It's a staple of EHS work. Our jobs require that we make predictions. The only way to develop a worst-case scenario for releases of hazardous materials, as required by the OSHA hazardous waste operations and emergency response standard, is to look outward in time and make a prediction.
Some predictions are formed using sophisticated methods, others are simply someone's best guess.
In this article, I want to show you just a few ways that predictions are used, and maybe misused, in the EHS field. Hopefully, you'll also come away thinking more openly about how you make predictions. Numerous methodologies can be used to develop predictions. Others are very creative. I'm aware of a certified safety professional who used his biorhythm calendar to predict his company's future injury incidence rates.