Ep 136: What is the symbolic purpose of injury rates?

About this episode

David Provan and Drew Rae discuss the symbolic purpose of injury rates in organizations based on a recent research paper.

In this episode, David Provan and Drew Rae examine a 2025 paper published in the Journal of Safety Research — "Signs of safety: An investigation of how OHS professionals interpret injury metrics," authored by James Pomeroy and Colin Pilbeam. Drawing on twenty interviews with experienced safety professionals and analyzed through a semiotic lens, the research explores how metrics such as lost time injury frequency rates and total recordable injury rates are used and interpreted within organizations. Despite well-documented statistical and conceptual limitations, these metrics remain dominant indicators of safety performance. The paper asks not whether they work as measures, but what symbolic work they are actually doing inside organizations.

People in this episode

Host: David Provan

Guest: Drew Rae

Topics covered

• injury rates
• safety metrics
• organizational safety
• OHS professionals
• semiotic analysis

Keywords

• injury metrics
• safety performance
• lost time injury frequency
• total recordable injury rates
• OHS professionals

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Journal of Safety Research