Paper on Behavior-Based Safety

BBS is about Unintentional

Behavior and
Habitual Unsafe Behavior

BBS aim is to discourage taking risk

and to reduce the number of unsafe
behaviors (near miss incidents) so
that the chance of a fatality can be
reduce to zero.

Increasing the number of safe

behaviors through educating the
workers is essential for incident
elimination /reduction.

“Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) in Construction Industry at Marina Coastal Expressway Project”

Note: This paper was submitted to the OS+H Asia, CIB W099 International Conference on "Modelling and Building
Health and Safety" and ASEM OSH Conference which took place concurrently with the Singapore Workplace Safety
and Health (WSH) Conference September 2012.

Name of Author: Dr. Desmond Lee

Qualifications: B.Sc. Geophysical Electronics Instrumentation (Hons) University of Western Ontario.
Masters in Business &Technology (QHSE). University of New South Wales.
Doctorate in Business Administration and Management, University of Newcastle.
Email address: desmond.lee@samsung.com

Next Author: Mr. Edmund Tai

Qualifications: B.Eng. (Electronics & Electrical Engineering) Tokyo Institute of Technology.
M.Sc. (Electrical Eng) and M.Sc. (Industrial Eng and Eng Management) Stanford University.
Email address: ed.tai@psyscanadvtech.com

Supporting Mr. Zamri Kamar, Project Safety Manager

Site Personnel Mr. Lee Jeong Yeol, Project Manager
Ms. Julie Yeo, Program Director

Abstract

In construction area, although safety has been recognized as an important matter, the number of fatal injuries is still
increasing according to the statistical data obtained from The Ministry of Manpower Singapore in 2011. WSHC,
Annual Report (2010-2011). Although there were a number of safety improvements that were already implemented
in Singapore however they seem to have reached a “plateau” such as the Code of Practice for Working at Height
which was introduced in late 2010, and this still has not bring down the Falling from Height injury statistics.
S.Bhattacharjee & 2 Others, (2011). Recently as an approach to this safety problem, behavior-based safety
programs began to be adopted by The Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) in their construction of major
roads and MRT lines in Singapore. Behavior-based safety is a proactive approach to increasing safety in the
workplace. It is based on proven, research-based, and behavioral practices, and is easy to use with minimal training.
R.Riley & R.Baldwin (2010).

This paper will discuss the concept of implementing Behavior-Based Safety in the Construction Industry and the
challenges faced in implementing it.

Introduction

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Construction projects change drastically, and the workforce changes are dramatic and sudden, not only within
individual construction projects but also during different phases of every project. These unique characteristics of the
construction industry may be an obstacle to applying the behavioral based safety programs which require a certain
length of time to educate management and workforce, gather data, assess results, feedback, and improve working
behaviors, eventually leading to a culture shift and change. However, if carefully planned and carried out, it can yield
reliable and substantial results. L. Wilson (2001). We will be sharing on the implementation challenges, results
obtained and the learning points for a successful BBS implementation within a LTA’s project, the Marina Coastal
Expressway Construction Project in this paper.

Keywords

Construction Industry, Safety Management System, Behavior-Based Safety, Proactive Approach, Culture Shift and
Change

The objective of this paper is to provide the latest State-of-the-Art Behavioral Safety Process and Tools for the
involvement of construction workers and contractors in building a positive safety culture in the company’s project
construction site. The following themes will be covered:
 What is BBS? Why implement in the Construction Industry?
 How Does the Implementation Process of BBS Work in the construction industry?
 How does it help workers adopt safe/healthy habits using techniques of motivation & change?
 The “C.O.A.C.H” Process - Behavioral Navigation Process & Tools for Observation, Analysis & Intervention
Tools.
 BBS Implementation at the Marina Coastal Expressway Construction Project.
 Challenges faced during the implementation and sharing of some Key Safety Performance Indicators
analysis.

Today, many companies are still unable to meet their safety performance objectives, especially in the Construction
Industry. To reduce this gap many companies are focusing on behavior of workers at work. The thinking or attitude
behind this approach is that an accident is either worker-related, meaning the incident was caused by individual
choice or human error, or construction-related, meaning the cause was due to erection of scaffold, formwork or
housekeeping, construction design, that is, engineering or technical work-related. In order to understand the worker’s
thinking or attitude, perception and competencies, a survey was carried out by the Occupational Safety & Health
Council of Hong Kong in Hong Kong’s Construction Industry to measure the safety culture in Hong Kong’s
Construction Industry. The findings of this survey gave valuable information to construction management and safety
practitioners in the direction of cultivating the safety behavior in the construction industry. OSH Council of HK (2001).

1. What is BBS?

Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) is about the use of scientific psychology to understand why people behave the way
they do when it comes to safety. Typically it creates an attitude and awareness that will reduce the chance of injury.
BBS introduces a systematic, ongoing approach or process (the C.O.A.C.H process) that clearly defines how you can
help to reduce risk of injury to people in your work team. Victor Tai, (2008).

BBS helps to bring about the result of a proactive and positive safety culture where risk awareness and accident
prevention are core values to you and your team workers. Besides ensuring safe behaviors, we can also try to
reinforce people’s values with regard to finding low risk alternatives to unsafe attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Used
along with good engineering and administrative controls, BBS can be a powerful tool for achieving continuous
improvement in safety performance. It is crucial to integrate BBS with other traditional protective activities related to
Health, Safety, Environment, Quality and Innovation.

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 WHY BBS? - The Philosophy of BBS is based on these 10 basic principles:

 Every incident can be avoided.

 No job is worth getting hurt for.
 Every job will be done safely.
 Incidents (accidents & near hits) can be managed.
 Most importantly, safety is everyone’s responsibility.
 Best Safe Practices should be at the line, workplace or office.
 Safety standards (safe procedures & management practices)must be clear and well understood.
 Everyone understands and meets requirements through training.
 Regular conformance appraisals needed to evaluate success of implementation of the programs through audits.
 Investigations are used to detect problems in the acceptance of responsibilities, standards, training, and auditing.

Why implement in Construction Industry?

The boom in the construction industry is widespread in Singapore nowadays. Project delays and shortage in materials
and labour are common in the construction industry. Majority of the construction industry’s employees work full-time,
with many working more than 40 hours per week. Most of the construction workers usually work from early hours
during daytime into the evenings, most times, even utilizing the weekends and holidays to complete a project on a
delayed schedule or respond to an emergency due to certain construction constraints. These workers do it to earn
more money to send back to their home country. This incredible growth in the construction industry especially from the
infrastructure projects like MRT lines, Expressways, Public Hospitals etc. has brought into Singapore many
inexperienced foreign construction workers and contributed to its relatively high injury rate compared to other
manufacturing industries and sectors. According to the Ministry of Manpower Singapore, the construction industry had
the highest injury rate compared to the rest of the industries in Singapore. S.K. Jain (2007).
The BBS Mission: All injuries and occupational illness are preventable and can be managed. This is best achieved
by having a culture where each person feels responsible for his/her own, and his/her work colleagues’ safety. Each
worker will be using personnel safety processes to influence safe behavior and eliminate or manage risk. It is
therefore each worker’s prime responsibility to ensure that one works safely by observing safe work practices and
providing feedback to your fellow colleagues on work safety. Employees will be conducting peer observations and
interventions on safety practices within their own work areas. These observations are the basis for recognition,
problem-solving, and continuous improvement. M.D. Cooper (2009).

1.1 The Total Approach - SAFETY TRINITY

Past incident and accident analysis across industries have shown that the main cause of the injury lies in the
interaction between the worker and the site and/or procedures. The interaction of these factors—1.conditions,
2.management systems, and 3.what people do—is called the Safety Trinity or the Working Interface.
BBS is concerned with assessing the working interface by looking at how the work is done, not because the worker is
to be blamed, but because real safety improvement happens by understanding and improving how things actually
occur in the workplace. This means identifying and defining, in operational terms, the critical interfaces associated
with how the equipment is used or how procedures affect risk.

1.2. Safety Roles for Every Level

Unlike traditional safety methods which involve the use of safety officers and supervisors, BBS initiatives engage all
levels of the organization in safety support and success.

Front-line employees –BBS offers the opportunity for front-line employees to contribute to safety. Typically front-line
employees are responsible for running the process, from conducting observations to running meetings to data
analysis and action plan completion. These workers must have adequate training for their role. This training typically
consists of interaction skills and behavior-based principles and specific time management and organization skills for
working with people.

Supervisors and team leaders – Supervisors have the most influence over day-to-day activities that affect
performance outcomes. Supervisors can conduct observations during their supervisory walk and assist in barrier
removal strategies.

Senior leaders and managers – Managers and safety officers can also get involved with safety walks relating to on-
the-floor observations or barrier removal, and setting the stage for a healthy organizational culture. Site managers can

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 get more directly involved by becoming process champions or engage in directed coaching that helps them bring
about an excellent safety culture at the workplace.
2. How does the implementation process of BBS Work in construction industry?
BBS work by having the workers change their work habits: “From the old way which is about improving safety
performance by focusing on worker error, to the new way which is focusing on the cultural and management system
that influence safety behavior and using the position of leadership to empower employees at all levels to take
responsibility for safety.” Victor Tai, (2008)

There are two ways of thinking about safety. Traditionally, safety has been about avoiding costs. Many organizations
have been bankrupted by the cost of a high profile accident. Safety pays off in reduced losses and enhanced
productivity as safety and efficiency are positively linked. A safety management system will provide an organization
with the capacity to anticipate and address safety issues before they lead to an incident or accident. A safety
management system also provides management with the ability to deal effectively with accidents and near misses so
that valuable lessons are applied to improve safety and efficiency.
Employee’s Role in Positive Safety Culture: Safety Awareness is about a mindset, an attitude and about safety
controls being designed into every aspect of work in the organization. Therefore, all safety goals must be
communicated, realistically and reflect the “safety culture” of the organization. All employees must cherish “Safety as
# 1 priority” and as a core value and integral part of business.
Employees will be able to:
 Recognizes safe behaviors
 Acknowledge unsafe behaviors.
 Point out unsafe behaviors.
 Understands the risks.
 Understands benefits of working safely.
 Agrees that unsafe behaviors are not worth the consequences.
 Suggest proper safe behaviors.
 Agree to a formal contract for improvement

Management Role In Positive Safety Culture

Management practices what it preaches regarding safety. It allocates adequate resources to maintain an operation
that is efficient and safe. Management therefore acknowledges safety concerns and suggestions by giving feedback
on decisions, explaining the decision if there is no feedback and ensure that feedback is timely, relevant and clear.

Management accomplishes several objectives:

 Stops unsafe acts before they lead to an incident.

 Replaces unsafe behavior with safe habits.
 Helps employees make better choices about working safely.
BBS is about creating a Positive Culture
It is about creating an informed culture where people understand the hazards and risks involved in their own operation
and staff work continuously to identify and overcome threats to safety. It is also a just culture where errors must be
understood but willful violations cannot be tolerated and the workforce knows and agrees on what is acceptable and
unacceptable. It is a reporting culture where people are encouraged to voice safety concerns and when safety
concerns are reported they are analyzed and appropriate action is taken. It is also a learning culture where people are
encouraged to develop and apply their own skills and knowledge to enhance organizational safety and where staff is
updated on safety issues by management and safety reports are feed back to staff so that everyone learns the
lessons. M.S. Misnan & A.H. Mohammed (2008).

3. The C.O.A.C.H Process: Care-Observe-Analyze-Communicate-Help

Behavioral Navigation Process & Tools

Observation, Analysis and Intervention are the basis of the BBS system. Observations provide the objective data that
make behavioral safety uniquely effective. Intervention is essential because maintaining any behavior change requires
frequent, objective, and positive feedback. BBS is an approach that teaches the frontline workers, supervisors and
others to be keen observers of behavior and to provide high-quality feedback that improves safety performance and
identify systems- related issues for resolution.
Observation Process: All workers learn to identify behaviors critical to safe performance using simple observation
techniques. It is common for the work team to discover the Pareto Principle which states that only 20-35 behaviors are
implicated in 90-95% of recent incidents. Workers who are most familiar with the daily risks of the job, will be better
equipped to identify additional behaviors that are critical to worker safety. These behaviors can be defined in

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 operational terms and categorize them for inclusion in a data sheet. Operational definitions might focus on areas like
pinch-points, line-of-fire, eyes-on-path, and 3-point-contact on ladders or stairs or scaffolding.

Analyzing data – Observational data is collected and analyzed to identify areas needing special attention. Often we
can hear the following remarks being made: “If only employees would listen, then they wouldn’t get hurt,” or “If only
they would fix that equipment then we wouldn’t be having these injuries.” The BBS approach allows you to examine
the Safety Trinity to find out what is really going on. The tool that can help you understand this interaction is Applied
Behavioral Analysis.

The workers must know how to analyze behavior using this ABC analysis. This approach works on the principle that
Activators or Antecedents set the stage for Behavior and Consequences encourage or discourage the repetition of
that behavior. Antecedents influence behavior to the degree that they predict consequences. However, many
organizations spend considerable time and other resources on antecedents like signs, posters, and training, instead of
identifying and fixing the consequences that support or discourage unsafe behavior. Successful BBS initiatives use
applied behavior analysis to understand the data they collect

Communicating Feedback – After gathering data, observers have informal discussions with their coworkers about
the safe and at-risk behaviors they observed. The observer points out the places where the employee was performing
safely and tries to discover the reasons behind any observed at-risk behaviors. The observer records co-worker
suggestions and ideas about barriers to safe work. Data recorded in the observation is then analyzed by computer
software. Posted reports and charts of workgroup performance provide additional ongoing feedback.

In order to appreciate the various effective styles of communicating feedback, the following six influencing styles
adopted from Transactional Analysis (Communication Egostates), are to be chosen for each specific strategy.
Removing Barriers through Appropriate interventions – The main objective of the feedback is for the work teams
to develop relevant intervention strategies. There are four main types of strategies.

The 4C’s (Strategy)

C.1- Compliment (Praise)
C.2- Counsel (Problem Solve)
C.3- Coach (Teach)
C 4- Corrective Action (Forewarn)

These four strategies are to be used after a careful analysis of the critical behaviors observed: complimenting to be
used for enhancing safe behavior, counseling to be used for reducing the difficulties associated with safe behavior,
coaching to be used for educating workers on risk perception and correcting approach to be used for removing
barriers associated with unsafe behavior.

BBS offers many powerful benefits. It requires hard work, careful planning, and a balanced approach. But with good
execution and the right tools, BBS can become an important part of our total approach to overall safety excellence.

4. BBS Implementation Process at MCE Construction Project

The BBS Implementation Process at MCE Construction Project is based on four key components:
 A behavioral observation and feedback process (Adoption of the BBSO and BSPA cards);
 A formal review of observation data (Data analysis using PsyDMS - a data management system);
 Improvement goals (Setting KPIs - PercentSafe, Observation targets), and
 Reinforcement for improvement and goal attainment (Review and fine-tuning of BBS system).
We started the kick-off of BBS implementation with a workshop for the management - BBS familiarization workshop.
Here, management was instructed on the philosophy of BBS, the process, and the targeted results from the
implementation. Management support was also garnered to support BBS implementation.
Training of the identified BBS Observers was conducted in December 2011. A total of 25 BBS Observers, from a
mixture of safety officers, supervisors and engineers from Samsung and all sub-contractors were instructed on how to
conduct a BBSO (BBS Observation process) and a BSPA (Behavior Safety Problem and Analysis). Thus far, training
of observers has been completed. In addition, a total of 10 workshops consisting 25 workers each, were scheduled
from December to January to equip workers with BBS awareness, and practices of BBS via the C.O.A.C.H process.
The C.O.A.C.H. process is an approach to increase awareness to behaviors by Caring, Observing, Analyzing,
Communicating and Helping workmates on site.

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A baseline was set on the last week of December 2011, when the first set of BBSO was conducted on the site. A
%Safe of 65.78% was recorded as the baseline KPI. In the most recent month of BBSO ending 31 March 2012, a
%Safe of 81.4% was recorded, highlighting an improvement of close to 10% compared to February 2012, and a
significantly higher %Safe compared to baseline. In addition, through the PsyDMS, BBSO data evaluation reveals that
BBS consistently reported a higher %Safe on BBS-trained workers compared to non BBS-trained workers. Weekly,
monthly and quarterly BBS reports have been furnished by our BBS consultant, tracking, reporting and evaluating
these results.
On top of all these activities, BBS consultant conducts two site visits weekly, to audit, check and improve the BBS
Observation and Feedback process by the BBS observers, with routine scheduled observations.

4.1 Reporting on Results

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From the charts containing data from December 2011 to March 2012 below we can see that the trend shows an
gradual increase in %Safe, with more observers participation, albeit a reduction in peer interventions, observee
numbers and number of observations.

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While it is encouraging to see more observers participating in March 2012, we need to report that most of the
observations conducted were primarily on non-BBS-trained observees. Only 85 BBS-trained observees out of a total
of 252 observees were observed in the BBSO. A recommendation would be train more observees/workers to be BBS-
trained moving forward on the programme.

Further, an analysis on the ratio of (Total Safe/Total Unsafe) behaviors shows that the ratio is gradually increasing
from 1.25 in Dec 2011 to 4.59 in March 2012, a commendable effort.

4.2 March 2012 - BBS Data Analysis

This part of the report contains the data collected from observations taken from 1 March till 31 March 2012. For the
month of March 2012, the average %Safe reported was 81.4%, an increase from 72% reported in February 2012. As
similar in the previous weekly reports, a lower %Safe were reported for BPU, and Work Environment. There is a need
to make an effort to continue to educate and coach the BBS observees to improve on these 2 categories (see chart
below). From our site visits, we observe a similar occurrence, with some workers (in particular non BBS-trained
workers), heeding little attention on their body positions, improper tool usage and messy housekeeping.

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*Note: Mechanical Equipment (ME) is not a %Safe Category applicable for this study, and hence %Safe is Zero
on the chart above.
The average monthly %Safe of 81.4%, was obtained from a total of 72 observations conducted by 37 observers on a

total of 252 observees. This is a decrease compared to Febraury where 96 observations were recorded. Roughly one-
third of the observees (85 workers) are BBS-trained. We would like to report that a dissection on the %Safe reveals
that observations on BBS-trained workers reported a significantly higher %Safe of 85.7% while observations on non
BBS-trained observees reported only 78.6%, reinforcing the fact that BBS training has made significant improvements

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to the state of safety on site. A recommendation would be to continue to expand BBS training to more non-BBS
trained workers, to reap the maximum effects.

*Blue denotes a drop from last month, March 2012 's data

Similarly, the higher-than-average %Safe(81.4%) was recorded for PPE (93.04%) category. While PPE compliance
and appropriate signages, we still observe some lack of worker-to-worker communication/intervention on site, which is
of utmost importance for BBS success. To encourage this, supervisors and BBS observers have to encourage more
feedback and solicit more views from the workers. The lowest %Safe were in housekeeping (64.12%) and BPU
(57.3%), similar to the previous analysis. While it is encouraging that the %Safe for housekeeping/Env has improved
somewhat, we need to continue to focus on BPU and Env as key areas for improvements on site. This resonates with
what was observed on site, that is, lack of appropriate housekeeping and lack of awareness of body position and
usage at work. Communication also needs to be further enforced between the workers, and co-workers. It appears we
would need to pay extra attention to BPU, and Work Environment, and communication further on site.

On peer interventions, we report that fewer interventions are recorded compared to February 2012. Most of the
interventions were reported on PPE, BPU and Env categories.

4.3 BBS-trained versus non BBS-trained workers

We have established that %Safe results from BBS-trained workers have consistently been better than non BBS-
trained workers. A breakdown into the profiles of the workers revealed that only a small percentage of BBS-trained
workers are observed every month (roughly 25-33%). Given our intention is to expand BBS implementation to the
entire site, we suggest that we explore the next step of enhancing BBS training to as many workers as possible.

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 (left) Trained workers (Right) Non BBS-trained workers

In addition, for the month of March, most of the BBS trained workers are from Yong Nam and Wai Fong, while the
biggest components of non BBS-trained workers were from Ching Hen, Samsung and WSP. Given the amount of
involvement from Ching Hen, Samsung and WSP on the site till the completion of the project, we suggest nominating
and identifying more workers to be BBS-trained.

4.4 Comparative Study on Sub-Contractors

We observed participation from all certified Observers of all the various sub-contractors. Samsung and LTA Observers
have previously been able to provide very mindful and accurate observations in the last couple of weeks on
workers/observees, we would like to reinforce the need to continue to do so as the BBS implementation progresses.

Most %Safes for the sub-contractor exhibited improvements except for Fuchi, WSP and Samsung. However, we
would like to highlight that Samsung's %Safe was lower than expected and a key reason may be that most of the
observations conducted on Samsung were on non BBS-trained workers. We would also like to suggest increasing the
number of observations conducted on Ohin, KTC, ZT, Tenox and Technocrete

*Blue denotes a drop from last month's data

*Observations by Samsung/LTA observers are included in the 'No. of BBS observations' in individual sub-contractors

Given that WaiFong and YongNam are the two biggest contractors on site, it is expected that higher number of
observations are conducted on them in addition to Samsung. However, we would like to more cross-sub contractor
observations (that is, as an example, YongNam observer observing Ching Hen observees, and vice versa) as
mentioned in February's report. Going forward, we will also recommend buddying up pairs of observers comprising 1
Samsung safety observer with 1 sub-contractor observer to encourage interactive learning within the observers.

The highest %Safe was reported by ZT with 3 observations conducted by 2 observers only, so in order to encourage
more perceptive observations from additional observers, Samsung and LTA observers are also encourage to conduct
observations together with another sub-contractor observer. The %Safe obtained on ZT is not statistically
representative given the small sample population. Most of the %Safe for the sub-contractors fluctuate around the
overall site average of 81.4% except for Tenox, Samsung and Ohin. As all the workers of ZT and most of Samsung's
are non BBS-trained, a next step for these contractors is to coordinate more training in future months to increase BBS
awareness and practice. For Ohin, more observations are suggested for the month of April 2012 .

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 Wai Yong Fuchi Ching WSP Ohin Sambo Tenox Samsung ZT KTC Techno Total
Fong nam Hen crete

No of 11 12 7 7 6 1 8 3 12 3 1 1 72
observation
s conducted
on

No of BBS 5 6 3 2 5 1 3 3 6 2 1 1 37
observers
on

%Safe 91.8 82.6 83.8 90.5 75.9 71.4 85.5 71.2 52.5 92.6 86.2 76.9 81.4

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5. Challenges faced in the Implementation

A) Importance of Communication/Intervention

During the on-site visits, we noticed that there is improvement, but still a lack of proactive intervention on the part of
the workers-to-workers' communication. The practice of C.O.A.C.H. process is still not common as desired on site. A
few reasons for this could be: workers are not used to being vocal to voice out their comments, safety teams are
expected to play the role of policing, to catch unsafe behaviors and observers are not sufficiently encouraging
intervention and proactive feedback.

Suggestions:
To plan training on BBS to expand BBS awareness to the entire site
To encourage BBS observers to solicit feedback, not instructing safety, these requires some safety to stop playing the
role of safety enforcement

B) BBS Observation is not an observation on technical safety only

We observe that some observers appears to perceive BBS observation as a substitute to site inspection, and focus
only on technical safety. For BBS observation, the emphasis should be on observing behaviors and positive
encouragement for intervention and feedback from the observees (workers). This requires both the observees and
observers to change their held-on old perspectives on safety on site.

Suggestions:
BBS observers review
Pairing of BBS observers to conduct team observation, and encourage peer-learning
Encouraging more positive BBS feedback process

C) Quality of BBSO -some variances between Samsung Safety and Sub-Contractors' observers

This was reported in February 2012, we suggest reinforcing this for April 2012 as well. We notice that some observers
have consistently being providing very similar observations over the past 2-3 weeks. This could be a result of
conducting the observation, and submitting them because it is a requirement on deadline, or that they are simply not
equipped with the appropriate observation skills.

Suggestions:
a) Buddying pairs of BBSO observers, in particular 1 Samsung/main contractor observer with a sub-contractor
observer, to encourage peer learning.

D) BBSO perceived as a routine observation submission

We observe that BBS submissions few at the start of every week and only start to accumulate 1-2 days closer to the
deadline of submission. This could be due to various reasons, and work commitments aside, we are concerned that
BBS observations may be perceived as another work routine, and therefore not placed with adequate importance from
the observers, or worse, BBSO data are being fabricated to satisfy deadline submissions only. Also, should the
observers indeed are only observing 1-2 days only per week, then statistically the BBSO may not be representative of
the real state of safety situation on site.

Suggestions:
To encourage BBS submissions to be conducted more widely spread in the entire period.
To encourage BBS observers to consider conducting a BBSO during and into their daily work route.

E) Operational Improvements

For the month of April 2012 and going forward, we suggest that

The site to pay attention and focus on improving BPU and Env, through education and reminder to the workers during
toolbox meetings and also actual site work.
To increase the observations on Ohin, TC, ZT, Tenox, Technocrete and Samsung. As most of the workers from these
companies are non BBS-trained, we may need to consider training the workers.
Creating BBS recognition and awards, for the observers, and observees to recognise the efforts put in.
Printing of BBS tags, and stickers for the BBS-trained workers
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Creating BBS checkboxes in identified locations on site, so that BBS observers can obtain the BBSO and BSPA forms
readily.

CONCLUSION

Our conclusion on this paper judging from the results we have obtained through this Marina Coastal Expressway
Construction Project we believed that we have a successful BBS implementation and as suggested in this report,
there is some fine tuning needed for the operational improvements. With continued commitment and belief in making
the construction site a safer and nicer working environment, we strongly believed that BBS will make a contributing
mark for Excellence Safety in the worksite.

A final word from the team involved in this project: BBS was able to kick start smoothly because there was already a
strong operational Safety Management System already implemented at the project site. The staff and management
and their sub-contractors of the project already knew the requirements to follow the principles set out in the
established Safety Management System (SMS). This established SMS system and “strong commitment” from the
management are the underlying foundation for the BBS to take root successfully in this project.

REFERENCES

1. WSHC, AR, (2010-2011) Workplace Safety and Health Council, Annual Report, 2010-2011.
2. S.Bhattacharjee & 2 Others (2011) Safety Improvement Approaches in Construction Industry: A
Review and Future Directions.
3. R.Riley & R.Baldwin (2010) How Behavior-Based Safety Programs Work.
4. L. Wilson (2001) Behavior Based Safety and the Construction Industry (Sep 2001 issue of
Construction & Engineering Safety Magazine).
5. OSHCouncil of HK (2001) A Survey of Safety Culture in HK Construction Industry.
6. M.D.Cooper (2009) Behavioral Safety Interventions, A Review of Process Design Factors (Professional
Safety Journal, February 2009).
7. Victor F.L.Tai (2008) Behavioral Safety Process & Tools, Safety Observation & Intervention by Workers
& Contractors.
8. S.K.Jain (2007) Meeting the Challenges in Industrial Safety Management in Construction Works.
9. M.S.Misnan & A.H.Mohammed (2008) Development of Safety Culture in the Construction Industry: The
Leadership & Training Roles.
10. Julie Yeo (2012) Behavior-Based Safety Quarterly Report Update – Marina Coastal Expressway
Construction Project.
11. Julie Yeo (2012) BBS Weekly and Monthly Reports Jan –March 2012 on Marina Coastal Expressway
Construction Project.

Note: This paper was submitted to the OS+H Asia, CIB W099 International Conference on "Modelling and Building
Health and Safety" and ASEM OSH Conference which took place concurrently with the Singapore Workplace Safety
and Health (WSH) Conference September 2012.

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