Where an objective comes from
Objectives come from the risk assessment, the legal obligations and the policy — not from thin air. "Reduce accidents" is not by itself an objective; until it is tied to which accident type, which site and which missing control, it cannot be measured.
What each objective states
- What will be done.
- What resources are needed.
- Who is responsible.
- When it will be completed.
- How the result will be evaluated — which indicator, which threshold.
Leading and lagging indicators
A system that watches only lagging indicators (accident counts, lost days) learns only after the harm. Leading indicators — the share of planned site tours actually done, the number of near misses reported, the on-time closure rate of corrective actions, training completion — show the deviation before harm occurs. A sound set carries both.
The zero-target trap
"Zero accidents" is meaningful as a policy commitment; as a measurable annual objective it usually is not. The side effect is known: since you cannot go below zero, reporting is suppressed, near-miss records fall and the system goes blind. A target that punishes reporting improves the records, not the safety.
Monitoring
Objectives are monitored and considered at management review. In Optifora's data layer "objectives and plans" is a shared document type of the harmonised structure (6.2).