Behavior Based Safety

Safety Professionals View

Objectives Today:

Identify differences between traditional vs

BBS
Know when and when not to implement
BBS
Explain why most traditional safety programs
dont work!
Understand why positive reinforcement is
much more powerful than negative
reinforcement

Why Safety Programs Do Not Work:

Safety is a priority, not a value!

Safety is not managed in the same
manner as production, quality, and cost
issues!
Safety is not driven through continuous
improvement!

Fallacies or Realities in Safety

Fables?

Conditions cause accidents!

Enforcing rules improves safety!
Safety professionals can keep workers safe!
Low accident rates indicate safety programs
are working well!
Investigating to find the root cause of
accidents will improve safety!
Awareness training improves safety!
Rewards improve safety!

Core Elements in Successful Safety

Programs

A culture that says safety is important

around here!
A tight accountability system!

Safety Intervention Strategies

(By NSC)
Approach

# of Studies

Behavior Based
7
Ergonomics
3
Engineering Change 4
Problem Solving
1
Govt Action
2
Mgt. Audits
4
Stress Management 2
Poster Campaign
2
Personnel Selection 26
Near-miss Reports
2

# of Subjects
2,444
n/a
n/a
76
2
n/a
1,300
6,100
19,177
n/a

Reduction %
59.6%
51.6%
29.0%
20.0%
18.3%
17.0%
15.0%
14.0%
3.7%
0%

Behavior Based Safety: What Is It?

An excellent tool for collecting data on the quality
of a companys safety management system
A scientific way to understand why people behave
the way they do when it comes to safety
Properly applied, an effective next step towards
creating a truly pro-active safety culture where
loss prevention is a core value
Conceptually easy to understand but often hard to
implement and sustain

Behavior Based Safety:What It Is Not!

Only about observation and feedback
Concerned only about the behaviors of line employees
A substitution for traditional risk management techniques
About cheating & manipulating people & aversive control
A focus on incident rates without a focus on behavior
A process that does not need employee involvement

rs
vio
ha
Be

Ma Saf
n a ety
Sy gem
ste en
m t

Interventions: Always
Consider These 3 Components

Engineering
Controls

Traditional Hierarchy of Safety

Interventions Included:
Attempts to eliminate the hazard
Having employees work around the hazard
Guarding or warning employees about the
hazard
Training employees to deal safely with the
hazard

Safety Management System Interventions

7 components
Management leadership
vision, values, commitment
safety goals & objectives
costs of safety performance

Responsibility & accountability

defined for management & employees
accountable for performance

Safety organization
safety committees
safety staff resource
safety budget

Safety Management System Interventions

7 components (continued)
Safe work practices & procedures
general & job specific
housekeeping
contractors
emergency

Safety review & improvement

a Plan / Do / Check / Act process
accident investigation process
safety audit / inspection process

Safety Management System Interventions

7 components (continued)
Safety training

Based on needs assessments

Designed & presented effectively
For both management & employees
Results in observable changes in behavior on the job

Safety communications
Internal & external
Appropriate for audience
Effectiveness of communication methods

If Safety Interventions are Effective You

Will See:
% of safe behaviors increasing and the % at-risk
behaviors decreasing
Reporting of near misses / hits increasing
Both the number of observations and level of
participation increasing
Frequency & severity of injuries decreasing
Increasing acceptance of responsibility and
accountability for personal behavior

A business succeeds or fails through the

performance of all of its employees

Business is Behavior

Success = Good performance

Failure = Bad performance

Performance = the combined results of a series

of behaviors
* Aubrey Daniels, author and behavioral psychologist

Suggested BBS Process:

Discovery - Determine Behaviors That Have

Greatest Loss Impact

Design - Identify Team Who Will Define &

Design BBS Process

System Up - Implement BBS Observation

Process & Collect Data

System Check - Ensure BBS Process Has

Been Effectively Implemented

Observations, Feedback & Data Collection

Use a design team of hourly workers, supervisors
and managers, to design the process - forms,
training, data collection and ID roles &
responsibilities
Clearly define critical behaviors that will be
observed - what is safe vs at-risk?
Give feedback on safe & at-risk behavior
observed
Determine who will act on data collected through
observations

Use Prior Experience Data to Target Jobs for

Observation

Loss runs from insurance carrier or

broker
OSHA logs
First aid logs
Near miss / hit reports
Absenteeism / turnover reports

Define Critical Behaviors - What is Safe & What

is At-risk?
Focus on relevant behaviors
that will have a direct impact
on losses
Many behaviors that are
directly related to the losses are
unconscious behaviors that
occur quickly
Select critical behaviors to
focus on through actual
observation of people at work not just through discussion &
brainstorming

Obstacles To Success:

Poorly Maintained Facilities

Top-down Management Practices
Poor Planning/Execution
Inadequate Training

Keys to Success:

Meaningful Employee Empowerment

Designing a Well Planned and
Supported BBS Process
Managing BBS Process with Integrity

Human Behavior is a function of :

Activators (what needs to be done )

Competencies (how it needs to be done)

Consequences (what happens if it is done)

Human behavior is both:

Observable

Measurable
therefore

Behavior can be managed !

Attitudes

are inside a persons head -therefore they are not

observable or measurable

however

Attitudes can be changed by

changing behaviors

ABC Model
Antecedents
(trigger behavior)

Behavior
(human performance)

Consequences
(either reinforce or punish behavior)

Definitions:
Activators: A person, place, thing or event
that happens before a behavior takes place
that encourages you to perform that behavior.

Activators only set the stage for behavior or

performance - they dont control it.

Some examples of activators

Definitions:

Behavior: Any directly measurable

thing that a person does, including
speaking, acting, and performing
physical functions.

Some examples of behavior:

Definitions:
Consequences: Events that follow
behaviors.
Consequences increase or decrease the
probability that the behaviors will occur
again in the future.
Oh please let it be Bob!

If you dont send in that

payment well take you to
court

Some example of Consequences:

Consequences - How would you view

them?

Sunbathing

Aggressive Drivers

Only 4 Types of Consequences:

Positive

Reinforcement (R+)

("Do this & you'll be rewarded")

Negative

Reinforcement (R-)

("Do this or else you'll be penalized")

Behavior
Punishment

(P)

("If you do this, you'll be penalized")

Extinction

(E)

("Ignore it and it'll go away")

Consequences Influence Behaviors

Based Upon Individual Perceptions
of:

Significance - positive
or negative

Timing - immediate or future

Consistency - certain or uncertain

Magnitude - large or
small

Impact other

personal or

Both Positive (R+) & Negative (R-)

Reinforcement Can Increase Behavior
R+ : any consequence that follows a behavior and
increases the probability that the behavior will occur
more often in the future - You get something you want

R- : a consequence that strengthens any behavior that

reduces or terminates the consequence - You escape or
avoid something you dont want

R+

Good safety
suggestion Joe!
Keep bringing
em up!

One more report

like this and youre
outa here!!

R-

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

R+

The effects of positive

reinforcement

Time

Both Punishment & Extinction

Decrease Behavior
P: a procedure in which a punisher (consequence
that decreases the frequency of the behavior it
follows) is presented - You may get something you
dont want

E: withholding or non-delivery of positive

reinforcement for previously reinforced behavior You dont get what you want

You bonehead!! You can kiss

that bonus for this year goodbye.... and take a few days off
without pay!!!

Let him cry honey. If

we get up every night
when he cries hell
never learn to go to
sleep peacefully.

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

P
The effects of
punishment

Time

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

E
The effects of
extinction

Time

P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e

If you see this type of

performance curve, you can bet
management by negative
reinforcement is the
predominant management style

Time

What Employees Want:

A Safe Workplace
A Positive Workplace
To Take Care of One Another
To Stop the Hurt!

What Management Wants:

An Accident Free Workplace

Empowered Employees
Pro-active Rather Than Re-active Work
Process
To Minimize Direct and Indirect Costs and
Threat of Liability From Accidents

Why is one sign often ignored, the other

one often followed?

If you want to know what people find

to be reinforcing....
observe what they do when they have
the freedom to choose.

The Behavior Based Safety Challenge:

To create conditions that encourage
people to collaborate because they want
Lets do
to
it!!

not because they have to

A Values-Based Process
Focus on the process.not
resultsthey will come later!

Avoid The Following Headline:

Behavior Based Safety Scores Show

Significant Improvement - while
injury rate climbs!

Why Do We Need to Change?

If you do what youve always done,
youll get what you always got!
W. Edwards Deming