BEHAVIORAL SAFETY

PROCESS(OSH 117)
Lesson No. 1
Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health
FAJAR INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE
 Learning outcomes
1. Understand and use the basic theories and models
applied to collective behavior as realized in formal
organizations;
2. Understand the dynamics of behavior within
formal organizations through both formal and
informal mechanisms; and
3. Identify and implement strategies for desired
behaviors.
The Learning Pyramid
Average retention of material presented in different ways
(according to an investigation by National Training Laboratories — Bethel, Maine)

Lecture 5%
Reading Text 10%
Audio-visual representation 20%
Demonstration 30%
Discussion group 50%
Learning by doing 75%
(immediate conversion of
Teaching others what you have learned) 90%
Grading
Presentation 20%
Assignment 20%
Final Examination 60%
Areas of Coverage
 Safety Basics
 The Behavioral Safety Process
 A Values-Based Behavioral Safety Process
 The Safety Assessment
 Management Overview and Initial Workshops
 Final Design
 Create the Safety Observation Process
 Develop Feedback and Involvement Procedures
 Establish Safety Incentives
 Implement Behavioral Safety Process
 Maintain The Behavioral Safety Process
References
Terry E. McSween, The Values-Based Safety
Process, John Wiley & Sons, INCIBSN: 0-471-
28672-9 
Wheathley, Margaret J., Leadership and the New
Science,Kreitner and Kinicki, Organizational
Behavior, McGraw HillRobbins, Stephen P.,
Essentials of Organizational Behavior, Prentice
Hall
An Introduction to
BEHAVIORAL SAFETY
Unsafe behaviors, not conditions,
account for more than 90 percent of
injuries. Traditional safety programs,
however, often focus on conditions and
ignore behaviors. Implementing a
behavioral safety process can reduce
injuries by up to 50 percent.
 1
FATAL

30 MAJORS
(Disabling
Accidents)
300
RECORDABLE ACCIDENTS
(Off Work, limited work and no
lost time)
3,000
NEAR MISSES OR FIRST AID

30,000 HAZARDS
Unsafe acts-Unsafe conditions
What is behavioral safety?

Everybody who works to reduce

accidents and improve safe
performance is concerned with
human behavior. “Behavior and
accidents is what it’s all about,” is a
commonly heard phrase.
Is everybody who is concerned with
reducing workplace injuries and
illnesses, and the work practices
associated with these injuries and
illnesses, using “behavioral safety”?
What is Behavioral-Based Safety (BBS)?

Focuses on at-risk behaviors that can lead to injury

Focuses on safe behaviors that can contribute to injury

prevention
BS is an injury
prevention process

1b
The Safety Triad

4a
Behavior Based Safety
Process Improvement
Action Plan
Employee ownership
Data collection
Observation Training
Pre-Task/JSA Training
Behavior Awareness Training
Observations/Feedback
JSA
SafeStart
The BBS Process
Advanced Safety Awareness Training
SafeStart
 Job Task Analysis /Job Safety Analysis (JSA)
 Job task sequence/hazards for each step/how to
eliminate each hazard.
 Behavioral Observations
 Observe job task looking at safe and at-risk actions
Entered into data base/reports reviewed and action
plans developed.
There are 3 types of at-risk behavior:
•conscious behavior
•habitual behavior
•unintentional behavior

BBS is about unintentional behavior and habitual behavior.

To be more specific, it's about how to prevent mistakes or

errors you never wanted to make in the first place.
THE CONCEPTS OF BBS CAN BE APPLIED
ANYWHERE!!!
 While Driving

 At Home

 At Work
Reality is… the majority of the time
our own Bad Habits and/or our Lack
Of Thinking Things Through

Cause us to get hurt!!!

E
 Con’t
While behavioral safety shares a concern with
human behavior and safe performance in the
workplace with other approaches, it is more than
that. Behavioral safety is the application of
behavioral research on human performance to the
problems of safety in the workplace. This means that
any safety program labeling itself as a behavioral
safety program must meet the standards of behavior
analytic research as practices are applied to the
workplace.
Attitude and Behaviour
Reminder: Causes of Unsafe Acts/Conditions
 Lack of:-  Cost:-
 Experience  Time
 Training  Equipment
 Poor Supervision  Personal Pressures:-
 Laziness  Your team playing tonight?
 Problems at home
 Distractions
 Human Errors
 Pressures:-
 Forgetfulness
 Peers
 Management
Results of behaviour

Safe Attitude
Physical actions

Effect on self

Effect on others

Safe Outcome
Results of Behaviour

Unsafe Attitude
Safe Attitude
Physical actions

Effect on self

Effect on others

Safe Outcome
Unsafe Outcome
Experience and Behaviour
Take a short cut

Nothing Accident/Injury

You were lucky You learned the hard way

You will do it the same way again Next time do it differently

(Habit) (Correct way)

HOW LONG WILL LUCK LAST? WILL YOU GET A NEXT TIME?
What else influences attitudes?
Previous experience
Other’s opinions
Knowledge
Training
Perception
What else influences attitudes?
Previous experience
Other’s opinions
Knowledge
Training
Perception
 Motivation for Safe Behaviour

Definition:

The enthusiasm for doing something continually

safely
 Motivation for Safe Behaviour
Reward:
◦ Financial bonus
◦ Promotion
◦ Extra responsibility
◦ Incentive schemes
Active Encouragement of
Involvement in:
◦ Decisions on Consultation
◦ Risk Assessments
◦ Safe Systems of Work
Provision of:
◦ Training
◦ Good Working Environment
◦ Welfare Facilities
Explanation of Ultimate
Consequences
Consistent/Controlled
Discipline
 How to Motivate for Safe Behaviour
 Effective clear and timely communication
 Co-operation and Co-ordination
 Selection of Competent Persons
 Sharing Ownership
 Providing Leadership
 Never ignoring safety problems
 Not allowing pressures or other priorities to influence
them to condone deviations or short cuts
 Being polite
 Praising safe performance
Safety Culture

“The way we do things around here”

BEHAVIOR BASED SAFETY &
YOU!!!
 3 DISTINCT ELEMENTS OF SAFETY
1. HUMAN ATTRIBUTES (KNOWLEDGE,
SKILLS, ABILITY, INTELLIGENCE, MOTIVES,
ETC.

….WHAT DO YOU KNOW

…WHAT CAN I DO
….DOING IT WELL VS. JUST DOING IT
3 DISTINCT ELEMENTS OF SAFETY
2. WORK ENVIRONMENT:
(EQUIPMENT, TOOLS,
MACHINES,
PROCEDURES,
FACILITES, ETC.)
…INDOORS/OUTDOORS
(OSHA…NO SHADE
PROVIDED & NOT
ENOUGH DRINKING
WATER)
3 DISTINCT ELEMENTS OF SAFETY III
3 . BEHAVIOR: (WHAT PEOPLE DO)

 WE ARE ATTRACTED TO
NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR

 WHO DROVE THE SPEED LIMIT

THIS WEEKEND/TODAY?

 WHO TEXTED OR TALKED ON

CELL COMING HERE TODAY ?

 WE PUSH THE ENVELOPE

 NEAR MISSES:
 UNSAFE BEHAVIORS DON’T ALWAYS RESULT IN
ACCIDENTS
 NEAR MISSES ARE GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES TO
PREVENT FUTURE ISSUES
 DON’T IGNORE UNSAFE BEHAVIOR
 WE DO A LOT OF UNSAFE THINGS & GET AWAY
WITH IT.. DOES THAT MAKE IT OK?
 EVENTUALLY IT WILL CATCH UP TO US
 What is Behavior Based Safety

Human behavior causes most accidents

– Comfort
– Saving Time
– Convenience
– Lack of understanding and training
– Complacency
– Wrong Safety focus
– Celebrating production over safety
SAFETY TOOLS NEEDED:
Safety Manual
– Procedures
– MSDS MANUALS
– PPE
– Observations
– Audits
ACCEPTED PERCEPTIONS

RIGHT
HAND VS
LEFT
HAND
BEHAVIORAL BASED SAFETY…
IT CANNOT BE SUCCESSFUL STANDING
ALONE
IT IS AN ELEMENT TO BE USED IN
COMBINATION WITH OTHER ELEMENTS
CAN’T BE THE FLAVOR OF THE MONTH
IT’S NOT A MAGIC BULLET OR SHORTCUT…..
INCENTIVE PROGRAMS….

Incentive programs
can give a wrong focus
on safety and health.
They will not improve
the HSE
It will just give us
more “fat cats”
FOUNDATION CONCEPTS…

It is better to slay a dragon than to teach people ways to live peacefully with
him!!!

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

TRADITIONAL & BEHAVIORAL–BASED SAFETY
PROGRAMS???
TRADITIONAL……..
TYPICALLY A TOP-DOWN APPROACH
FOCUS ON REGUALTIONS & PROCEDURES
TREATS SYMPTOMS
EXTERNAL ENFORCEMENT
DO AS I SAY…JUST DO IT… BUT WHEN
BACK IS TURNED…THEY WILL DO WHAT
THEY WANT TO DO
BEHAVIORAL BASED…..

IS A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH

FOCUS ON EMPLOYEE BEHAVIORS
ADDRESSES ROOT CAUSES
INTERNAL ENFORCEMENT
 BY THE NUMBERS:
ACCIDENT/INCIDENT
INCIDENTS…….600
PROPERTY DAMAGE... 30
MINOR INJURY…10
LOST-TIME INJURY….1

CHANGE BEHAVIOR AT “600” LEVEL & YOU

CAN PREVENT THE OTHER 3 RESULTING
ITEMS
Good Safety is Good Business

•Quality
•Productivity
•Organisational
effectiveness
•Incidents
•Employee Morale
•Cost-Effectiveness
 Safety Process Model
Incidents

•Lack of Management •Management •Personal

commitment Commitment •Team Building
understanding and •Condition of •Self-managing •Team Commitment
competency
employment •Self- discipline •Development in Team
•Critical elements of •Discipline •Help others conform
•Self- responsibility
management systems •Rules •Value for Each Other
not in place •Personal goals
•Management control •Team Goals
•Care for self
•Value of People

Foundation Standard Advanced World Class

Basic safety
management
Tools Tools Tools
systems in place
$$$$ THE COST $$$$
FOR EVERY $1.00 OF
DIRECT COSTS FOR
INJURY/ILLNESS
THERE ARE UP TO
$100.00 OF INDIRECT
COSTS
 BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS I
WHAT ARE
BEHAVIORS?

ARE BEHAVIORS
OBSERVABLE?

ARE BEHAVIORS
INHERENTLY
“GOOD” OR “BAD”?
BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS II
BEHAVIORS RESULT IN POSITIVE OR
NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR WORKERS.
IMMEDIATE, SURE & GOOD CONSEQUENCES
REINFORCED.
IMMEDIATE, SURE & BAD CONSEQUENCES
REFUTED.
 Unsafe Acts vs. Unsafe Conditions

80-85% of all incidents are the result of unsafe acts;

15-20% of all incidents are the result of unsafe conditions.

Question: If true, why are most efforts geared towards unsafe

conditions?
Answer: It’s easier to deal with unsafe conditions than unsafe acts.
 THE CHALLENGE…..

REALIZE THE VALUE

OF DOING THINGS
THE RIGHT WAY
How does behavioral safety work?
Behavior analysis is the science of behavior change.
Applied behavior analysis is the application of the
science of behavior change to real world problems,
such as safety performance. As we do this, we are
looking for functional or systematic relationships
between:
How does behavioral safety work?
Environmental changes, i.e., the stimuli or cues that
lead to behavior
The behavior itself, such as specific areas of work
performance
And the consequences of behavior, i.e., the positive
or negative responses that occur immediately after a
person performs a particular work task.
How does behavioral safety work?
These relationships have been
exhaustively studied in the laboratories.
Applied behavior analysis applies the
lessons learned in laboratory research
to the challenges of human behavior in
everyday life. In this case, to the
challenge of building safe practices in
the workplace.
Sound behavioral safety programs
1. Behaviorally specify the desirable
performance. If we want to improve safe
practices in a certain workplace, we first
specify as behaviorally as possible, those
practices.
Examples:
a. Correct forklift operation or lifting
behavior. Or, we may specify the
outcomes that are achieved if safe
practices are performed.
b. A shop floor that is free of hazards such
as wires or oil slicks that could trip an
employee and cause a fall..
Sound behavioral safety programs
1. The process of specifying these criteria for good
performance results in a measuring instrument that can
be used to periodically sample safety performance in
the workplace and measure human performance
Sound behavioral safety programs
2. Measure safety performance
Using the criteria for safe workplace performance,
we periodically sample and measure safety
performance against those criteria. These
measurements are recorded and become part of a
data base; a cumulative log of performance for each
workplace.
Sound behavioral safety programs
3. Shape safe performance through feedback and other
consequences
Behavioral research on learning teaches us powerful
lessons about how to teach and build performance
improvement.
First among these lessons is the power of consequences.
Consequences shape performance. One very powerful
consequence is feedback on workplace performance.
Properly designed and used, performance feedback will
produce learning and positive performance changes - often
very dramatically.
Sound behavioral safety programs
As a practical matter, once measurement takes
place, a sound behavioral safety program will
provide timely, usually immediate, feedback on
workplace safety behavior to the employees whose
workplace is being observed. It will not be delayed
for lengthy periods of time. In addition, feedback
will focus on positive gains in performance, not
negative performance decrements. It will be
predictable and certain. And, it will be delivered in
ways that are meaningful to the people who are
receiving it.
Sound behavioral safety programs
The posting of graphs of the performance of work
teams or departments in building safe performance
over time is another form of feedback that sets the
occasion for coaching and feedback on workplace
safety performance. As teams and departments
improve in their achieving high levels of safe
practices in the workplace, celebrations are often
held, further acknowledging and reinforcing safe
performance.
(Copyright ©1997-2008 by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. )
Take a Positive Approach to Safety
 Psychologists say that most people would rather work to
achieve success than work to avoid failure.
 Traditional safety programs often focus on avoiding failure
(how many injuries have been avoided) versus achieving
success (how safe behaviors have increased).
 Behavioral safety focuses on decreasing unsafe behaviors
and increasing safe behaviors. There is less emphasis on
punishing employees for safety violations and accidents,
and more attention on recognizing and rewarding safe
behaviors.
Reward the Process, Not Only the
Outcome
The process includes safety activities such as:
Employee participation in safety inspections.
Employee attendance and involvement in safety
meetings.
Personal protective equipment use.
Good housekeeping in work areas.
Machine guards in place.
Employee safety suggestion programs.
Employee reports of hazards.
Teamwork.
Reward the Process, Not Only the
Outcome
The outcome:
• Zero injuries.
Rewarding only the outcome can discourage injury
reporting. Injured employees do not want to risk
missing out on a safety incentive award by
reporting an injury. When the process is
recognized and rewarded, the fear of reporting the
injury is reduced. Focus on the process and the
outcome will follow.
The Challenge: Unsafe Behavior is
Rewarding
 It’s true, unsafe behavior is rewarding. Employees are
generally unsafe for three reasons:
i. To save time
ii. For convenience.
iii. For comfort.
 Most employees, who practice unsafe behaviors, do not
believe anything serious is going to happen to them. They
are right. Most unsafe behaviors do not result in injuries.
Enough unsafe actions, however, will result in an injury. It
is just a matter of time. By increasing safe behaviors you
will decrease the potential for injury.
Motivate Safe Behavior
Employees are motivated by consequences. If there are
no immediate, negative consequences to being unsafe,
they will continue their unsafe behavior. Often, unsafe
behavior is ignored because the job is getting done.
 A simple way to increase safe behaviors is to thank
employees for any safe behavior you see them doing such
as:
 Wearing safety goggles.
 Cleaning up a spill.
 Opening a door for a co-worker carrying an awkward load.
 Making a safety suggestion.
 Helping with a safety inspection.
 Keeping the guard on the machinery.
 Lifting properly.
 Using the handrail on the stairway.
These behaviors may not seem important enough to
acknowledge, but they are the building blocks that will
improve your safety program.
 Safety Share
 Safety meetings can be fun. They can also provide an ideal
opportunity to recognize and reward safety. Here’s how it
can be done. In an upcoming meeting:
 Thank individual employees for attending.
 Invite employees to share a safe behavior they have done since the last
safety meeting.
 Write that safe behavior on the chalkboard.
 Encourage participation by rewarding employees with candy, movie
tickets, prizes etc., depending on your budget.
 Ask employees what they have learned from each other.
 Discuss what safe behaviors are expected in the workplace.\
 Commit employees to be safe.
Employee Involvement is Key to
Success
Give employees a vested interest in safety and they
will be more committed. Behavioral safety, by its
nature, involves employees. Who generally knows the
job better than the employee? It makes sense to get
employees actively involved in your safety program.
Behavioral Safety Works
Behavioral safety can reduce injuries by 50 percent
because safe behaviors are increased. Use positive
reinforcement. Employees respond much better to
being recognized for safety than being punished for
being unsafe. A simple thank you goes a long way
toward motivating safe behavior.
Why all the interest in behavioral safety?
The application of behavioral research to the solution
of human problems is building and demonstrating the
first effective and reliable technology of behavior
change in human history. No other field of psychology
or the behavioral sciences has been able to
successfully do this.
Why all the interest in behavioral safety?
In workplaces with troublesome rates of unsafe
performance, behavioral safety programs, properly
implemented, produce significant improvements in
safe performance and major reductions in
workplace injuries and illnesses. Human suffering
and financial costs are sharply reduced. Moreover,
the costs of producing these gains in human
performance are a good investment, paying for
themselves many times over.
Defining features of a behavioral
approach
1. Systematic
Specify the behaviors and results to be improved
Determine an objective way to measure those
behaviors and results
Use principles of behavior to develop methods to
change current performance
Implement these methods and evaluate their
effectiveness
Defining features of a behavioral
approach
2. Data oriented
Use valid and reliable data to evaluate the
effectiveness of change strategies
Measure performance objectively and accurately
Defining features of a behavioral
approach
3. Scientific problem solving
Define behavior precisely – “operationally define” or
pinpoint
Experiment – conduct a “functional analysis” and rule
out other variables
Consistently replicate findings under different
circumstances
What would a high quality behavioral
intervention look like?
1. Functional analysis of the current situation
Example:
A company has had three near misses this year caused by faulty
equipment on tow motors. In all three cases it was discovered that
the drivers had not conducted a thorough inspection of the tow
motors before driving, as required by company policy. If they had
conducted an inspection as trained, the broken turn signal, the
failing brakes, and the bald tires would have been discovered and
repaired. So the safe behavior that we want to see increase is
conducting a thorough inspection before operating a tow motor.
And we want a decrease in the opposite unsafe performance.
What would a high quality behavioral
intervention look like?
Safe Performance
Before driving a tow motor in the warehouse, the
driver:
First thoroughly inspects the vehicle and ensures that
systems are fully operational, for example, lights, backup
warning, signals, brakes, mirrors, etc.
Arranges for any necessary repair before driving it.
What would a high quality behavioral
intervention look like?
Unsafe Performance
Drives a vehicle without inspecting it first.
Conducts only a cursory inspection of the vehicle.
Drives a tow motor on which a problem has been
discovered
What would a high quality behavioral
intervention look like?
2. It would continue with the design of an
approach that is based on proven technologies
for:
Adding or strengthening the necessary antecedents and
consequences for safe behavior
Removing or weakening the antecedents and
consequences supporting unsafe behavior
Ensuring that the change will continue and generalize to
new situations
What would a high quality behavioral
intervention look like?
3. To be a high quality behavioral safety effort,
the process would:
Reliably measure safe and unsafe behaviors and their
results
Validate that the technology was being implemented
correctly and consistently
Monitor and analyze behavioral and outcome data on
an ongoing basis
Systematically adjust the entire process in response
to the data
Plan for maintenance and generalization.
Questions