A review of process design factors

BEHAVIORAL SAFETY has many advocates and many critics.Advocates have seen or experienced the effects of a well-designed process on incident rates (Cooper, 2003; Lyon, 2001; Veazie, 1999). Conversely, critics do not believe it truly involves workers in the overall safety process (Howe, 1998) and believe the concept has run its course (Naso, 2002). The promotion of operant theory (Skinner, 1953) within the behavioral safety field (Geller, 1996; McSween, 2002; Krause, 1997) has led many to believe that the antecedent-behavior-consequence model focuses almost exclusively on the psychology of safety. In reality, like other safety management interventions, behavioral safety processes require a concerted effort by all to produce desired results. A simple five-step management model (known as CLEAR) shows there is no magic bullet involved: •Clarify the objectives. •Locate the problems. •Execute the change strategy. •Assess current progress. •Review and adapt the process. The purpose of a behavioral safety process is to reduce incidents triggered by unsafe or at-risk behaviors. To achieve this, specific behavioral problems are identified by focusing on incidents that result from the interaction between people and their working environment. This could include the presence, quality and functioning of various management systems (safety and nonsafety), the quality of leadership, resources available (financial and nonfinancial) and the overall safety culture (Cooper, 2000). Once these problems are identified, attempts are made to discover which antecedents (e.g., unavailable equipment) are driving at-risk behavior (e.g., using improvised tools), and which consequences (e.g., saves time) are reinforcing or maintaining that behavior so that appropriate corrective actions can be taken. Executing the change strategy usually involves addressing the antecedents to remove barriers while the associated safety behaviors are placed on checklists so workers can conduct observations of ongoing behavior. Observation results are used to facilitate corrective feedback (i.e., a consequence) to those observed and to track overall progress. The trends in observation data over a period of time are used to adapt the process to suit the particular circumstances (e.g., change the behaviors on the observation checklists, provide tailgate topics).