← Business Metric: Operational (all topics)
Safety, workforce & governance indicators
What it is
Lost-time injury frequency, fatality counts, attrition, gender diversity, board independence and audit tenure. They are increasingly disclosed under mandatory sustainability reporting for large listed companies
They are non-financial but frequently precede financial problems
Impact on industries
- Safety and attrition trends are leading indicators of operational discipline, and deteriorate before financial results do
- Mandatory reporting has made them comparable across companies for the first time, so they can be screened rather than merely read
- A serious safety failure carries regulatory shutdown, litigation and reputational cost far exceeding the direct loss
- Disclosure quality varies widely, and self-reported non-financial data is not audited to the same standard as financial statements