BEHAVIORAL SAFETY PROCESS & TOOLS

Safety Observation & Intervention by Workers & Contractors

PCI/08/VicTai_BBS/0902/v3

BEHAVIORAL SAFETY PROCESS & TOOLS

Safety Observation & Intervention by Workers & Contractors

Victor F L Tai, BA (Hons), MSc, PhD.

Consultant Psychologist/Management Consultant

Centre for Applied Behavior Technologies
Psyscan Consulting International
1 Queensway, #03-64 Queensway Tower
Singapore 149053
[email protected]

Everyone
Abstract Commitment
Timely
All-the-time
Proactive
Skillful

ACTIONS SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS

Abstract 1. What is BBS? Why?

This paper is intended to provide the latest state-of- Today, many companies are still unable to meet
the-art Behavioral Safety Process and Tools for the their safety performance objectives. To reduce this
involvement of operators, workers and contractors gap many companies are focusing on behavior of
in building a positive safety culture in the company. workers at work. The thinking behind this approach
The following themes will be covered: is that an accident is either worker-related, meaning
the incident was caused by individual choice or
1. What is BBS? Why? error, or facilities-related, meaning the cause was
2. The total approach - SAFETY TRINITY at the maintenance, equipment design, and so on.
workplace.
3. Safety Roles for Every Level - Everyone must Behavior-based safety (BBS) is about the use
adopt safe and healthy practices at all times at scientific psychology to understand why people
the workplace. behave they way they do when it comes to safety.
4. How Does BBS Work? Help others adopt Typically it creates an attitude and awareness that
safe/healthy habits using techniques of will reduce the chance of injury. BBS introduces a
motivation & change. systematic, ongoing approach or process (the
5. The “C.O.A.C.H” Process - Behavioral C.O.A.C.H process) that clearly defines how you
Navigation Process & Tools for Observation, can help to reduce risk of injury to people in your
Analysis & Intervention Tools. work team. BBS helps to bring about the result of a
6. Key Safety Performance Indicators proactive and positive safety culture where risk

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Safety Observation & Intervention by Workers & Contractors

awareness and accident prevention are core values These observations are the basis for recognition,
to you and your team workers. Besides ensuring problem-solving, and continuous improvement.
safe behaviors, we can also try to reinforce people’s
values with regard to finding low risk alternatives
to unsafe attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Used along 2. The Total Approach - SAFETY TRINITY
with good engineering and administrative controls,
BBS can be a powerful tool for achieving Past incident and accident analysis across industries
continuous improvement in safety performance. It have shown that the main cause of the injury lies in
is crucial to integrate BBS with other traditional the interaction between the worker and the facility
protective activities related to Health, Safety, and/or procedures. The interaction of these
Environment, Quality and Innovation. factors—conditions, management systems, and
what people do—is called the Safety Trinity or the
Working Interface.

Chart 1: WHY BBS? - The Philosophy BBS is concerned with assessing the working
interface by looking at how the work is done, not
BBS is based on these 10 basic principles: because the worker is to be blamed, but because
real safety improvement happens by understanding
1. Every incident can be avoided. and improving how things actually occur in the
2. No job is worth getting hurt for. workplace. This means identifying and defining, in
3. Every job will be done safely. operational terms, the critical interfaces associated
4. Incidents (accidents & near hits) can be with how the equipment is used or how procedures
managed. affect risk.
5. Most importantly, safety is everyone’s
responsibility.
6. Best Safe Practices should be at the line, The Human Factors Model
workplace or office. Operating
7. Safety standards (safe procedures & Environment E1 - Engineering
management practices)must be clear and and Culture
Facilities
well understood (Pumps, Control Systems,
Panels, Valves,
8. Everyone understands and meets Cranes, etc.)
requirements through training.
E2 - Enforcement
9. Regular conformance appraisals needed to Management E3 – Human Errors

evaluate success of implementation of the Systems People

(Procedures, Risk
(Human
programs through audits. Assessment, Incident Characteristics
and Behavior)
10. Investigations are used to detect problems Investigation
Training, etc.)
in the acceptance of responsibilities,
standards, training, and auditing.

3. Safety Roles for Every Level

The BBS Mission: All injuries and occupational
illness are preventable and can be managed. This is Unlike traditional safety methods which involve the
best achieved by having a culture where each use of safety officers and supervisors, BBS
person feels responsible for his/her own, and initiatives engage all levels of the organization in
his/her work colleagues’ safety. Each worker will safety support and success.
be using personnel safety processes to influence
safe behavior and eliminate or manage risk. It is Front-line employees –BBS offers the opportunity
therefore each worker’s prime responsibility to for front-line employees to contribute to safety.
ensure that one works safely by observing safe Typically front-line employees are responsible for
work practices and providing feedback to your running the process, from conducting observations
fellow colleagues on work safety. Employees will to running meetings to data analysis and action plan
be conducting peer observations and interventions completion. These workers must have adequate
on safety practices within their own work areas.
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training for their role.This training typically employees must cherish “Safety as # 1 priority” and
consists of interaction skills and behavior-based as a core value and integral part of business.
principles and specific time management and
organization skills for working with people. Employees will be able to:
1. Recognizes safe behaviors
Supervisors and team leaders – Supervisors have 2. Acknowledge unsafe behaviors.
the most influence over day-to-day activities that 3. Point out unsafe behaviors.
affect performance outcomes. Supervisors can 4. Understands the risks.
conduct observations during their supervisory walk 5. Understands benefits of working safely.
and assist in barrier removal strategies. 6. Agrees that unsafe behaviors are not worth the
consequences.
Senior leaders and managers – Managers and 7. Suggest proper safe behaviors.
safety officers can also get involved with safety 8. Agree to a formal contract for improvement
walks relating to on-the-floor observations or
barrier removal, and setting the stage for a healthy Management Role In Positive Safety Culture
organizational culture. Site managers can get more
directly involved by becoming process champions Management practices what it preaches regarding
or engage in directed coaching that helps them safety. It allocates adequate resources to maintain
bring about an excellent safety culture at the an operation that is efficient and safe. Management
workplace. therefore acknowledges safety concerns and
suggestions by giving feedback on decisions,
4. How BBS Work? explaining the decision if there is no feedback and
ensure that feedback is timely, relevant and clear.
BBS work by having the workers change their work
habits: “From the old way which is about Management accomplishes several objectives:
improving safety performance by focusing on
operator error, to the new way which is focusing on 1. Stops unsafe acts before they lead to an
the cultural and management system that influence incident.
safety behavior and using the position of leadership 2. Replaces unsafe behavior with safe habits.
to empower employees at all levels to take 3. Helps employees make better choices about
responsibility for safety.” working safely.

There are two ways of thinking about safety. BBS is about creating a Positive Culture
Traditionally, safety has been about avoiding costs.
Many organizations have been bankrupted by the It is about creating an informed culture where
cost of a high profile accident. Safety pays off in people understand the hazards and risks involved in
reduced losses and enhanced productivity as safety their own operation and staff work continuously to
and efficiency are positively linked. A safety identify and overcome threats to safety. It is also a
management will provide an organization with the just culture where errors must be understood but
capacity to anticipate and address safety issues willful violations cannot be tolerated and the
before they lead to an incident or accident. A safety workforce knows and agrees on what is acceptable
management system also provides management and unacceptable. It is a reporting culture where
with the ability to deal effectively with accidents people are encouraged to voice safety concerns and
and near misses so that valuable lessons are applied when safety concerns are reported they are analyzed
to improve safety and efficiency. and appropriate action is taken. It is also a learning
culture where people are encouraged to develop
Employee’s Role in Positive Safety Culture and apply their own skills and knowledge to
Safety Awareness is about a mindset, an attitude enhance organizational safety and where staff is
and about safety controls being designed into every updated on safety issues by management and safety
aspect of work in the organization. Therefore, all reports are fed back to staff so that everyone learns
safety goals must be communicated, realistic and the lessons.
reflect the “safety culture” of the organization. All

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5. The C.O.A.C.H Process these injuries.” The BBS approach allows you to
Behavioral Navigation Process & Tools examine the Safety Trinity to find out what is really
going on. The tool that can help you understand this
Observation, Analysis and Intervention are the interaction is Applied Behavioral Analysis.
basis of the BBS system. Observations provide the
objective data that make behavioral safety uniquely
effective. Intervention is essential because Behavior Based Safety Toolkits
maintaining any behavior change requires frequent,
objective, and positive feedback. BBS is an Work
approach that teaches the frontline workers, Activities
supervisors and others to be keen observers of 3
behavior and to provide high-quality feedback that
Fewer at-
at-risk
improves safety performance and identify systems- 1
Behaviors
related issues for resolution. 4

Observation Process: All workers learn to 2

Zero
identify behaviors critical to safe performance using Accidents
simple observation techniques. It is common for the
work team to discover the Pareto Principle which
states that only 20-35 behaviors are implicated in The workers must know how to analyze behavior
90-95% of recent incidents. Workers who are most using this ABC analysis. This approach works on
familiar with the daily risks of the job, will be the principle that activators or antecedents set the
better equipped to identify additional behaviors that stage for behavior and consequences encourage or
are critical to worker safety. These behaviors can discourage the repetition of that behavior.
be defined in operational terms and categorize them Antecedents influence behavior to the degree that
for inclusion in a data sheet. Operational definitions they predict consequences. However, many
might focus on areas like pinch-points, line-of-fire, organizations spend considerable time and other
eyes-on-path, and 3-point-contact on ladders or
stairs or scaffolding.
COACH TOOLKIT 1
Focusing on Behaviors Can Reduce Injuries

Fatality

Serious Injury
EVERYONE MUST BE TRAINED TO WORK SAFELY
Minor Injury
Behavioural Based Safety Training has the ultimate aim of making
Near Miss
safety everyone’s, and not just the safety leader’s, responsibility:
At-Risk Behavior
We Care

We Observe each other working

We Analyse our actions

We Communicate/Commit feedback

We Help to prevent injuries

resources on antecedents like signs, posters, and

Analyzing data – Observational data is collected training, instead of identifying and fixing the
and analyzed to identify areas needing special consequences that support or discourage safe
attention. Often we can hear the following remarks behavior. Successful BBS initiatives use applied
being made: “If only employees would listen, behavior analysis to understand the data they
then they wouldn’t get hurt,” or “If only they would collect
fix that equipment then we wouldn’t be having
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on the working interface – and to map out how best finger and speaks louder. It is sometimes sarcastic.
to improve it.

COACH TOOLKIT 4
COACH TOOLKIT 2 Communication Style
CP Critical Parent
Identifying Safety Problems & Potential Solutions
NP Nurturing Parent
Activators A Adult
NC Natural Child
Motivate RC Rebellious Child
Behavior CC Compliant Child
Direct
ABC Analysis helps us
understand activators and
consequences, and how they Consequences The Nuturing Parent. It is empathetic and
influence safety behavior. understanding. It is sensitive to the needs, wants
and feelings of others. It is firm in a caring and non-
demanding way.
Communicating Feedback – After gathering data,
The Adult. It is like a computer that takes in, stores,
observers have informal discussions with their co-
processes and sends out information. It is logical,
workers about the safe and at-risk behaviors they
reasonable and rational. It deals with facts and
observed. The observer points out the places were
thinking instead of feelings, attitudes and opinions.
the employee was performing safely and tries to
It is the part of you that is used to determine
discover the reasons behind any observed at-risk
whether, when and how to express yourself.
behaviors. The observer records co-worker
suggestions and ideas about barriers to safe work. The Natural Child. It has needs for strokes,
Data recorded in the observation is then analyzed structure, recognition and stimulation. It has wants
by computer software. Posted reports and charts of that vary from moment to moment. It needs and
workgroup performance provide additional ongoing wants are met. It expresses warmth. If needs and
feedback. wants are not met, it expresses anger, sadness and
fear. The Natural Child looks like, sounds like, and
COACH TOOLKIT 3 is in fact a spontaneous little kid experiencing these
needs.
4C’
4C’s (Strategy) The Rebellious Child. It says that it’s not going to
C1-
C1- Compliment (praise) listen to you, agree with you, or do what you want.
C2-
C2- Counsel (problem solve) It tends to get angrier than the situation calls for,
and it stays angry longer. It is very negative. This
C3-
C3- Coach (teach) may be obvious or subtle. It rebels indirectly by
C4-
C4- Corrective Action (fore-
(fore-warn) forgetting, procrastinating and doing things
differently, half-way or poorly.

The Compliant Child. It communicates: “I’m not

In order to appreciate the various effective styles of okay” in subtle (or not-so-subtle) ways. It speaks
communicating feedback, the following six with a softer voice, uses wishy-washy words and
influencing styles are to be chosen for a specific rarely makes eye contact. It tends to whine. Its
strategy: behavior is to be very careful and self-protective.

Removing Barriers through Appropriate

The Critical Parent. It communicates that you are
not okay by words, gestures, facial expressions,interventions – The main objective of the feedback
is for the work teams to develop relevant
body posture and/or tone of voice. It often points a
intervention strategies. There are four main types
of strategies. See the following chart 4.
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Chart 4: Four Intervention Strategies

Reduce Work Chart 5: Safety Key Performance Indicators

Enhance Obstacles Analyze
Safe Habits II Work Safety
I Remove
Increase
Positive
Disadvantag III
Influence
The success of C.O.A.C.H Process will
es
Reinforcem of Safe
Risk depend on the following key performance
ent Perception
Compliment
Counsel indicators:
Coach

IV 1. Safety standards are communicated to all

Cancel
Advantages employees.
of
Correct 2. Responsibilities for implementing standards
Eliminate
Consequences direct Unsafe
are understood and accepted.
behavior Habits 3. Records document how standards are met.
4. Internal management control.
5. Cost avoidance.
These four strategies are to be used after a careful 6. Improved quality.
analysis of the critical behaviors observed: 7. Better productivity.
complimenting to be used for enhancing safe 8. Team building.
behavior, counselling to be used for reducing the 9. Unsafe behavior stands out.
difficulties associated with safe behavior, coaching 10. Unsafe behavior is unacceptable.
to be used for educating workers on risk perception 11. Safe work is influenced through peer
and correcting approach to be used for removing pressure.
barriers associated with unsafe behavior. 12. Consistent planning and task execution.

COACH TOOLKITS
BEHAVIORAL BASED SAFETY
What 1 - At-Risk Behaviors
Why 2 - Causes
Why 3 - Questioning
How 4 - Strategy (Intervention)
How 5 - Style (Feedback)
t
m m en

Ma
Be age
ste ge
Sy ana

n
ha m e
vio nt
yM

r
fe t
Sa

Engineering
Controls

SAFETY TRIAD: 3 Critical Components

7. Key Safety Performance Indicators

BBS offers many powerful benefits. It requires hard

work, careful planning, and a balanced approach.
But with good execution and the right tools, BBS
can become an important part of our total approach to
overall safety excellence.

Evaluation of Safety Success

Attitude – continuous, everytime, everyone.
Awareness – perception, analysis, habits &
understanding
Action – compliment, coach, counseling or
correction.
Accountability – go for zero and incident prevention. End.
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