Principles and Strategies of Behavioral Safety

Behavioral approaches are based on years of research in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis. Geller (2001, p. 21) notes, Behaviorism has effectively solved environmental, safety, and health problems in organizations and communities first, define the problem in terms of relevant observable behavior, then design and implement an intervention process to decrease behaviors causing the problem and/or increase behaviors that can alleviate the problem. The behavior-based approach is reflected in research and scholarship.. . .  

Applied behavior analysis methods are useful to achieve continuous improvement in safety. Krause (1997, p. 3) explains, These methods include identifying and operationally defining critical safety-related behaviors, observing to gather data on the frequency of those behaviors, providing feedback, and using the gathered data for continuous improvement.  

Research in behavioral safety was conducted in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s with documented (and often dramatic) reductions in injuries (Komaki, Barwick, and Scott, 1978 Sulzer-Azeroff and de Santamaria, 1980). Despite these successful studies, behavioral safety did not catch on and become common in the United States until the 1990s, when it became largely mainstream practice in many organizations. 

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