As the end of 2025 nears, it is a perfect calendar-driven reminder to look back at the year that was. For organizations of any size or mission, this reflection should include a thoughtful review of safety performance. While year-end efforts may focus on reviewing incidents that have occurred during the past year, or closing out projects before the holidays arrive; it is important to set the time aside to perform a safety assessment review that is deep, detailed and thorough. This ensures that when the ball drops and 2025 is left behind – your safety performance isn’t.
Annual Management Reviews
December is a perfect time to perform annual management reviews with both operational leaders and the Accountable Executive. These reviews can cover a wide range of topics to help not only review the past year, but also to prepare for the upcoming one.
Reviewing SPI categories, audit findings, effectiveness monitoring results; these are all easily accomplished in a review meeting setting. Not only will an annual management review thoroughly cover this year’s data, but it will also ensure buy-in for next year’s safety plan.
SPIs and Goal Setting
Oftentimes, organizations allow their SPIs to grow stale and remain unchanged from year to year. The end of the year is a good reminder to review the SPIs being tracked and ensure they are focused on the most relevant and significant risk factors within the organization. Are new categories needed? Are the existing definitions adequate? Are the correct data sources being used?
All of these are important items to review prior to year-end.
Trend Analysis
ASAP reports, audit findings, and hazard reports are great sources of data and information, but when is the last time they were reviewed for emerging trends not captured by SPIs? Make time during December to gather and review this information.
Companies can work to identify potential negative trends to monitor in the upcoming year, identify potential gaps in your data collection processes, or even use this analysis to discover areas that aren’t currently able to be tracked using your existing sources.
Safety Policy Changes
It can be considered best practice to review your company’s safety and SMS policy annually, usually in December for release in January. There may have been a change in accountable executive or other company leadership that requires new signatures. Safety roles and responsibilities in the organization may have changed.
This annual, scheduled look at the company’s policy will also set you up for success with the upcoming SMS Part 5 requirements, as you’ll be ensuring it remains current. Also, one more tip: no changes? Reissue it anyways! It shows employees that it is being regularly reviewed and serves as a reminder of the need to review the policy by the front lines.
Safety Culture Survey
When’s the last time your organization did a company wide Safety Culture Survey? Use this time to review if 2026 is a good time to complete one. Even if it hasn’t been that long, consider the need to complete a survey due to large changes in the organization such as new fleet types, acquisitions, or high turnover. These surveys can take a lot of time to organize, so planting the seed now will help you achieve this goal next year.
Starting 2026 Strong
It can be tempting to let some of these items linger until after the holidays but resist the urge! Starting a new year off with a clean sheet and a solid safety plan allows companies to focus on execution on day one. Going into a new year with refreshed SPIs, a new audit plan, and an updated safety policy sets companies up for a very strong start, and allows them to be more effective in handling the day-to-day administration. Things happen every day that get in the way of strategic planning, and waiting until January could mean waiting until March!
This time of year can be very busy, both personally and professionally. You may think that there’s no way to complete all these actions before the year is out, and that’s okay! Pick out a few that make sense for your organization, but endeavor to include them all in your SMS manual in 2026. This type of systematic, strategic planning can help organizations of any size achieve their safety goals more efficiently and quickly.
