Behavioral Safety Process

The following chart provides an overview of the stages in the implementation process. The first stage is discussed in Chapter 5, and subsequent chapters discuss later stages. 

Values-Based Safety Process Improving Your Safety Culture With Behavior-Based Safety, 29 

Second Edition Terry E. McSween Copyright 2003 John Wiley Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-22049-3 

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Many companies have adopted an observation-based behavioral safety process to improve compliance with safety procedures. Alas, simply implementing the basic elements of a behavioral safety process does not always work [p. 48]. 

A brief definition of behavioral safety was provided under the Definitions and Terminology section. More detailed definitions describe activities involved in the behavioral safety process ... 

Assessments are commonly conducted prior to the implementation of behavioral safety processes. Assessments may be conducted internally, or one of numerous safety consultants who perform safety assessments may be hired for this purpose. The purpose of safety assessments is to determine an organization s current level of safety performance and provide recommendations for improvement. 

In addition to or in place of DO IT, organizations are encouraged to use their existing continuous improvement systems, such as Dem-ing s Plan, Do, Study, Act—PDSA, to improve their behavioral safety process (Deming, 1986). This helps to integrate the behavioral safety process into the management system and culture. Two important related points to keep in mind ... 

Failing to conduct regular weekly feedback sessions. People are busy and stretched for time. The resulting perception is that management does not value the behavioral safety process, creating lack of buy-in. 

For a successful behavioral safety effort, numerous factors must work together in harmony. Ultimately, the key to safety success lies with management. The following are essential features of the behavioral safety process ... 

The only empirical approach to improving safety that has proven to be effective is a behavioral safety process. Behavioral safety is the only approach that has routinely produced significant reductions in incidents in well-designed research studies. The approach involves employees using a systematically developed checklist as the basis for feedback on critical safety practices observed in work areas (1998, p. 49). 

Theune, Donald H., Making your Company SAPOR, A Comprehensive Holistic Behavioral Safety Process, How It Works and Why (Safety A Function of Responsibility), 1998, pp. 3-6. Reprinted with permission. 

New research confirms the effectiveness of a behavioral approach to safety that increases comphance and greatly reduces incidents. This book presents the kind of results that can be achieved through a behavioral safety approach, a summary of the key components of a behavioral safety process, and an overview of the procedures for implementing a behavioral approach within an organization s existing safety efforts. 

Figure 1.1. Reduction in recordable injuries achieved by a drilling company using a behavioral safety process.

Before examining the behavioral safety process in more detail, let us take a closer look at some of the key elements of current safety improvement efforts. 

The behavioral safety process is designed to offset this phenomenon. 

Many companies have adopted an observation-based behavioral safety process to improve compliance with safety procedures, but simply implementing the basic elements of a behavioral safety process does not always work. Companies can encounter problems in getting employees to conduct needed observations, in getting employees to effectively provide feedback to other employees, and in employees filling out observation checklists informally without conducting actual observations. These problems may indicate an overemphasis on the reporting process and inadequate attention to the values required to implement safety improvements successfully. 

The purpose of the employee safety team is to design and implement a behavioral safety process in a way that... 

The process described below will help in developing a vision or purpose statement before beginning work on a behavioral safety process. 

We call our approach to behavioral safety the values-based safety process. As you will design a process that meets the needs of your organization, your team may want to find a name that fits your organization s new process. Companies have called their safety improvement efforts the employee safety process (ESP), the safe acts process, the positive safety process, the continuous incident prevention process, and a variety of others. (See the discussion on the contest to name the behavioral safety process in Chapter 23 for suggestions on involving employees in selecting a name.)... 

The key to a successful behavioral safety process is getting the right teams together to plan the implementation. Figure 4.1 shows a typical team structure for the design and implementation phases of the behavioral safety process. Figure 4.2 clarifies who participates in each of these teams and some of their responsibilities. 

The key to the success of this effort is to create the behavioral safety process through three successive revisions each addressing a different level of detail under the overall guidance of a management team or a health and safety committee ... 

Steering committee Same as design team Conduct and publish statistical analysis of observation data Problem solve and ensure maintenance of behavioral safety process Set improvement goals Develop and carry out action plans... 

Figure 4.2. Teams typically involved in implementing a behavioral safety process.

If such teams already exist, then the design team may define the responsibilities of existing teams for implementation and maintenance of the behavioral safety process. 

Figure 5.3. Considerations for selecting a consultant to support your team in the design and implementation of a behavioral safety process.

The remainder of this book provides additional details on different options for addressing each element of the behavioral safety process and how to implement the process. Remember that your recommendations are preliminary plans and that the design teams will ultimately make changes and work out the many logistical details. 

Remember This is a sales presentation. You are trying to sell your management on the value of implementing your recommendations. Before talking about the details of your recommendations, stress the realistic benefits that will result from a systematic implementation of the behavioral safety process ... 

During your presentation, explain the kind of support and involvement required from management to make this effort successful. The behavioral safety process will usually require several forms of management support ... 

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