Case Study - Dashboarding Health and Safety KPIs for a National Logistics Company
Ranae Peterson • September 3, 2025
Introduction: From Spreadsheets to Safety Strategy
When the health and safety team at a national logistics company came to Brewster Consulting Group, they weren’t lacking in commitment, they were lacking in time, visibility, and the right tools to keep up. With dozens of facilities spread across the country, tracking safety performance had become a patchwork of spreadsheets, emails, and manual follow-ups.
Every safety report, investigation, or compliance requirement took time and coordination to manage, often at the expense of speed and accuracy. The team knew they needed a better way to stay ahead of issues, not just react to them. They were looking for a solution that could give them both a bird’s-eye view and the ability to zoom in when it mattered most.
That’s where Brewster stepped in, to help turn raw safety data into real operational insight and build a dashboard that could support quick decisions, transparent reporting, and proactive management across every site.
The Challenge: Disconnected Processes and Limited Visibility
Despite having access to safety-related data from incident reports, training logs, and equipment checklists, the logistics company's teams struggled to analyze this information in a meaningful way.
Key challenges included:
- Time-consuming manual tracking of incidents, inspections, and compliance milestones.
- Inconsistent data formats across locations, making it hard to compare performance or ensure data integrity.
- No centralized view of open safety actions, investigations, or overdue inspections.
- Limited ability to drill into metrics, which restricted managers from identifying root causes or performance gaps.
- Delayed reporting cycles, resulting in missed opportunities to act early on preventable risks.
These limitations didn’t just slow the team down, they created risk. Without timely insights, the company faced the possibility of falling behind on safety standards, missing compliance deadlines, or overlooking systemic issues that could lead to serious incidents.
The Solution: A Centralized, Actionable Safety Dashboard
To meet the client’s operational and compliance needs, Brewster Consulting Group designed and implemented a comprehensive Power BI dashboard that unified their health and safety reporting into one interactive platform.
Key Deliverables Included:
-A comprehensive dashboard tracking 7 key health and safety KPIs,
such as incident rates, open investigations, overdue inspections, and employee training completion.
-A performance scoring system,
designed to assign a weighted value to each location based on their adherence to key safety metrics—offering a standardized way to evaluate and compare performance.
-Custom visualizations
for managers to monitor open safety actions, identify areas of risk, and respond to incidents faster.
-Automated tracking
of equipment inspections and compliance criteria, minimizing human error and ensuring deadlines aren’t missed.
-Reporting layers
that supported both strategic and operational needs, offering detailed drilldowns from company-wide performance down to site-specific activity.
To support adoption, Brewster also worked with stakeholders to structure historical data, validate inputs, and train internal users
on how to navigate the dashboards and interpret insights.
Results: From Safety Oversight to Strategic Insight
The dashboard implementation brought immediate operational improvements
and set the stage for longer-term cultural change in how the organization approached workplace safety.
With real-time tracking in place, the health and safety team now had a clear, consistent view of performance across all locations. They could quickly identify sites that were underperforming, follow up on unresolved investigations, and analyze trends in incident types or root causes.
The performance scoring system introduced a new level of accountability;
enabling leadership to recognize top-performing sites and offer targeted support to those falling behind. Meanwhile, frontline managers gained a tool to proactively manage inspections, close safety gaps, and ensure their teams stayed in compliance.
By replacing a fragmented manual process with a centralized, data-driven reporting framework, Brewster helped the client create a more resilient, proactive, and aligned health and safety program.
Conclusion: Empowering Safety Teams with Insight and Efficiency
This project exemplifies how the right analytics tools can turn data into action, even in complex, multi-site operational environments. By delivering a custom Power BI solution tailored to the client’s unique H&S workflows, Brewster Consulting Group helped the logistics company move from reactive reporting to proactive risk management.
Now, with transparency, structure, and consistency across all safety activities, the client is better equipped to protect their workforce, maintain compliance, and continuously improve performance, no matter how large or distributed their operations grow.
At Brewster Consulting Group, we recognize that managing data can be a daunting task for small and mid-sized enterprises. Allow us to assist you in harnessing the potential of operational intelligence! Reach out to one of our specialists today to refine your data strategy, optimize your processes, and establish solid governance. Ready to cultivate data analysis and propel scalable growth? Your journey begins right here!
Many small businesses are laser-focused on growth, sales, and staying afloat. In that constant hustle, one of the most valuable assets, data , often gets overlooked. Even when businesses “look at the numbers,” that doesn’t always mean they’re collecting the right data, tracking the right KPIs, or translating those insights into actionable strategies. Fractional analytics bridges that gap. It allows small businesses to access experienced data analysts or analytics teams on a part-time or project basis, essentially bringing enterprise-level data expertise without the full-time cost. Think of it as analytics-as-a-service for small business owners who need clarity and insight but can’t justify a full analytics department. The Reality: Why Data Gets Overlooked While most business leaders know data is “important,” it can be hard to see its impact until it’s visualized through dashboards, real-time reporting, or guided by a professional who knows how to turn information into action. Without these tools and expertise, business decisions often rely on gut instinct instead of insight, leading to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and in some cases, failure. Statistics show that: About 20% of small businesses don’t survive their first year. Nearly 50% fail within five years. Around 65% close within ten years. While the reasons vary, from financial mismanagement to poor planning, many of these challenges stem from a lack of data visibility or poor data management . In other words, the root cause often isn’t just financial; it’s analytical . Real World Analogy Imagine running a restaurant without ever checking what inventory levels, most frequent orders, or best margin products. You might think you’re doing well because the restaurant is busy, but when you do the books, you’re not actually making any money. Now, imagine having a fractional analytics consultant helping you organize and visualize your data. They don’t need to be in the kitchen every day, but when they are, they bring order to chaos, tracking inventory and margin by menu item, predicting staffing needs, and saving costs by cutting waste. That’s what fractional analytics does for your business data. It helps you understand what’s really happening across operations, finance, and customer service so you can make smarter, faster decisions. Common Operational Challenges Solved by Fractional Analytics Here are a few common pain points small businesses face that fractional analytics services can address: Inefficient reporting and manual data entry. Lack of clear KPIs or performance tracking. Inconsistent financial forecasting. Missed revenue opportunities due to incomplete data. Poor inventory or resource management. Lack of clarity around customer behavior and profitability. Benefits of Fractional Analytics for Small Businesses Engaging a fractional analytics provider offers far more than just numbers and dashboards. It’s about empowering smarter decisions without breaking the bank. Cost efficiency: Avoid the high salary and benefits of full-time analytics hire. Speed to impact: Gain immediate access to expertise, no lengthy onboarding or training required. Scalability: Bring in analytics support when you need it and scale it up as you grow. Better decision-making: Replace guesswork with data-driven insights and actionable KPIs. Time savings: Spend less time in spreadsheets and more time growing your business. Long-term cost reduction: Identify duplicate payments, missed invoices, and inefficiencies that quietly drain profit. Fractional analytics also enhances cash flow management and enables business leaders to spot opportunities for optimization, often resulting in measurable growth and sustainability. Why It’s a Make-or-Break Decision Choosing whether to work with a fractional analytics consultant could be the difference between surviving and thriving. Many business owners don’t realize that outsourced analytics is even an option, one that offers flexibility, affordability, and strategic insight without high overhead. The truth is, small business leaders don’t have to do it all alone, nor do they need to rush into hiring a full-time team. Fractional analytics gives them the best of both worlds: the expertise of a senior data strategist and the flexibility of a part-time engagement. Final Thoughts In today’s competitive market, data-driven decision making isn’t optional; it’s essential. Small businesses that embrace fractional analytics gain clarity, confidence, and control over their operations. By investing in the right insights today, they set up the foundation for sustainable growth tomorrow. If your business is ready to move from guessing to growing, now’s the time to explore what fractional analytics services can do for you.
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