Making Safety
A WAY OF LIFE
Insafety Incorporated
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BEHAVIORAL-BASED
SAFETY (BBS)
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Objective
• After the training, participants will be able to
adapt a:
- systematic application of the
understanding of human behavior
- observe people’s work practices
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Introduction
• Behavioral safety has fast become an
established weapon in the war on
workplace accidents, as its use has helped
many companies to dramatically slice
through their accident plateau.
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Introduction
• Bulk of the findings are on unsafe behavior
like
a. not wearing PPE or
b. not using wheel stopper.
c. not complying with PTWs
d. not conducting risk Assessment
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Introduction
• Some of the findings may be easily
resolved while some may entail costs. It
is highly recommended that the former be
closed immediately.
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Making Safety a Way of Life Behavior-Based Safety
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Behavior-Based Safety
What is Behavior-Based Safety?
• "Behavior Based Safety" is a term used for programs focused on changing
the behavior of workers in order to prevent occupational injuries and
illnesses.
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Behavior-Based Safety
What is Behavior-Based Safety?
• BBS “focuses on what people do, analyses why
they do it, and then applies a research-supported
intervention strategy to improve what people do”.
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BBS is a proactive process that helps to get changes in a work group
safety behaviour levels before incidents happen. All incidents are
preceded by some kind of behaviour.
BBS seeks to change the person’s mindset, habits and behaviours
so that these “at risk” behaviours will no longer be performed. As a
result the worker will no longer repeat the unsafe act.
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Behavior-Based Safety
History
• Behavior Based Safety originated with
the work of Herbert William Heinrich at
the Travelers Insurance Company in the
1930's and 1940's.
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Behavior-Based Safety
History
• Heinrich conducted "research" on
thousands of insurance and injury/illness
reports written by corporate supervisors.
Who blamed the workers for causing
accidents without conducting detailed
investigations into the root causes.
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Behavior-Based Safety
History
• He came to the conclusion that roughly
90% of all incidents are caused by
human error. This conclusion became
the foundation of what BBS has come
to be today.
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Behavior-Based Safety
History
• Heinrich’s data does not tell why the person did
what they did to cause the accident, just that
accident occurred.
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Behavior-Based Safety
History
• Heinrich claimed that accidents result
from "undesirable traits of character...
passed along through inheritance" and
the fault of workers who commit
unsafe acts.
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Behavior-Based Safety
History
• Management-side safety professionals have
based their work on Heinrich's faulty theories
ever since.
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Behavior-Based Safety
History
• BBS addresses the fact that there are
additional reasons for injuries in the work
place; environment, equipment,
procedures and attitudes.
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INSAFETY INC. Why Behavioral Based
Making Safety a Way of Life
Safety?
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Why Behavioral Based Safety?
• Many companies have spent a lot of time and effort improving safety:
Best practices
Regular Safety Audit
ISO Certification
IMS
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Why Behavioral Based Safety?
Over a number of years these efforts tend to
produce dramatic reductions in accident rates.
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Why Behavioral Based Safety?
• Often, however, a plateau of minor accidents
remains that appears to be stubbornly resistant to
all efforts to remove them.
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Why Behavioral Based Safety?
• The situation all companies should be striving for is to
have work group performing a 100% safe behaviour
levels. This would give the best chance of eliminating
incident.
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Why Behavioral Based Safety?
• Safety is about people
• Compliance is not sufficient (appreciation,
commitment)
• Consequences driven behavior
• Motivating (boost morale)
• Performance feedback
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Level 4
Believe for me, family,
and teammates
Level 3
Believe for me and
for my family
Level 2
Comply when I
have to
Level 1
Comply when it
is convenient
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Why Behavioral Based Safety?
• Truly proactive
• Broad awareness
• Deep involvement
• Proven effective
• Transcends workplace safety
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Making Safety a Way of Life Does It Work?
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Does It Work?
• Because the behavioral approach differs
considerably from traditional ways of
improving safety, a question commonly asked
is 'Do these ideas work in practice?’
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Does It Work?
• Overwhelmingly, the answer is YES.
Psychologists from around the globe
have consistently reported positive
changes in both safety behavior and
accident rates, regardless of the
industrial sector or company size.
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Does It Work?
• Typical Results Include:
40-75 percent reductions in accident
rates and accident costs year on year
Better communications between
management and the workforce
Ongoing improvements to Safety
Management Systems
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Does It Work?
• Typical Results Include:
Greater 'ownership' of safety by the
workforce
More positive attitudes towards safety
Greater individual acceptance of
responsibility for safety
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Why It’s Popular?
• Managers like behavior based
safety because it shifts
responsibility for health and
safety to the workers.
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Why It’s Popular?
• Proponents also claim behavior
based safety is less expensive
because management can use
current workers to identify
hazards rather than employing
health and safety professionals.
This claim leaves out the cost of
training workers to recognize
hazards.
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• Common problems that often arise include:
Lack of workforce buy-in. This normally
comes about because the management team,
without consultation, has imposed the system
on the workforce.
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• Common problems that often arise include:
The observation checklists are not
targeting the accident causing behaviors.
This usually occurs because the accident
records have not been analyzed correctly.
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• Common problems that often arise include:
The unsafe behaviors have not been defined with sufficient precision.
This is a very common problem with many behavioral safety systems. Such
items assume everybody knows what the correct procedures are, and often
they do not.
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• Common problems that often arise include:
A lack of ongoing management support.
Management do not see themselves as a part of the
problem, and therefore do not see what they have
anything to offer.
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The BBS should…
• Be employee-based for continuous improvement
• Analyze tasks & hazards to identify critical safety behaviors
• Analyze behavior based on job observation
• Use feedback about safety performance as reinforcement
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Criteria for Behavioral Safety Program
• It involves significant workforce participation
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Criteria for Behavioral Safety Program
• It targets specific unsafe behaviours.
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Criteria for Behavioral Safety Program
• It is based on observational data collection.
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Criteria for Behavioral Safety Program
• It requires visible on-going support from
managers and front-line supervision.
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Criteria for Behavioral Safety Program
• It involves data-driven decision-making
processes.
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