Background: Workers in utility industries are exposed to occupational accidents due to inadequate safety management systems. Accordingly, it is necessary to characterize and compare the available literature on indicators used in safety management practices in the utility industries.
Methods: The systematic literature review was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis statement. This study considered 25 related studies from Web of Science and Scopus databases.
Results: Further review of these articles resulted in three mains performance indicators; namely, driven leading indicators, observant leading indicators, and lagging indicators consisting of 15 sub-indicators.
Conclusions: Future studies should consider researching a more comprehensive range of utility industries, measuring subjective and objective indicators, integrating risk management into safety management practices, and validating the influence of leading indicators on safety outcomes. Further, researchers recommend including accidents, fatalities, lost time injuries, and near misses in safety outcomes.
Keywords: lagging indicators; leading indicators; occupational safety and health; safety management practices; safety performance.