep raising the bar bit by bit. And maintain a sense of humor and humanity – safety is a serious matter, but that doesn’t mean we can’t smile when someone designs a witty safety poster or cracks a joke in a training session to keep things engaging.
In the end, a workplace with well-defined safety goals and an engaged team is no joke – it’s a safer, healthier, and more productive place to be. So set those goals, involve everyone in achieving them, and don’t forget: safety is an ongoing journey that we travel together, always looking out for each other. With that spirit, even the toughest safety goals start to feel achievable – and that’s good news for everyone on the team. Stay safe, and keep your eyes on the prize (and on the hazards)!