Safety performance indicators are used to assess operational safety performance through monitoring. A safety performance indicator is defined in the ICAO Safety Management Manual as a measure (or metric) used to express the level of safety performance achieved in a system. They are generally expressed in terms of the frequency of occurrences of some event causing harm, e.g., the number of fatal aircraft accidents per year or serious incidents per 10,000 flight hours. A set of indicators should also include leading indicators. These indicators do not require a safety event to take place and are metrics that provide information on the current situation that may affect future performance.
The ICAO Safety Management Manual further states that there is no single safety performance indicator that is appropriate in all circumstances. The indicator must be chosen so that it matches the application in which it will be used for a meaningful evaluation. The safety performance indicator(s) chosen to express global, regional and national targets will in general not be appropriate to individual organisations.
NLR can support you with:
- Defining and using appropriate indicators to support performance management, including identifying more specific indicators at a lower level.
- Addressing regulatory requirements for indicator use.
- Aligning indicators with your ambitions regarding performance monitoring.
- Identifying suitable indicators for your organisation.
- Demonstrating the relationship between individual indicators and overall safety performance.
- Determining sources of data to support selected indicators and developing methods for data collection.
- Continuously monitoring and interpreting indicator performance to ensure effective performance management.
