In January 2020, CHASNZ published ‘Lag Indicator Guidance’ to meet the request of the construction sector to form a view on a standardised set of historical safety measures. It was acknowledged, at the time, that standardising lag indicators was only a start and there needed to be further investment in developing better measures that drove health and safety performance.

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Construction in New Zealand has a historically higher rate of injuries than other sectors as well as construction in other developed countries in terms of injury rates and this has not significantly improved over the past ten years. Increased focus on historical measures of accidents and illness may have raised awareness but has not contributed to better health and safety performance.

Identifying a common set of leading indicators has been a difficult and uncertain focus area for many organisations globally. Construction as a high-risk industry is yet to develop a common set of accepted indicators. CHASNZ has utilised research from the U.K to develop this discussion paper for the New Zealand construction industry on what measures may be useful in predicting and preventing accidents and improving health in the workplace.

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This document is a first step towards providing that guidance and with feedback from industry as well as further development it will be improved upon. It is intended that construction clients, designers, contractors, subcontractors and specialist trades will find this document relevant when seeking to develop key performance indicators.

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