Virginia Commonwealth University
PA-15: Workplace Health and Safety

Part 1. Health and safety management system

Institution has an occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS).

The system may use a nationally or internationally recognized standard or guideline (see Standards and Terms for a list of examples) or it may be a custom management system.

Part 2. Incidents per FTE employee

Institution has less than four annual recordable incidents of work-related injury or ill health per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees.

This credit applies to all institutions.

Each part is scored independently.

Part 1

An institution earns the maximum of 0.5 points available for Part 1 for having an occupational health and safety management system that uses a nationally or internationally recognized standard or guideline. Partial points are available for institutions that have custom systems that do not use recognized standards or guidelines. An institution with such a system earns 0.25 points (half of the points available for Part 1).

Part 2

An institution earns the maximum of 1.5 points available for Part 2 for having zero recordable incidents of work-related injury or ill health per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. Incremental points are awarded based on the institution’s performance between four incidents per 100 FTE employees and the target of zero incidents. For example, an institution with two incidents per 100 FTE employees would earn 0.75 points (half of the points available for Part 2).

Points earned for Part 2 are calculated according to the formula below. Please note that users do not have to calculate the number of points earned themselves; points earned will be calculated automatically when the data listed under Reporting Fields is entered in the online Reporting Tool.

Points earned = 1.5 × { [ 0.04 - ( A / ( B + C ) ) ] / 0.04 }

A = Annual number of recordable incidents of work-related injury or ill health

B = Full-time equivalent of employees, performance year

C = Full-time equivalent of workers who are not employees but whose work and/or workplace is controlled by the institution, performance year (optional)

Timeframe

Report the most recent data available from within the three years prior to the anticipated date of submission. Institutions may use the most recent single year for which data is available or an average from throughout the period. Institutions may choose the annual start and end dates that work best with the data they have (e.g., fiscal or calendar year), as long as data are reported from a consecutive 12-month (or 3-year) period.

Report FTE employees from the same time period as that from which workplace health and safety data are drawn (e.g., the consecutive 12-month or 3-year period that most closely overlaps with the incidents performance period).

Sampling and Data Standards

An institution may use any methodology to track and calculate the number of recordable incidents of work-related injury or ill health that is consistent with the definitions provided in Standards and Terms. See, for example, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) code of practice on Recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illness.

As a best practice, an institution should include all workers (including employees of contractors and self-employed persons) whose work and/or workplace is controlled by the institution, i.e., workers for whom the institution has control over the physical aspects of the workplace (e.g., access to the workplace), and/or the type of activities that can be performed in the workplace.