Behavior-based coaching is essential for any mission to keep people safe. It’s human nature to get distracted or complacent on the job, and to deviate from performing the prescribed safe operating procedure [SOP]. Plus, it’s easy for workers to overlook a safety hazard, especially when they are focused on a job challenge and in the flow of self-directed goal achievement. Systematic behavior-based observing and coaching from a peer can be invaluable to prevent personal injury. This is the primary mission of behavior-based safety [BBS].
The success of BBS hinges on implementing an effective behavioral-observation-and-feedback [BOF] process. The critical behavioral checklist [CBC] is an essential tool for a successful BOF session. As most readers know, a CBC is developed and customized from group meetings with a work team selected to define the safe and at-risk behaviors relevant to performing their jobs safely.
Given the diversity of jobs at a worksite, an effective CBC varies dramatically across work teams, and it needs to be altered over time as jobs change and workers take on different assignments. When a particular behavior reaches 90 percent safe or better, it’s advisable to substitute another behavior for that behavior. And when the percent-safe scores for certain behaviors vary substantially across the same CBC of a work team, a lack of inter-observer reliability is indicated, suggesting a possible misunderstanding of a given SOP and/or a need for consensus training on the definitions of the safe and at-risk behaviors of a CBC.
Applying the critical behavior checklist
The percent-safe scores from plant-wide application of a BOF process provide a leading indicator of the relative safety [or injury potential] across job sites. Plus, a content analysis of the written commentary from the “comment column” of a CBC might suggest a number of proactive adjustments to make–from the removal of safety hazards and barriers that influence workers to take at-risk shortcuts to altering a policy or management system that motivates the occurrence of certain at-risk behavior [for efficiency] over safe behavior [for effectiveness]. And the percent-safe scores from a CBC indicate certain work behaviors to target for special attention by BOF participants and SOP trainers.
BBS coaching
Too few organizations use the CBC to deliver one-to-one behavioral feedback to the workers observed. In fact, coaching is often omitted entirely, making BBS far less successful than it could be at injury prevention. It takes relevant training, commitment, and courage to conduct an effective one-to-one feedback process. Plus, some organizations lack the interdependent brother’s/sister’s keeper culture needed to facilitate and support a BBS coaching process.
Let’s consider how the CBC can be used to expand a behavioral feedback discussion beyond the identification of safe behaviors to support and at-risk behaviors to correct.
Exposure, Severity, and Probability [ESP]
Exposure, Severity, and Probability can be used to estimate behavioral risk and select the behaviors for a CBC. Exposure fluctuates according to the frequency and duration of an at-risk behavior from all employees at a worksite. For example, the longer a worker refrains from using personal protective equipment [PPE], the greater the exposure.
Severity refers to the degree of possible harm or injury that could occur from an at-risk behavior.
Probability -- risk probabilities that a certain behavior will result in an injury -- is the most difficult to estimate. Still, considering the probability of an injury following the occurrence of various at-risk behaviors is a useful topic for a BBS coaching session.
Behavioral convenience
Along with discussing the ESP of an at-risk behavior, it’s useful to identify safe behaviors that are extremely inconvenient to perform. This could activate constructive dialogue about environmental barriers or engineering constraints that ought to be altered or removed to make safe behavior more convenient. Ask people to assign safe and at-risk behaviors a “behavioral-convenience index” from 1 to 10, with “1” representing “most easy” and “10” reflecting “most difficult” to perform.
Subjective evaluations of behavioral convenience can facilitate engaging and informative discussions when deriving a CBC, and when coaching a peer after a BOF session. The gap between the convenience scores of various safe behaviors and their at-risk counterparts indicates the degree of intervention effort needed to influence safe work behavior.
Injury protection vs. injury prevention
Categorizing safe behavior as protective versus preventive is enlightening and instructive because of “risk compensation.” It has been shown empirically that some people take more risks when they feel protected. Vehicle drivers were found to drive faster when they were buckled up with a combination shoulder-and-seatbelt than when unbuckled. And football players increase their risk-taking behavior on the field when suited up with protective gear. Question: If a job is made safer with machine guards or the use of PPE, will workers reduce their perception of risk and perform more at-risk behavior?
Researchers of risk compensation, termed “risk homeostasis” by some, conclude that safety cannot be achieved through training, engineering, or enforcement. Why? Because compliance with an injury-protective behavior will influence a decrease in the related injury-preventive behavior. It’s assumed that people have a personal level of risk they are willing to endure, and improving protection increases their risk-taking behavior until that level of acceptable risk is reached.
Professor Gerald Wilde, the originator of the theory of risk homeostasis, advocates that safety interventions must reduce the level of risk people are willing to take, and he emphasizes value-change over behavior-change. This implies talking about safety as a core value rather than a changeable priority. This notion, along with the evidence of risk compensation, should certainly influence interpretations and discussions of CBC results, as well as BBS coaching.
Conclusion
This brief article provides an overview of the essence of BBS, with particular attention to applications of a CBC. I hope readers consider the following four summary points:
- The interpersonal coaching component of BBS is essential for optimal injury prevention, but this process is missing from many BBS implementations;
- The analysis of data collected through the CBC to identify trends and guide the development of system-level improvements is essential for optimal injury prevention;
- Many applications of BBS do not strategically and continuously refine CBCs; and
- When creating and applying a CBC, estimate:
- the injury exposure, severity, and probability of targeted at-risk behaviors;
- the convenience of safe versus at-risk behaviors; and
- the difference between injury-protective versus injury-preventive behavior -- presenting evidence of risk compensation.
Environment, health, and safety [EHS] managers are always looking for ways that they can mitigate risk, take preventive action against potential hazards and incidents, and improve their company’s overall safety culture. Behavior-based safety [BBS] is an effective tool that can be put to use in achieving all of these goals.
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Basically, BBS is a method of avoiding human error and improving workplace safety by observing and analyzing employees’ behavior while they work. Let’s take a look at some of the key concepts of BBS, along with actions EHS managers and professionals can take to put the concepts to beneficial use at their organizations.
Before we get started, however, we must first emphasize one thing in order to dispel a common misconception about BBS: Behavior-based safety is NOT about blaming the employee for safety mishaps. It is about positively reinforcing safe behaviors while providing corrective feedback when risky behaviors are observed.
The Basics of BBS
The guiding principle of behavioral safety is helping employees perform a job safely as the product of a series of safe behaviors. “Behavior” is defined as any action you can see someone doing, and it includes visible actions only [i.e., it does not refer to things you cannot see, such as an employee’s attitudes or thoughts]. BBS helps determine why at-risk behavior occurs on the job and the steps necessary to change at-risk behavior into safe behavior.
The BBS method uses materials and activities to encourage safe behavior. For example, safety signs, training, safety rules and policies, and safety meetings are all tools that can be put to good use in a behavioral safety framework. It also uses observation of behaviors to determine whether behaviors are safe or unsafe, and it uses positive or corrective feedback on performance to reinforce safe behavior and change unsafe behavior.
BBS Starts with Selecting and Observing Desired Safe Behaviors
When putting BBS into action within the workplace, it’s important that EHS managers properly select and observe employee behavior. Behaviors selected for observation must be:
- Observable [i.e., can be seen or heard],
- Reliable [i.e., seen the same way by two or more people],
- Something over which an employee has control, and
- Described in a positive way [i.e., what should be done, not what shouldn’t be done].
Keep in mind that behavior-based safety observations must be objective—that is, based on what you actually see a person doing, not on opinions or interpretations about an employee’s performance.
To put observations into action, consider this activity. Select several safe behaviors [usually no more than five at one time] and compile them into a checklist that employees carry with them during the workday and use to spot-check for the different selected safe behaviors. If an employee observes a coworker performing a behavior on the checklist safely, a check is placed in the “safe” column. If a coworker is observed performing a behavior unsafely, a check goes in the “unsafe” column. This can take the pulse of the prevalence of safe vs. unsafe behavior on the job and help EHS professionals then provide positive feedback for safe behaviors or take corrective and preventive action for riskier behavior.
Positive Feedback Is Essential to BBS
Positive verbal feedback is a powerful way to reinforce safe behavior and a cornerstone of effective BBS. When you give employees feedback about safe behavior, be specific about what you observed.
For example, to a forklift operator you might say, “Thank you for driving slowly around that corner and using your horn to warn others.” Avoid generalizations such as, “Thanks for driving the forklift carefully.” Deliver feedback on performance immediately after the behavior or as soon after the behavior as possible.
Also, be sure to identify the person or group to whom you’re giving the feedback by name. For example, “John, thanks for mopping up that spilled water. You just prevented someone from slipping and falling and getting injured.” Avoid saying things like, “Thanks, everyone, for keeping the floor clean.”
One thing to avoid in your communication: Don’t use the word “but” or “however” when giving positive feedback, since these qualifiers diminish the effect of the positive message. For example, if you say, “Good to see you wearing safety glasses, Sally, but…” Sally may only hear the part after the “but”—not the positive reinforcement that preceded it.
Use Corrective Feedback for Risky Observed Behaviors
While we stress once more that BBS is emphatically not about blaming employees, you also must never ignore unsafe behavior—it could result in an incident, an injury, or worse. When you observe an employee engaging in unsafe behavior, you must give corrective feedback.
Corrective feedback is providing information on what an employee is doing incorrectly and also providing information for improvement. It does not merely scold employees [which could result in reactance against your efforts on their part], but instead calls attention to a specific behavior and helps increase the chances of safer behaviors in the future.
When giving corrective feedback, remember:
- Be specific and focus on the correct behavior only—don’t discuss other behaviors.
- Be objective and talk about the behavior, not the person.
- Describe the safe behavior, and make sure employees understand why this behavior is important to their safety.
Positive Behaviors, Positive Culture
While BBS can help EHS managers pinpoint both safe and unsafe behaviors in order to prevent incidents, it also has the added benefit of improving a company’s overall safety culture. Frequent, consistent, and clear communication on safety issues such as behavior allows organizations to make safety a core part of their company values and an integral part of their overall culture.
With a more mindful approach to behavior, EHS managers, along with employees and upper management, can create an atmosphere where safety is top of mind every single day. When paired with proper tracking and analytical tools, behavior-based safety can help you ensure that employees are not only getting the job done, but doing so in a way that actively promotes health and safety.