Managing Behaviour Makes

A Difference
London Health & Safety Group
19 November 2007

A presentation by: Simon McDermott Brown, Quo Behavioural Systems www.quogroup.com

 The Quo Group
• A creative change management consultancy
• Established in 1993
• A wide variety of private and public sector clients
• Helping organisations to manage people and
behaviour
 improving performance
 customer service, employee engagement, quality,
productivity, safety
 Why Focus on Behaviour?
• Couldn’t we look at
peoples’ attitudes, their
state of mind?
• Couldn’t we try to
influence the way they
think about work and
safety?
• If we could change their
attitudes, make them
more positive, wouldn’t
they behave differently?
 Person Centred Approach
• Used successfully by • Requires extensive 1:1
psychiatrists/ clinical interaction (client and
psychologists in specialist)
professional therapy • Not cost effective for
sessions group/organisational work
• Attitudes etc are internal
and non-observable
• Few HSE professionals have
expertise to implement
such an approach
 Attitudes & Behaviour
Yes No
 I am generally a law abiding citizen 
 I am safety conscious 

Attitudes
 I believe its important to be a good safety role model

 I am a competent driver


 I know that hitting someone at 40mph will probably kill them 

with cutting machinery

vs
 I know that it’s important to protect the eyes when working


 I always drive within the speed limit 

Behaviour
 I wear safety glasses when mowing the lawn
 I am always careful to avoid taking any unnecessary risks


 B.F. Skinner & Followers
Behavioural safety is founded on the research and teaching
of B.F. Skinner (1938, 1953, 1974)
Applied behaviour analysis is derived from his research
Every authentic behavioural safety approach focuses on:
 observing what people do
 analysing why they do it
 applying a research-supported intervention strategy
to improve what people do
Agnew & Snyder (2002) Daniels (1989) Geller (1996)
Krause (1995) McSween (1995) Sulzer-Azaroff (1998)
The Things People Do

Left to their own devices

people

• do what interests them

• do just enough to get by
• cut corners
• take personal risks
• etc
The Things People Do
Legislation, policy,
procedures,
requirements, knowledge
etc

… don’t guarantee that

people will behave as you
want them to behave
 Managing Behaviour
Understand which
behaviours produce
the ideal results
Change the
behaviour of people
to deliver these
results Align behaviour
throughout the
organisation so that
everyone behaves as
high performers do Improvement in
organisational
performance

Behaviour leads to results

 Getting People
To Behave Safely
Lagging Indicators

Relying on the absence

of accidents can be
misleading !

How people are

behaving is the real
issue…..
 What Causes Accidents?

“ Accidents are typically

1 precipitated through unsafe acts
10 or omissions”
- F Bird 1969

30
90% of accidents
600
are caused by
Unsafe Behaviour ? Unsafe Behaviours
Unsafe Behaviour
Unsafe Behaviour
Unsafe Behaviour

We don’t all
perceive risk in
the same way…
 Taking Risks

High Risk Low

Perception Incidence

Low Risk High

Slips, trips, falls and manual handling

accidents are common
Tackling the Behavioural Problem
Unsafe
Reduced Risk Fewer Accidents
Behaviour
Behaviour
modification
Unsafe
Behaviour Workplace
coaching
Systems,
procedures
Performance
and training
management
Leadership
behaviour
Safe
Behaviour
 Whose Behaviour?

Behaviours higher up
the influence chain are
often at least equally
responsible

Unsafe acts are

responsible for most
accidents AAccci
cdideent
nt
 Errors & Violations
“action or decision
which was not
intended”

Errors Solution?
Solution?
Human
LLooss
Failures Make
Make sseessafe
ssafe

Violations
behaviour
behaviour aa
“a deliberate
HABIT
HABIT
deviation from a
rule or procedure”
 People Choose To Take Risks

Risk taking is most

often a matter of
personal choice.

We know what we
should do but we
choose to do something
else instead.
 Violations Happen When…
Two things come together…

“natural human tendency to
take the path of least effort”
“a relatively indifferent
+ environment (i.e. one that
rarely punishes violations or
rewards observance)”

from James Reason

 Behaviour Follows Laws

Antecedents A Prompts / Cues

Safe
Behaviour B What we choose to do
Unsafe

Consequences C What happens to us

We tend to over-rely on weak antecedents

 People Tend To Ignore Rules

Which sign has

40 the most impact

on behaviour?

 Systems, training, rules don’t guarantee safe behaviour

 People choose to perform behaviours depending on the
consequences they perceive will follow them
 Consequences Can…
INCREASE
Rate BEHAVIOUR
Encourage (R+) or Threaten (R-)

Time Or

DECREASE
Rate
BEHAVIOUR
Punish (P+) or Extinction (P-)
Time
 Decreasing Performance
P+ Punishment
Getting what I don’t want

• Criticism • Stress

• An injury • More regulations or controls

• Problems • Fines

Punishment will only stop Behaviour

 Decreasing Performance
P- Extinction
Not getting what I wanted
• No response to safety suggestion
• No answer to questions about method
• No acknowledgment
• No interest in observations

The performance just seems to go away after a while

 Increasing Performance
R- Negative Reinforcement
Avoiding what I don’t want
• Avoid an accident • No report
• Less time spent • Less stress
• Avoid negative comments or unpleasant tasks
• Avoid Fines
Behaviour will increase to the minimum standard required
- but no more than this.
 Increasing Performance
R+ Positive Reinforcement
Getting what I want
• Recognition • Pride in making “safe”
• Choices • Comfort
• Increased autonomy • Acknowledgement
• Anything that meets my needs
The performer will choose to behave increasingly to get
what is wanted - discretionary effort
 Consequence Power

 Positive or Negative
Its value to the individual

Consequences
can be:
 Immediate or Future
How soon after the
behaviour it occurs

 Certain or Uncertain
How certain is it that the
consequence will follow
 Consequence Power
Positive, Immediate, Certain (PIC)
Most Negative, Immediate, Certain (NIC)

Positive, Future, Certain (PFC)

Negative, Future, Certain (NFC)
Moderate
Positive, Immediate, Uncertain (PIU)
Negative, Immediate, Uncertain (NIU)

Positive, Future, Uncertain (PFU)

Least
Negative, Future, Uncertain (NFU)
 Natural Consequences
… favour risk taking!
Wearing • Affects dexterity
PPE • Uncomfortable
• Affects communication
• Increases fatigue
• Takes time • Impairs vision
• Adds pressure
• Hinders progress
• Increases paperwork Following a
• Increases stress procedure
… because acting safely is often perceived to be
a punishing experience
 Workplace Consequences
Consequences of not wearing a Harness P/N I/F C/U
Saves time P I C
Less effort P I C
Makes access easier P I C
‘Fit-in’ with the culture P I C
Appear more experienced 7 0 P I C
P I C
Avoid ridicule
More comfortable
P N P I C
I VS I
N F U
Fall and suffer injury/death
Get job stopped
C C N F U
Get disciplined N F U
Get prosecuted N F U
* The consequences are from the performers point of view

….favour risk-taking !
 Unsafe Habits
The natural choice is often the unsafe one!

The unsafe option typically is

• More comfortable
• Less hassle
• Less time consuming

With frequent opportunity to choose risky behaviors we

tend to develop unsafe habits
 Safe Habits
Encourage the choice of safe behaviours by carefully
managing the consequences

Make the safe option

• Easier
• Better recognised
• More attractive

With frequent opportunity to choose safe behaviours

with positive outcomes we develop safe habits
 Managing Consequences
• The challenge is all about motivating people so that
in due course
 they want to behave as safely as possible
 they perform habitually in accordance with best
practice
• Meeting the challenge requires a behavioural
strategy
• Primarily the strategy needs to focus on managing
the consequences that flow from behaviour
 accentuating the positive
 eliminating the negative
Six Steps For Creating
Safe Habits
 Step 1: Pinpoint

Workforce pinpoint and select critical behaviours

(3 or 4 at a time only)

• Accident data
• Brainstorms
• Observation
• Self-reporting
• Risk assessment
 Step 2: Plan

Make choice of the

safe behaviour
easier

Make choice of the

Plan for Change safe behaviour
more attractive

Agree practical issues to

do with running the
process
 Step 3: Measure

Total
REQUIREMENTS YES NO Y + N % Safe
Walkways clear III II 5 60
IIIII III
Safety glasses on III
11 73

Harnesses used IIIII IIIII 10 50

 Workforce take turns to act as observers in own area

 Simple yes / no scorecard - safe or unsafe?
 Done in seconds - as part of normal working arrangements
 Repeated during course of day
 “50% of an organisations
variation in safety
performance can be attributed to
management commitment”
- Robertson et al 1999
 Management Behaviours
• The effort required to drive change requires support and
reinforcement

• Managers and supervisors have a key role to play

• Behaviours that BEHAVIOURS POINTS YES NO SCORE
support the process Conduct an observation and
are pinpointed score using a scorecard

Help keep graph up-to-date

• Management Discuss scores with team

involvement and
commitment is R+ employee for a safe act

visible and real TOTAL POINTS

 Step 4: Feedback

Sustained 100% compliance

= a safe habit
Baseline Intervention
Compliance

Sub Goal • Start of day/shift

Sub Goal
• Sub-goals agreed
• Participative
Time
 Step 5: Reinforcement
• Changing behaviour is largely a function of managing
consequences
Baseline Intervention
• Positive reinforcement 100% Safe
is the key to achieving
‘want to’ behaviour
Sub goal
• Sub-goals encourage
effort and provide R+
Sub goal
opportunities
Step 6: Monitor & Evaluate

Continuous Improvement
 And Finally

• Managing behaviour isn’t:

o rocket science
o common sense
o sinister
• It’s all about …

Bringing Out The Best In People

 Managing Behaviour Makes
A Difference
London Health & Safety Group
19 November 2007

A presentation by: Simon McDermott Brown, Quo Behavioural Systems www.quogroup.com