The 4 Ps of Safety

You’ve heard of the four Ps of marketing.  How about the four Ps of safety?  The first three are the targets we focus on to foster safety: people; places; and processes.  The last, predictive analytics, is a data-driven way to gain insights and improve outcomes.

Here is what we mean by the first three Ps:

People

Employees, the public, managers — these are the human elements we seek to influence.  Analytics can tell us where to intervene to protect people.

Places

These are the environments which can be made safer, including specific locations, such as plants, distribution centers, or stores.  Fleets and equipment also fall into this category.  Analytics can tell us the factors which, when interacting with humans, may pose a greater risk or serve to mitigate it.

Processes

These are the strategies and tactics, such as safety campaigns or training, that organizations undertake to improve safety.  Analytics can help us understand their effectiveness and improve their design.

The following diagram shows what happens when you involve the last p, predictive analytics.  

The outcomes, mapped to the three areas, are listed on the right side of the diagram.   In between is a so-called “Safety Data Repository” upon which advanced analytics is performed.  Advanced analytics includes such tools as statistical analysis and modeling as well as machine learning.

There is too much at stake today to make safety decisions based on hunches and precedent.  Like all other areas in business, the best decisions are made with data and analytics.