EVALUATING THE SAFETY FUNCTION - A CONCEPTUAL-MODEL

Evaluation is becoming recognized as an important management practice of the Safety Function. What is it, then, that makes for effective-safety function evaluation? This paper provides a framework for evaluating the efficacy of the Safety Function. The need for a model to evaluate the efficacy (i.e., intended effectiveness and efficiency) continues to build among a distinct group of. safety practitioners who are required to justify their continued organizational existence in a strict economical sense. Specifically, the paper focuses on (a) a definition and purpose of safety function evaluation; (b) preconditions necessary for conducting an evaluation; (c) the types of safety function and the approaches to safety function evaluation, (d) guidelines for planning an evaluation; and (e) indicators that measure and evaluate financial and economic performance of the safety function.