The Critical Index is the first automatically generated lead safety metric for heavy industries. Unlike traditional safety metrics like accident frequency rate (AFR) and lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR), the Critical Index is automatically captured and calculated, does not rely on an accident to have occurred, and focuses on the serious and fatal accident potential involving machinery.
The Critical is a normalised risk measure and can be directly compared across machines, sites, and companies. The Blindsight Index is a simple but powerful metric that baselines risk and can be tracked over time.
The Critical Index is calculated from the number of critical zone detections (i.e. near-misses) per machine danger hour. The danger hours are determined automatically by the Alert Trigger.
A high Critical Index indicates higher risk; a low Critical Index indicates lower risk.
Note: For the system to calculate a Critical Index, critical alert zones must be enabled, and the danger hours greater than 10 minutes on a given day.
The Critical Index should be used as a starting point for further investigations:
Why is the Critical Index of "Loader 1" higher than "Loader 2"? Is it the time of the day, the operator and work crew, the subcontractor, or the operations? How can the operations or job sites be modified to reduce the risk profile?
Why is the Critical Index of "Project A" consistently lower than "Project B", and what can be learnt and shared with other projects to improve company risk?