Building Safety indicators: Part 1 – Theoretical foundation

Development of early warning indicators to prevent major accidents – to ‘build safety’ – should rest on a sound theoretical foundation, including basic concepts, main perspectives and past developments, as well as an overview of the present status and ongoing research. In this paper we have established the theoretical basis for development of indicators used as early warnings of major accidents. Extensive work on indicators have been carried out in the past, and this could and should have been better utilized by industry, e.g., by focusing more on major hazard indicators, and less on personal safety indicators. Recent discussions about safety indicators have focused on the distinction between leading and lagging indicators; however, a discussion on terms should not impede the development of useful indicators that can provide (early) warnings about potential major accidents.