Checklists, safety observation

Moving from dependence to inter-dependence Fairly obviously, the implementation of the behavioural approach to safety (and indeed many other change initiatives) will only be effective in a situation of interdependence. If there is a high level of dependence on the part of participants, it will be very hard, if not impossible, to get them to take responsibility for checklists and observations. In fact, getting the balance right is quite difficult. Management must be involved and show interest and support where necessary, but must not take over, so that participants lose ownership, or withdraw too far, so that participants feel they have been abandoned. 

A recent series of studies suggests the importance of employees conducting safety observations. Austin and Alvero (in press, also Chapter 27) have shown that when employees conduct safety observations using a safety checklist, their performance of safety practices on the checklist improves and becomes more consistent. These studies lend credibility to our own data suggesting that (1) departments with high levels of observations have lower injury rates than departments that are not as successful at conducting observations and (2) the injury rates of employees who participate in conducting observations are 50 percent lower than those of employees who do not conduct observations. 

Note The approach discussed in this chapter is based on Sulzer-Azaroff and Fellner (1984). We encourage you to read the original article, which includes an excellent example of a well-designed safety observation checklist from a paper mill. 

As discussed previously, one of the benefits of an observation process is that employees who conduct observations learn to work more safely (see the discussion of the observer effect in Chapter 27). Observers begin to perform the behaviors on the checklist much more consistently, surprisingly even when they have not been observed or received feedback on their own safety practices. In addition, by conducting safety observations, employees are learning to identify hazards in their work areas, which may, at least in part, explain why they begin to work more safely. 

Figure 9.4. Example of format for a department-specific safety observation checklist. (Adapted from Quebecor World Hazelton. Used with permission.)...

Figure 19.1. Example of a self-observation checklist (safety index) for loggers.

Management should outline the purpose and types of job safety observations, including how to select a job or task for planned safety observations, how to prepare for a planned safety observation, how to use a checklist of activities to observe unsafe procedures, what the employees role in the observation process is, what occurs after the observation, and how to deal with unsafe behavior and performance. 

Example of a Hawthorne Threat A work-site decides to implement and evaluate a new training program focused on changing safety practices by providing feedback to employees. A consultant examines injuiy records and, with the help of workers and supervisors, develops a checklist of safety practices. The list will be used by the consultant to observe the work force and provide feedback to the employees about their practices. The consultant realizes that his presence (and the taking of observations) could make workers change their normal behavior. To avoid this potential Hawthorne effect, he makes baseline observations on a daily basis until his presence seems to no longer create a reaction and the observations become constant [p. 25]. 

Checklists of important observations required for safe, pollution-free, and efficient operations of the plant which are to be made every half an hour, every two hours, and every four hours shall be clearly written down in standing instruction book. Instructions shall also be available for checking all safety devices while taking charge of the plant from previous shift and while handing over charge to next shift. 

The challenge is to (1) identify the specific safety-related behaviors for a particular site, (2) establish an inventory of operational definitions for these behaviors, and (3) prepare a checklist based on these critical behaviors for observers to use. Developing this critical behavior inventory serves the following purposes ... 

Using observation checklists to focus on unsafe conditions instead of risky behaviors. Behavioral safety should not be used as an audit of unsafe conditions, although sometimes behaviors lead to unsafe conditions. 

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). 

In the behaviour-based approach to continuous safety improvement, many more people take responsibility for safety and keep their eye on the ball, every day, every shift. Shop-floor personnel take turns to act as observers within their own work group and continually measure safety performance through the use of a checklist which is regularly updated to take into account the changes that might take place in the work environment. In these ways the approach stays alive and is not allowed to become stale or jaded. Neither can it be labelled as a flavour of the month campaign. 

Data collection Originally the data were collected on pro-forma sheets and returned to a central point. Eventually a computer program was written which enabled the observers to enter their results directly on to the shop-floor terminals of the site s computer. Thus the calculations and results could be generated quickly and accurately. Access to the information was improved and a data bank of past phases led to an improvement in checklist generation and feedback. For example, it was possible to identify specific items on a checklist in terms of most safe and least safe behaviour. In this way, by discussions and problem solving sessions, the workforce could concentrate their efforts on the behaviours in most need of safety improvement. These were produced as bar charts and displayed, in colour, beside the feedback charts (see Figure 4.2). 

Soon, you will be asked to contribute some ideas for checklists and to comment on the draft lists as they are prepared. Also, we ask that you support and help the observer to fulfil their task which solely aims to improve your safety at work on this site. 

Observers complete and score the checklist and then calculate the safety performance measure. The procedure for doing this is explained in the following section. 

When the checklist has been completed the safety performance measure can be calculated. This is a weighted scoring system, which is very sensitive to even slight changes in the frequency of unsafe behaviours. It is, simply, the number of safe behaviours seen, expressed as a percentage of the total number of safe and unsafe behaviours observed. To calculate this ratio, the SAFE and UNSAFE columns are totalled and the following formula is applied ... 

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