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On July 10, 2024, AIHA will deliver a webinar titled "Navigating Metrics for Workplace Safety and Health" that will discuss the use and potential misuse of metrics. The webinar will show participants how to select and use metrics in successful occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) programs through examples that the presenters hope will assist them in tailoring programs to their operations.

In particular, participants will finish the webinar knowing how to use metrics to measure the progress of OEHS programs in discussions with management. They will also learn to anticipate ethical challenges related to the use of metrics, including those presented by artificial intelligence (AI). Participants will be able to identify which metrics they may use to analyze cause and effect for leading, lagging, and impact indicators, as well as compare their organization's metrics with those of other organizations. Furthermore, they will learn about significant updates in the second edition of Industrial Hygiene Performance Metrics (IHPM), published by AIHA in 2023.

The new edition, led by the Leadership and Management Committee (LMC), expands the document from 14 to 21 chapters. These new chapters expand on both fundamental topics and emerging areas of focus for OEHS professionals. Additions to the preexisting chapters reflect current standards and measures. The updated IHPM also builds on the groundwork laid by another AIHA publication, "Best Practice Guide for Leading Health Metrics in Occupational Health and Safety Programs," released in 2020. By using leading and lagging pairs of metrics, OEHS professionals may develop a correlated and balanced "set" of occupational health metrics.

The contributors to the second edition represented 10 AIHA technical committees and included 35 authors and editors and 17 peer reviewers. Scott Lawson, MS, CSP, the chair of the LMC subcommittee responsible for this update, will also be one of the presenters of "Navigating Metrics for Workplace Safety and Health." The webinar will discuss key changes to this publication, along with some real-world applications of metrics.

Using a balanced set of metrics that is in tune with their organizations' operational goals can help OEHS professionals build business cases for safety management systems. All industrial hygienists and OEHS professionals who are responsible for safety management system development will benefit from the webinar, particularly from the discussion of ethical uses of metrics. Early and mid-career professionals will find value in the webinar's discussion of the general background and variety of metrics. More established professionals will have opportunities to identify benchmarking possibilities for their existing programs.

The webinar will be presented by R. Scott Lawson, MS, CSP, the Midwest region safety and health director for Heidelberg Materials Inc.; Alan Leibowitz, CIH, CSP, FAIHA, the president of EHS Systems Solutions LLC; and Celia A. Booth, MA, CIH, CSP, ARM, the principal consultant at CAB Enterprises LLC. To learn more or to register, visit AIHA's website.