Behavior-based safety principles

Must it be measured Managers focus on the numbers, and in safety that means injury records and compensation costs. When I discuss behavior-based safety principles and procedures with managers, I inevitably get the question, "What s the ROI or return on investment " They want to know how much the process will cost and how long will it take for the numbers to improve. This analytical approach is inspired by the popular management principle, "You can only manage what you can measure."... 

The ability to maintain a set of standards, beliefs, and operating principles that are consistent, that guide behavior, and that are grounded in a respect for life. See also Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) Safety Culture. 

A noted authority on behavior-based safety, E. Scott Geller, identified seven key principles that should serve as guidelines when developing a BBS process or tool for safety management. They are (Geller 1999, 40) ... 

Although the previous barriers are addressed, there are no guarantees that behavior-based safety will work in your situation however, the principles are applicable to any situation when designed and implemented to meet your needs. 

Behavior-based safety can be summarized as several fundamental principles ... 

Figure 16-8 Consequences motivate behavior. Veazie, Bob, Foundation Principles Keys to Success of Behavior-Based Safety Initiatives, Professional Safety, April 1999, p. 26, Figure 4. Reproduced with permission.

A number of recent books detail the principles and procedures of behavior-based safety, and they provide solid evidence for the success of this approach to injury prevention (e.g., Geller 1996a, 1998a, 1998d Krause 1995 Krause, Hidley, and Hodson 1996 McSween 1995 Sulzer-Azaroff 1998). Each of these books is consistent with regard to certain basic principles and methods, as well as the beneficial outcomes of behavior-based safety. We offer a brief review of these principles, procedures, and benefits here, and recommend these texts for follow up and continued learning. We start with a definition and rationale for three basic principles of the behavior-based approach. 

Behavior-based safety trainers and consultants teach the ABC model (or three-term contingency) as a fi amework to understand and anatyze behavior or to develop interventions for improving behavior. As given in Principle 3, the A stands for activators or antecedent events that precede behavior B, and C refers to the consequences following behavior and produced by it. Activators direct behavior consequences motivate behavior. 

Figure 5.1 illustrates a distinction between conscious competence/other-directed and conscious competence/self-directed. If a safe work practice is self-directed, the employee is considered responsible and self-management intervention is relevant. As detailed elsewhere (Watson and Tharp 1997), the methods and tools of effective self-management are derived from behavioral science research and are perfectly consistent with the principles of behavior-based safety. 

This chapter began with a review of three basic principles that define a behavioral science approach to improving the human element of mining safety, including a rationale for using a behavior-based approach. Then a basic firamework for implementing a behavior management system was introduced. It was called DO IT for the four basic processes of behavior-based safety ... 

We are motivated by consequences, however, so let s consider certain benefits you can expect to gain from a successful behavior-based safety management process as reviewed in this chapter. Since most injuries are caused in part by at-risk behavior, a reduction in at-risk behavior and an increase in safe behavior will lead to injury prevention. However, we d like you to consider five other benefits that result from people contributing interdependently to an effective behavior-based safety process. These outcomes are critically important and relate to much more than safety. In fact, they can benefit every important function of your organization. In explaining these we ll review most of the key psychological principles covered in this chapter. 

As we begin here to define principles and guidelines for action plans, it is important to keep one thing in mind—you need to start with the conviction that there is rarely a generic best way to implement a process involving human interaction. For a behavior-based safety process to succeed in your setting, you will need to work out the procedural details with the people whose involvement is necessary. The process needs to be customized to fit your culture. 

Why should employees want such training Figure 9.7 illustrates one reason, but I hope a more proactive rationale can motivate participation. First, as I have indicated in earlier chapters, behavior-based safety works to reduce injuries. The principles and methods of behavior-based safety are applicable in many situations—when and wherever human performance is a factor and can be improved. Thus, training in behavior-based safety provides skills useful in numerous domains at work, at home, during recreational and sport activities, and traveling in between. 

Altirough tire title of this section is "Behavior-Based Safety Training," I hope it is dear that botir training and education are needed. First, people need to understand and believe in the theory and principles rmderlying the behavior-based approach to preventing injuries. This is commonly referred to as education. 

The introductory quotation from Carnegie s classic book. How to Win Friends and Influence People, first published in 1936, represents a key principle of human motivation and behavior-based safety. Although supported by substantial research (Skinner, 1938), it actually runs counter to common sense. 

Most people do not consistently avoid at-risk behavior. This calls for behavior-based safety (including the use of consequences) to bring people to the principle-centered, self-motivated stage. Recall the principle 1 have emphasized several times—people act themselves into new ways of fhinking. In other words, people become principle-centered and self-directed through their routine actions. As discussed in Chapter 9, behavior-based intervention (instruction, support, or motivation) is needed to make safe behavior the routine. Then principle-centered or value-based safety eventually follows. 

I have seen many companies subtantially improve safety performance with processes based on the principles of behavior-based safety, but this plant holds the record for efficiency in getting everyone involved and in obtaining exceptional results. I am convinced a key factor was the employees "choice" in developing, implementing, and maintaining the process. Choice has led to ownership. Here is what I mean. 

This chapter is about win-win teamwork. It builds on the principles of behavior-based safety presented in Section 3, tire intervention tools from behavior-based safety detailed in Section 4, and the concepts of group belonging and interdependence discussed in Section 5. 

The best advice I can give any team for maintaining interest in their mission statement and its relevant applications is to follow the four stages illustrated previously. Regardless of your team mission, you need to plan or develop an action plan, implement your plan throughout the workplace, evaluate the effects of your efforts, and then use information from the evaluation to refine an improved application. This is, in fact, a basic principle of behavior-based safety, incorporated in the DO IT process introduced in Chapter 8. It is key to learning from research. 

Before helping a work team implement a behavior-based safety process, my partners at Safety Performance Solutions insist everyone in the work culture learn the principles underlying the process. Everyone in the culture needs to learn the rationale behind the safety process, even those who will not be involved in actual implementahon. This helps to provide the right kind of atmosphere or cultural context (Chapter 14) to support momentum. 

Principle 17 Behavior-based safety is a continuous DO IT process with D = Define target behaviors, O = Observe target behaviors, I = Intervene to improve behaviors, and T = Test impact of intervention. 

The safety culture action principle, behavior based attitudes theory and accident triangle principles work together to promote the change of zero accidents concept to zero accidents objective from three indispensable aspects of idea , action and methods , as is shown in Figure 4. Three principles commonly guide zero accidents concept, which is one of the key elements of safety culture, to strengthen enterprise safety management, prevent accidents and lessen accident rate, as follows ... 

Do any of these psychological tactics sound famihar All these strategies are ineffective and run counter to the three behavior-based principles described above. Some of these techniques can actually do more harm than good to the human dynamics of industrial safety and health. Yet I m sure you ve seen, perhaps even e5q)erienced, some of these intervention approaches. Why Because they seemed like good common sense to someone. 

In this chapter we consider the value of theory in guiding our approaches to safety and health improvement. You will see how a vision for a Total Safety Culture is a necessary guide to achieve safety excellence. A basic principle here is that safety performance results from the dynamic interaction of environment, behavior, and person-based factors. Achieving a Total Safety Culture requires attention to each cf these. I make a case for integrating person-based and behavior-based psychology in order to address most effectively the human dynamics of injury prevention. 

The behavior and person factors represent the human dynamics of occupational safety and are addressed in this book. The basic principle here is that behavior-based and person-based factors need to be addressed in order to achieve a Total Safety Culture. These two divergent approaches to understanding and managing the human element represent the psychology of injury prevention. 

Taken alone, the behavior-based approach is more cost effective than the person-based approach in affecting large-scale change. But it cannot be effective unless the work culture believes in the behavior-based principles and willingly applies them to achieve the mutual safety mission. This involves a person-based approach. Therefore, to achieve a Total Safety Culture we need to integrate person-based and behavior-based psychology. This text shows you how to meet this challenge. 

This supports the general principle I introduced in Chapter 2. A Total Safety Culture requires integrating both behavior-based and person-based approaches to understand and... 

To achieve a Total Safety Culture, we need to integrate behavior-based and person-based psychology and effect large-scale culture changes. The five chapters in Section 3 explain principles and proce-dures founded cm behavioral research which can be applied successfully to change behaviors and attitudes throughcmt organizations and communities. This chapter describes the primary characteristics of the behavior-based approach to the prevention and treatment of human problems and shows their special relevance to occupational safety. The three basic ways we learn are reviewed and related to the development of safe vs. at-risk behaviors and attitudes. 

My colleagues at Safety Performance Solutions use both education and training to teach safety coaching skills. They start with education, teaching the basic principles behind a behavior-based approach to coaching. Then they use group exercises to implement a training process. 

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