Frequently asked questions about your health and wellbeing data

The dashboard is categorised into four sections:

• industry view
• individual company view
• data quality
• guidance documentation.

Industry view compares data across the industry. Metrics include:

• lost time rate
• sickness absence cost per employee
• long-term sickness absence
• reasons for sickness absence
• Health and Wellbeing Index (HWI)
• COVID-19 prevalence
• ·number of safety-critical workers
• drug and alcohol testing passed as negative.

Individual company view compares your company data with sector and industry averages. Metrics include:

• monthly and average lost time rate
• cost of sickness absence per employee
• long-term, self-reported, and clinician-assigned sickness absences
• compliance with statutory health surveillance
• compliance rate for hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS), respiratory sensitisers, respirable crystalline, and noise
• COVID-19 prevalence
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) usage
• drug and alcohol testing passed as negative.

The data quality assessment includes heat map scoring for sickness absence, health surveillance, and other indicators.

The guidance documentation provides resources for the HWI, user guides, phase 1 and 2 reports, and access to quarterly reports. 

Sickness absence is currently recorded using the Level One HSE/Institute of Occupational Medicine SART (sickness absence reporting tool) code.

We are planning to move to the Employee Absence Sickness Reason (ESR), which the NHS uses. The categories are the same for both, so there will be little to no reclassification necessary when this change takes place. 

Yes, the dashboard ensures anonymity. You will only see your own company name. All other company names are anonymised.

Additionally, data is normalised either by workforce number or by using percentage of the total (Key Performance Indicator [KPI] dependent) and aggregated to prevent identification of individual companies.

To access the dashboard, you will receive a link to a secure webpage once you have been added to the security group. The dashboard is not live on the RSSB website to ensure security.

You can grant access to as many people in your company as needed.

There are no additional costs for members.

In the future, there may be an optional cost for implementing an application programming interface (API) to automate data submission, but this will always remain optional.

Yes, you can export data from the dashboard in Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF formats. You will also be sent a quarterly individual company report that outlines the trends of your submitted data from the quarter.

The data is stored in RSSB’s secure data warehouse. Only a select number of necessary people within RSSB have access.

The Health Insights data hub has restricted access to only organisations that are submitting data.

Further to limited access, organisations are only able to view their own data without a level of anonymisation. All other organisational data is anonymised, so companies cannot be identified on the data hub.

The ways KPIs are normalised varies. Data normalisation means breaking down a large, complex table into smaller and simpler tables while maintaining data relationships.

For measures such as sickness absence, occupational health outcomes, and health surveillance compliance rates, data is presented as a percent of the total. For example, 12% of sickness absence is due to mental health. This enables organisations to benchmark.

For measures such as HWI score and long-term sickness absence, data is normalised using workforce numbers. For example, HWI is presented per 1,000 employees.

Lost time rate does not need normalisation, as it refers to the percent of time loss of the total number of days/hours that are scheduled to be worked.

A data quality score is a measure used to assess the accuracy, reliability, and overall quality of data.

High-quality data ensures that the insights and decisions made from it are accurate and reliable. Poor data can lead to incorrect conclusions and potentially costly mistakes.

Ensure that your data is free from errors, duplicates, and inconsistencies. Submitting data consistently will make insights more comprehensive and reliable. The more data you can submit, the better.

It is also important to ensure that your data is formatted correctly using the template provided, including proper labelling and categorisation.

Our team is available to support you in improving your data quality score.

One common data quality issue is using letters instead of numbers in cells. This lead to rejection of the template.

Another issue is using incorrect or outdated templates, which can result in data being misaligned.

Also, adding comments within data fields can cause confusion and errors during data processing.

Please view our user guide for more information on how to correctly populate the data submission template for minimal errors.

N/A	KPI is not applicable to company
1	No data is reported or collected, or the process is under development.
2	Data reported has questionable integrity or is partly missing and cannot be relied upon within the industry management system, or a process is in place but not fully implemented and embedded.
3	Data is reported in a company’s own format but can be relied on and used within the industry system after cleaning and processing. A process is in place and implemented. System procedures are documented, and results are being measured.
4	Data is reported is in the right format within the RSSB template and can be readily used and relied on in industry management system. A process is in place and implemented. The system is sustained and supported by an ongoing improvement process.

Data should be submitted using an Excel template that will be provided. The template includes a user guide to help with the process.

At the moment, data needs to be submitted quarterly. For specific deadlines for the year, please reach out to the team. Ask us for the deadlines. Reminders are sent to help keep submissions on track.

Yes, the team is available to help with any questions or issues that may arise during the process. Guidance or tutorials can be provided on how to correctly fill in the data submission template, and a user guide is also available.

Please find the team’s contact details below:

• Niamh McMahon, Technical Lead: Niamh.McMahon@RSSB.co.uk
• Lisa Regan, Lead Data Analyst: Lisa.Regan@RSSB.co.uk
• Isabel Masetti, Health and Wellbeing Data Analyst: Isabel.Masetti@RSSB.co.uk

If accessing all the data on the template is not possible, you can submit as much or as little data as you can. It is also possible to backdate the data when required. Try not to worry if the initial submission is limited; the data can be expanded over time, and there is no lower limit for submission.

Everyone participating in benchmarking sessions is required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This agreement helps maintain the privacy of the data shared and discussed during the sessions, ensuring that individual company information remains secure.

This means that participants can still benefit from learning about other companies’ experiences.

Benchmarking groups are kept small. They usually comprise up to five to eight people, limited to one representative per company.

We have found that having smaller groups encourages more open discussions, allowing everyone to learn from each other’s experiences and opinions.

Ideally, only one person from each company should join a benchmarking group. This is to keep the groups small and varied.

This approach helps ensure diverse perspectives and more effective discussions.

However, anyone from the company can be allocated to participate.

Benchmarking groups are currently categorised by sector (e.g., train operating companies, freight, and infrastructure and supply chain).

To tailor the benchmarking process to your preferences, you will be asked to complete a form outlining your desired benchmarking companies and categories. This ensures that the comparisons are relevant and meaningful.

Participants can engage in a deep-dive into their data, gaining detailed insights and understanding current trends and patterns.

Additionally, these sessions provide an opportunity to hear how other companies are addressing similar challenges and implementing best practice. This exchange of ideas and experiences leads to innovative solutions and improvements.

Benchmarking groups foster a collaborative environment where participants can learn from each other and enhance the health and wellbeing in their own company and the industry at large.

Benchmarking groups currently meet once a quarter. The dates are sent in advance to ensure that participants can plan accordingly.

After the benchmarking group meetings, a quarterly report is written and published. The information in this report remains anonymous to ensure confidentiality. It includes:

• a summary of the quarter’s data trends
• discussions
• key insights
• best practices
• challenges
• possible solutions.

The report aims to provide valuable takeaways that can help improve the health and wellbeing of employees. By reviewing it, companies can learn from each other’s experiences and apply new ideas to their own strategies. 

To get started, please contact a member of our team, and we can send you a detailed process document. Once you have reviewed this document, and if you are interested in submitting your health and wellbeing data, we will schedule a 30-minute introductory Teams meeting.

During this meeting, we will:

• introduce you to the project
• give you a tour of the dashboard
• discuss data collection strategies
• answer any questions you may have. >

After the meeting, we will email you the resources and upcoming data collection deadlines for you to review at your convenience. If you decide to participate, you will need to sign an MoU before sending us any data. Once the MoU is signed, you will be officially enrolled.

Here are our contact details:

• Niamh.McMahon@RSSB.co.uk
• Lisa.Regan@RSSB.co.uk
• Isabel.Masetti@RSSB.co.uk