Behavior Based Safety: Safety Professional's View

 

 Behavior Based Safety

Safety Professional’s View 

 

Objectives Today: •

Identify differences between traditional vs BBS

•

Know “when and when not”  to  to implement BBS “when •

Explain why most traditional safety programs don’t work!

•

Understand why positive reinforcement is much more powerful than negative reinforcement

 

Why Safety Programs Do Not Work:

•

Safety is a priority  a priority , not a value value!!

•

Safety is not  managed  managed in the same manner as production, quality, and cost issues!

•

Safety is not  driven  driven through continuous improvement!

 

“Fallacies or Realities” in Safety Fables? •

Conditions cause accidents!

•

Enforcing rules improves safety!

•

Safety professionals can keep workers safe!

•

Low accident rates indicate safety programs are working well!

•

Investigating to find the root cause of

•

accidents will improve safety! Awareness training improves safety!

•

Rewards improve safety!

 

Core Elements in Successful Safety Programs

•

A culture that says “safety” is important around here!

•

A tight accountability system!

 

Safety Intervention Strategies (By NSC ) Approach

# of Studies

# of Subjects

Reduction %

Behavior Based

7

2,444

59.6%

Ergonomics Engineering Change

3 4

n/a n/a

51.6% 29.0%

Problem Solving

1

76

20.0%

 

Gov’t Action

2

2

18.3%

 

Mgt. Audits

4

n/a

17.0%

Stress Management

2

1,300

15.0%

Poster Campaign

2

6,100

14.0%

 

Pers Pe rson onne nell Se Sele lect ctio ion n

26

19,1 19 ,177 77

3.7% 3. 7%

 

Near-miss Reports

2

n/a

0%

 

 

Behavior Based Safety: What Is It?

An excellent tool for collecting data on the quality of a company’s safety management system

• A scientific way to understand why people behave the way they do when it comes to safety • Properly applied, an effective next step towards creating a truly is pro-active safety culture where loss prevention a core value

• Conceptually easy to understand but often hard to implement and sustain

 

Behavior Based Safety:What It Is Not! • Only about observation and feedback  • Concerned only about the behaviors of line employees • A substitution for traditional risk management techniques • About cheating & manipulating people & aversive control • A focus on incident rates without a focus f ocus on behavior • A process that does not need employee involvement

 

Interventions: Always Consider These 3 Components

   t     y     e   n   t     t    e    e   m    m     f    a     S    a   g     s   t   e    a   n     S   y     M

B     e    h     a    v     i      o    r     s   

Engineering   Controls

 

Traditional Hierarchy of Safety Interventions Included:   • Attempts to eliminate the hazard • Having employees work around the hazard • Guarding or warning employees about the hazard • Training employees to deal safely with the hazard

 

Safety Management System Interventions 7 components   • Management leadership • vision, values, commitment • safety goals & objectives • costs of safety performance

• Responsibility & accountability • defined for management & employees • accountable for performance

• Safety organization

• safety committees • safety staff resource • safety budget

 

Safety Management System Interventions  7 components (continued) •Safe work practices & procedures •general & job specific •housekeeping •contractors •emergency

•Safety review & improvement •a Plan / Do / Check / Act process •accident investigation process •safety audit / inspection process

 

 

Safety Management System Interventions  7 components (continued)

• Safety training • Based on needs assessments • Designed & presented effectively • For both management & employees • Results in observable changes in behavior on the job

• Safety communications •• Internal & external Appropriate for audience • Effectiveness of communication methods

 

If Safety Interventions are Effective You Will See:   • % of safe behaviors behaviors increasing and the % at-risk behaviors decreasing • Reporting of near misses / hits increasing • Both the number of observations and level of participation increasing • Frequency & severity of injuries decreasing • Increasing acceptance of responsibility and accountability for personal behavior 

 



A business business succeeds succeeds or fails through the performance of all  of  of its employees

“ Business Business is =Behavior  ”  ”  “Good” performance Success * 





Failure = “Bad” performance



Performance = the combined results of a series of behaviors

 

* Aubrey Daniels, author and behavioral psychologist

 

Suggested BBS Process: •

Discovery - Determine Behaviors That Have Greatest Loss Impact

•

Design - Identify Team Who Will Define & Design BBS Process

•

System Up - Implement BBS Observation Process & Collect Data

•

System Check - Ensure BBS Process Has Been Effectively Implemented

 

Observations, Feedback & Data Collection   • Use a design team of hourly workers, supervisors and managers, to design the process - forms, training, data collection and ID roles & responsibilities • Clearly define critical behaviors that will be observed - what is “safe” vs “at-risk”?

• Give feedback on safe & at-risk behavior observed • Determine who will act on data collected co llected through observations

 

Use Prior Experience Data to Target Jobs for Observation   • Loss runs from insurance carrier or broker

• OSHA logs • First aid logs • Near miss / hit reports • Absenteeism / turnover reports

 

Define Critical Behaviors - What is “Safe” & What is “At-risk”?   Focus on relevant behaviors that will have a direct impact on losses

• Many behaviors that are directly related to the losses are unconscious behaviors that occur quickly • Select critical behaviors to focus on through actual observation of people at work not just through discussion &-

brainstormin  

 

Obstacles To Success: •

Poorly Maintained Facilities

• •

Top-down Management Practices Poor Planning/Executio Planning/Execution n

•

Inadequate Training

 

Success:  Keys to Success: 

•

Meaningful Employee Empowerment

•

Designing a Well Planned and Supported BBS Process Managing BBS Process with Integrity

•

 

Human Behavior is a function of :

 

Activators (what needs to be done)

 

Competencies (how it needs to be done)

 

Consequences (what happens if it is done done)

 

 

Human behavior is both:    



Observable

Measurable therefore

 Behavior can be managed !

 

Attitudes Attitudes  

are inside a person’s head -therefore they are not   observable or measurable  

however 

 Attitudes can can be changed by changing behaviors

 

 ABC Model  Antecedents  Anteceden ts (trigger behavior)

Behavior (human performance)

Consequences (either reinforce or punish behavior )

 

Definitions:

 

 Activators:  A person, place, thing or event that happens before before a  a behavior takes place that encourages you to perform that behavior.

 Activators only set the stage for behavior or performance - they don’t control it. 

 

Some examples of activators

 

Definitions:

 Behavior:  Any directly measurable thing that a person does, including speaking, acting, and performing  physical functions.

 

 Some examples of behavior: behavior:

 

Definitions: Consequences: Events that follow  behaviors.

Consequences increase or decrease the  probability that the behaviors will occur again in the future. Oh please let it be Bob !

If you don’t send in that payment we’ll take you to court

 

Some example of Consequences:

 

Consequences - How would you view them?

Sunbathing 

Aggressive Drivers

 

Only 4 Types of Consequences: •Positive

Reinforcement (R+)

("Do this & you'll be rewarded")

  •Negative

Reinforcement (R-)

("Do this or else you'll be penalized")

 Behavior  •Punishment

(P)

("If you do this, you'll be penalized") •Extinction

(E)

("Ignore it and it'll go away")

 

Consequences Influence Behaviors Based Upon Individual Perceptions of:  Magnitude - large or

  Significance -



or negative

  {

small

positive

 Impact -



Timing   - immediate or future 

Consistency   - certain or uncertain

other

personal or

 

Both Positive (R+) & Negative (R-) Reinforcement Can Increase Behavior  R+  : any consequence that follows a behavior and R+ increases the probability that the behavior will occur more often in the future - You get something you want 

R-   : a consequence that strengthens any behavior that reduces or terminates the consequence - You escape or avoid something you don’t want 

 

R+

Good safety suggestion Joe! Keep bringing ‘em up!

One more report like this and you’re outa here!!

R-

 

R+

P e r f  o r m a n c e

The effects of positive reinforcement

Time

 

Both Punishment & Extinction Decrease Behavior  P : a procedure in which a punisher (consequence that decreases the frequency of the behavior it follows) is presented - You may get something you don’t want 

E : withholding or non-delivery of positive reinforcement for previously reinforced behavior You don’t get what you want 

 

P

You bonehead!! You can can kiss kiss that bonus for this year good-bye.... and take a few days off without pay!!!

Let him cry honey. honey. If we get up every night when he cries he’ll never learn to go to sleep peacefully.

E

 

P

P e r f  o r m a n c e

The effects of punishment

Time

 

P e r

E

f  o r m a n c e

The effects of extinction

Time

 

If you see this type of P e r f  o r m a n c e

performance curve, you can bet management by negative reinforcement is the predominant management style

Time

 

What Employees Want:

•

A Safe Workplace

• •

A Positive Workplace To Take Care of One Another 

•

To Stop the Hurt!

 

What Management Wants:

•

An Accident Free Workplace

•

Empowered Employees Pro-active Rather Than Re-active Work Process

•

•

To Minimize Direct and Indirect Costs and Threat of Liability From Accidents

 

Why is one sign often ignored, the other one often followed?

 

If you want to know what people find to be reinforcing.... observe what they do when they have the freedom to choose.

 

The Behavior Based Safety Challenge: To create conditions that encourage  people to collaborate collaborate because they they want Let’s do to   to it!!

not because they have to

 

A Values-Based Process

  “Focus on the process….not results……they will come later!”

 

 Avoid The Following Headline:

  “Behavior Safety Scores SignificantBased Improvement - whileShow injury rate climbs!” 

 

Why Do We Need to Change?   “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got!”  W. Edwards Deming