BEHAVIOUR BASED

SAFETY GUIDE

DOING WHAT WE DO
BETTER, SMARTER, SAFER

Our vision:
A country where worker safety, health and welfare
and the safe management of chemicals are central
to successful enterprise

Foreword

More and more we need to look at new

approaches to achieving safe and healthy
workplaces. We need to apply the learning
from the many years of analyses of accidents
and ill health because this will contribute to
future prevention strategies and activities.
Behaviour Based Safety (BBS) is an approach
that we believe can be applied successfully; it
is gaining more interest across industry sectors
globally and has the great advantage of
needing the involvement of the individual
employee, in addition of course, to employer
commitment.
How often have we experienced situations in
which an employees competence in a work
process is assessed at the point that they leave
the training room with the assumption that,
once learned, the process will be applied
correctly and safely?
This fails to take account of the many factors
that influence and reinforce learning and
behaviours. BBS addresses these factors. It is

closely linked to company culture and values

and, most importantly, when it works, it is an
excellent tool to improve safety performance in
the workplace.
In developing this guide we have been
privileged to have worked with a group of
people from companies that are committed to
the principles of BBS and on whom we can
count to promote the message. We hope that
many more employers and employees become
interested in the potential of the approaches set
out and that we have added another useful and
practical tool for improving safety and health
performance.
Our thanks go to all who have been of
assistance, provided insights and shared their
considerable expertise to help in the
development of the guide.
Mary Dorgan
Assistant Chief Executive
Health and Safety Authority

CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
What is a behaviour based safety (BBS) approach? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Reinforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Reinforcement and Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Goal Setting and Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
What is Involved in a BBS Programme? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Leadership influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Tips for successfully implementing a BBS programme in your workplace . . . . . . .14
Case study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Additions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Published in 2013 by the Health and Safety Authority, The Metropolitan Building, James Joyce Street, Dublin 1.

Introduction

Various approaches have had reasonable success

in reducing unsafe behaviours in the workplace.
Some involve penalties; others involve
surveillance; others involve guidance, codes and
procedures to follow; others still are supportive and
training-oriented.
Some initiatives come from the employer, from the
social partner organisations, from state regulatory
bodies, and some worthwhile initiatives come from
individual employees own insights, ideas, training
and development activities around health and
safety.
Most employers and employees in the area of
safety will agree that the ultimate aim of a safety
initiative is a total safety culture; however, this
concept is rarely defined. A total safety culture is a
culture in which:
a)

individuals hold safety as a value and not

just a priority;

b)

individuals take responsibility for the safety

of their co-workers in addition to
themselves; and

c)

all level of employee are willing and able

to act on their sense of responsibility
they can go beyond the call of duty
(Perdue, 2000).

The following are some requirements for any

approach to safety at work that brings about
noticeable, lasting results and contributes to a total
safety culture:
1. A strong management commitment towards
maintaining and improving behavioural safety,
witnessed in the regular acts of individuals at
management level.

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

2. Respectful, trusting, open communication

between management and employee groups
about all aspects of safety in the workplace.
3. An open, feedback-rich culture among
employees, which enables employees to
consistently learn and grow.
4. A commitment to improving the profile of and
attitude to health and safety, and increased
employee engagement in safety.
5. An emphasis on safe and unsafe behaviour;
not a sole dependence on lagging indicators
such as safety statistics.
6. A strong, consistent, timely reaction to the
discovery of unsafe acts, whether they result in
injury or not. Safety incidents are viewed as an
opportunity to learn and improve.
7. Generally transparent and fair leadership from
all, including managers, supervisors, and
owners.
8. Awareness amongst all staff of different ways
to consider or query human factors how we
do what we do, and why.

What is a Behaviour-Based Safety

(BBS) approach?

This guide is informed by the field of BehaviourBased Safety (BBS), which is often described
as a bottom-up approach (frontline employees),
with top-down support from safety leaders.
A behaviour-based safety approach promotes
interventions that are people-focused and often
incorporate one-to-one or group observations of
employees performing routine work tasks, setting
goals carefully and giving timely feedback on
safety-related behaviour, coaching and mentoring.
The initiatives have a proactive focus, encouraging
individuals and their work groups to consider the
potential for incident involvement, (accidents) and
to assess their own behaviour as safe or unsafe
always, no matter what.

A BBS approach is one which:

Is based on solid principles about engaging,

motivating, assisting, reinforcing, and
sustaining safe behaviours.

Takes a systematic approach, examining the

motivation underlying behaviours, in order to
increase safe behaviour.

Is an ongoing effort; not once-off provisions,

but a new way of working that the safety leader
must continually promote for sustainable,
positive results.

Takes time to achieve; however, results can be

observed immediately due to the nature of
measurement involved.

Emphasises increasing safe behaviours rather

than focusing on length of time without injury.
BBS programmes do not depend solely on
lagging indicators (after the fact), and instead
shift the focus to leading indicators
(preventative).

Is not a substitute for an already existing

comprehensive health and safety programme;

it is a supplementary tool that will enhance the
effect of already existing practices, and will
allow for an objective measurement system.

Aims to understand causes of incidents and

near misses and correct them through the
behaviour of relevant people. For example,
reducing hazards often requires behaviour
change of managers and frontline workers,
and equipment redesign involves behaviour
change of engineers.

BBS is about everyones behaviour, not just

the frontline (Agnew & Ashworth, 2012)
BBS stems from the field of organisational
behaviour analysis. The focus in both
organisational behaviour analysis and BBS is
behaviour. The overarching theme in behaviour
analysis and BBS is that behaviour is maintained
by what occurs after it (consequences).
Many safety interventions in work settings focus on
antecedents, or events that come before behaviour
that may evoke behaviour. For example, many
work settings rely heavily on training, safety signs,
pep talks, toolbox talks, or pre-briefs. These can be
effective in activating behaviours initially, but it is
what occurs after our behaviour that ensures the
behaviour will occur time and time again.
For example, a toolbox talk addressing
correct manual handling techniques might
result in correct techniques on the day of
the talk; however, over time employees
will revert to old practices. This is because
nothing has occurred after their correct
behaviour to indicate that it is correct, or
that it has benefitted the individual or the
organisation to be so safety-conscious.

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

What is a Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS)

approach?

Within BBS, behaviour is explained in terms of the ABC model (Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequence).

Antecedent

Behaviour

A stimulus or event that

occurs before a behaviour
in time. This stimulus or
event may result in the
behaviour. Work examples
include goals, policies,
training, job aids, guides.

Consequence

Anything that we
can see an
individual do, or say.

A stimulus or event that occurs after a

behaviour in time. This consequence
could increase or decrease behaviour in
the future, depending on its reinforcing or
punishing properties. Work examples
include feedback, recognition, task
completion, goal achievement, rewards.

Despite the fact that we rely heavily on antecedents, it is consequences that have the
greatest influence on behaviour.

When we examine an incident report and ask

questions around why a person behaved in a certain
way, we tend to look at antecedents, or what
occurred to set off the behaviour. However, if we
examine the report with a view to consequences, we
will gain a clearer picture of why the behaviour
occurred. For example, if an eye injury occurred and
the individual was not wearing PPE, we need to
examine what were the consequences for wearing
the PPE (e.g., possible but not definite reduction of
injury) and what were the consequences for not
wearing PPE (e.g., immediate comfort, better vision
on the job).
-

Examination of consequences can reveal

that in some instances it is actually more
preferable to not wear safety equipment.
It is the job of a safety leader to ensure
that it is more preferable to engage in
safe behaviour.

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

This guide will examine the process that occurs

when a consequence leads to increases in
behaviour, reinforcement, and how we can increase
safe behaviour through reinforcement. The
document will then outline steps to an effective
behavioural safety programme, and will conclude
with a case study highlighting the positive effects of
a BBS programme.

Reinforcement

Reinforcement occurs when a consequence that

follows a behaviour makes it more likely that the
behaviour will occur again in the future.
Therefore, a reinforcing consequence is one that
causes behaviour to occur more frequently.
-

For example, the behaviour of putting

money in a snack vending machine and pressing
a button has the consequence of the chosen
food item being distributed. The presentation
of the food item functions as reinforcement for
putting the money in and pressing the button.
If the person using the vending machine actually
wanted the food item then they will repeat this
behaviour in the future (because it was
successfully accomplished).

Essentially, everything we do changes our

environment in some way (consequences).
When the environment changes in a way that
we like, then we will repeat the behaviour that
led to the change (reinforcement).
We can increase performance through negative and
positive reinforcement.

Negative simply means taking away

something (e.g., closing a window removes
a cold breeze), and

Positive means adding something (e.g.,

turning on a light switch results in the
addition of light).

Negative Reinforcement
A lot of what we do is to avoid something, so
we behave to get rid of the thing we dont want
this is negative reinforcement.
For example, if you wear PPE to avoid a fine
(that might occur for not wearing PPE), this is
you working under negative reinforcement.
Your wearing PPE behaviour has increased in
order to avoid a bad situation.
Doing something to avoid punishment or
aversive conditions will not inspire great or
creative performance. We get by, but we are
not motivated to improve we are motivated
by fear! Working because we have to will get
sufficient performance, but working because
we want to will mean we get maximum
performance (Daniels, 2000).

In many organisations, work is typically carried out

under negative reinforcement conditions (i.e.
because we have to). This results in adequate
performance; employees do enough to satisfy a
compliance standard, but they do not go that extra
mile. On the other hand, working under positive
reinforcement conditions can result in employees
going above and beyond their job duties, and
employees will take personal account for safety. If
employees work under positive reinforcement
conditions (i.e. because they want to), then they
will be: 1) working towards something good (as
opposed to avoiding a negative), 2) motivated to
work, which might result in 3) creative thinking,
employing new strategies, successful decision
making, seeking more responsibility.

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

Reinforcement

Positive Reinforcement
In work settings it is less common to see
individuals working under positive reinforcement
conditions; however, it is preferable. Positive
reinforcement leads to durable behaviour
change, and happier employees!
For example, if you wear PPE because you feel
like you are contributing to safety in your
organisation (by taking personal control of
safety), you will be more likely to wear PPE
when your boss is not present, in situations in
which it is not mandatory, and you may well
begin to exhibit other safe behaviours in
addition to this, voluntarily.
Doing something that results in positive
reinforcement promotes strong, durable
behaviour change, in addition to other new
positive behaviours.

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

When we talk about reinforcement, we refer to the

consequence that increases behaviour as a
reinforcer.

A reinforcer is anything that is added following a

behaviour that increases that behaviour in the
future.

This could be recognition, praise, money, or

anything at all that is provided after our
behaviour.

As a basic example, when two people are

having a conversation, they are reinforcing each
others conversation behaviour. If one person
stopped talking, then reinforcement would no
longer be present and the conversation would
cease. Reinforcers are around us in our
environment and maintain our behaviours all of
the time.

A successful leader will identify their employees

reinforcers through observing what motivates
their employees, and by trying out potential
reinforcers, for example, increasing positive
feedback to see if that increases safe behaviour.

Reinforcement and Feedback

Feedback is information given to an individual or a

group about their behaviour and its impact
(Braksick, 2007), and is one of the most important
communication tools in helping people stay
healthy and safe. Feedback can take many shapes
and forms, and generally in a work setting feedback
is a combination of positive and constructive
information.
A feedback-rich environment enhances both
communication and motivation. Positive feedback
can act as a consequence that increases behaviour
(reinforcement). Feedback lets us know that we are
performing the correct behaviours positive
feedback should be specific in pinpointing the exact
behaviours that warrant positive praise. For
example, instead of saying nice work Bill, saying
Bill, your housekeeping skills are so impressive.
My path is always clear walking through your
workspace, will convey exactly to Bill what he has
done to impress the person delivering the feedback.
If individuals receive feedback telling them that they
are doing the right thing, then they will most likely
increase that behaviour, provided the feedback is
specific and genuine.

feedback, and for the listener to receive the

feedback. If a person is habituated to receiving
positive feedback, when he/she receives
constructive feedback indicating that a change in
behaviour is required, the person will make the
changes, particularly if a goal is set around the new
behaviour. We often do incorrect things because
we havent been shown how to do the correct
things.
When delivering constructive feedback, remember:
-

Constructive feedback should be used as a tool

to teach and learn the correct way to complete a
task or do a behaviour.

It should be viewed as a training mechanism,

and if delivered correctly, employees should
want to receive constructive feedback.

Using feedback in conjunction with goal setting

provides a clear objective for the individual, so a
combination of goal setting and frequent feedback
produces maximal behaviour change.

Sometimes it is necessary to deliver constructive

feedback. Constructive feedback refers to when
clear non judgmental instructions are given to the
individual on what behaviours they need to change
to reach the desired behaviours. If positive
feedback is delivered on a ratio of 5:1 to
constructive feedback, then it will be easier
for the communicator to deliver the constructive

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

Goal Setting and Feedback

Research into motivation and behaviour change

tells us that setting goals leads to better results and
that what gets measured gets done. A person who
is encouraged to get sixty letters typed in a day is
far more likely to succeed than a person who is told
to do their best. Likewise, if there is any room for
ambiguous interpretation, it is crucial to elaborate,
e.g., rather than saying Overalls should be worn
correctly, say, Overalls should be done up to the
neck with sleeves outside gauntlet gloves. It is
better to be specific than vague, to aim higher than
lower and to get participation and engagement from
the start. Safety should always be at the core of
goal setting: saying Do it by Friday but do it safely
rather than Do it safely but do it by Friday puts the
emphasis on safety as the most important factor,
not the deadline.
Most research shows that when goal setting is
matched with feedback in a systematic way, the
target behaviour change is even more likely to
occur. When setting goals, managers, supervisors,
parents, teachers and bosses often forget the
delivery of feedback. If a person sets out to learn
new methods or systems, to reach a target, to strive
to improve or re-skill in some way, they need
feedback. Setting a goal acts as an antecedent that
specifies what goal-directed behaviour should
occur, and feedback acts as a reinforcer the goal
sets off the behaviour and the feedback reinforces
the behaviour. Behaviour-based safety interventions
reinforce safe behaviour via one-to-one, group and
site-wide feedback.

Goal setting means simply what it says:

Choose a goal relating to an activity - on a
warehouse floor, use of machinery could be the
target activity.

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

Then choose a goal for that activity, e.g. always

travel at or below the recommended speed when
operating a forklift truck.
Agree that goal with those using the machinery
and those in that vicinity.
Agree upon a measurement system to determine
progress towards the goal.

In order for a goal to be reasonable, those

performing the behaviour must agree, to some
extent, that it is reasonable. They may believe it to
be too high, or too hard, but they must, at a basic
level, accept that it is do-able and that they can
achieve it. In order for this to occur, a discussion
must take place to ensure that the goal chosen is a
worthwhile one. Apathy and cynicism result when
silly or meaningless goals are chosen. So, the first
phase is to agree a goal activity and then set a
difficult, but do-able, standard to be met, a time
frame in which to meet that target, and a way to
measure goal-directed behaviour. For complex
goals, set targets in between so that the effort is
staggered incrementally. Ensure that people know
the most efficient way to complete the task, that the
new goal is applied fairly, and that everyone knows
what they have to do and by what deadline.

What is Involved in a BBS Programme?

Having explored reinforcement, feedback and goal

setting, the next section of this guide will briefly
outline the steps to a BBS intervention. It is
recommended that the reference section at the end
of the document be consulted prior to
implementation of a BBS programme.

1. A design team is created

The most effective way to run a BBS
programme is to initially set up a design team.
The design team should consist of
management and frontline employees, and
each member of the team should have heard
about BBS and volunteer to be on the team.
This team will design the BBS system,
however all employees will be involved in
implementation.
2. Target behaviours are chosen from
safety incidents, near miss reporting,
safety audits and observation
Firstly, the design team picks targeted areas/
tasks. The team can use data that the site
already has; results of safety audits, safety
data, information from safety meetings and
informal interviews with staff (from the past 5
years if possible). This will provide a wealth of
information around areas in need of
improvement. The team determine what would
have prevented the reported injuries; if it is not
immediately obvious the team use methods
like discussing how increased situation
awareness might have affected the situation.
From this analysis, the team will identify
critical safe behaviours for an observation
checklist.

3. A critical checklist is developed

The checklist is comprised of the list of safe
behaviours identified in the above step. The
list can be shortened according to importance
of safety, frequency of occurrence,
observability and overlap with other items on
the list. The list should be no more than 1
sheet of paper (1 side). It helps to have
definitions for everything that is being
measured on the back of the checklist try
not to leave anything up to subjective
interpretation. The best way to know if the
checklist is useable is to observe an employee
working, and see if all categories on the list
can be filled out in an observation. The list will
need to be revised a number of times before it
can be considered ready-to-use.
4. Ensure that you have a
measurement system
The measurement system for an observation
programme is simply a frequency count of
safe and risk behaviours during an
observation. Note of caution: measuring is
an antecedent, and we need a
consequence in place to strengthen the
behaviour under measurement. When
measurement is used effectively, the leader
can create an environment in which people
actually want to be measured. This can
happen when positive consequences are
delivered based on the behaviour change that
is observed through measurement. When
employees receive specific, positive feedback
about the results, then they will see a benefit,
aim higher, and want to be measured.

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

What is Involved in a BBS Programme?

5. Behavioural observations are

carried out
Consider who will conduct the observations.
Data shows that the most beneficial system is
to have all employees involved in the
observation process. Behavioural
observations increase safety behaviours of
the observed but also the observer, so
encouraging employees to conduct
observations on each other will benefit all
employees. The team and all employees will
need to decide how often observations will be
conducted. Will they occur across or within
departments? Will a single task or employee
be observed, or a work area? Will you include
contractors? if so, try to recruit them at the
design phase.
6. Feedback is delivered
The process requires careful training of
employees. The observer should summarise
significant positive safety behaviours that
were observed and then one or two areas that
require change. The feedback should be
delivered as soon as possible after the
observation (unless this poses a risk).
Describe the behaviour observed, discuss
the potential impact and listen to the
observee this formula can be used for both
positive and corrective feedback. In addition to
individual feedback by the observer, overall
site feedback should be delivered. The leader
should discuss the results of the observations
(categorically, not personally) at safety
meetings, while also providing visual
feedback. The easiest and most effective way
to do this is through creation of a graph.
Visual feedback helps us to see how we are
doing and also helps us to set goals. Leaders

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

10

should respond with positive feedback about

any improvements, and not respond
negatively to low numbers on graphs. Instead,
they should encourage objective problem
solving.
7. Make use of the data
You now have valuable data that you can use
to inform you on process changes. Build a
review of the data into existing meetings and
ensure that all staff are informed of any
changes made based on the data, and that
they know it was because of their contribution
(as a group - no names are recorded).
8. Set improvement goals
Employees should be encouraged to
participate in this, and the goals should be
realistic and based on the current data. Set
short goals and ensure that each employee
knows what behaviour or process they need
to work on to reach the goal (see goal setting
section of this guide). Remember to focus on
the safety process itself and not the results
attempting to manage results will ruin the
integrity of the programme. Instead of setting
goals to increase or decrease results, set
goals around the behaviours that lead to
these results (e.g., increase wearing of safety
goggles from 80% to 100%).

Behavioural observations are an opportunity to

deliver both positive and constructive feedback. It is
a feedback session structured around observation
of a particular behaviour or a set of behaviours, and
a feedback-rich environment is one in which
everybody is learning. An effective observation
process offers:

What is Involved in a BBS Programme?

Feedback on the effectiveness of the safety

programme

Improved safety practices of observers and

observees;

Social consequences for safety

Increased situation awareness;

A baseline for setting improvement goals

Practice in observing and discussing safe

behaviour

Provides feedback on the effectiveness of

safety processes;

Provides a baseline to set improvement

goals;

Provides a forum for recognition of positive

behaviours (McSween, 2003).

There are numerous benefits of using a behavioural

observation approach, and it is recommended that
the reader consult the reference section of this
guide for examples of successful interventions.
Some notable benefits of behavioural observations
are:

11

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

Leadership influence

BBS programmes are typically driven by frontline

employees; however, supervisors and managers
play an integral role in promoting, modelling and
reinforcing the programme. Without strong safety
leaders, a BBS programme will suffer, and the
expected positive results may not be observed.
Managers and supervisors affect the work group in
many ways:
1. Their own behaviour acts as a model for
those reporting to them.
2. Their attitudes, witnessed in what they say
formally and informally, for instance in the
canteen as well as at the start of a shift in front
of senior managers, make their mark.
3. The most important effect comes from what
the supervisors really do and think, not what
they say they do and think.
4. They behave on behalf of large groups of
employees at times where time is short or
energy reduced. For instance, if employees
are tired, their behaviour very much
depends on what the supervisor does, says
and accepts as reasonable from their group
of reportees.
Safety is not flexible, yet supervisors and managers
have to be. This is one difficulty with keeping a
stringent, consistent approach to safety: letting
someone do something unsafely even once
diminishes every other attempt to do it properly.
Leaders and managers can show flexibility in other
matters, but not safety. Remember, there are two
main requirements for employees:

Participation and engagement on safety

issues so that all employees are informed
and can debate the issues.
Total compliance with behaviours agreed to
most effectively reduce errors, all the time.

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

12

Leaders play a very important role in the safety

process. Leadership should not consist of auditing a
performer but rather listening to the performer and
asking questions, such as are there any parts of
your job that you dont see the need to do?.
The leaders job is to listen and learn from their
employee one of the best ways you can build
relationships is to let somebody teach you
(Uhl, 2012).
With regard to the specific areas of BBS addressed
in the current document, the leader plays particular
important and essential parts in the process:
1. ABC model
It is the leaders responsibility to identify and
communicate antecedents and consequences to
safe and unsafe behaviour. If a leader can
identify why an unsafe act is occurring, and what
is maintaining the unsafe behaviour, then the
leader is in a position to change conditions to
ensure that the alternative safe behaviour
results in more preferable consequences.
Additionally, a strong leader will teach his/her
employees to conduct ABC analyses so that all
employees can identify consequences to safe
and unsafe behaviour, and all can contribute
positively to behaviour change.
2. Reinforcement
When consequences have been identified, a
strong leader will assess whether reinforcement
can be implemented for the desired safe
behaviours. That is, a leader will boost social
reinforcement for safe behaviours and assess
whether or not this increases the safe behaviour.
A strong leader will listen to his/her employees
to see what they find important. For example, if
an employee is discussing how he/she came up
with a particular initiative, then a clever leader

Leadership influence

can surmise that the employee wants

recognition for his input. If one-to-one
recognition is not preferable to an employee,
then a leader will find ways of ascertaining what
motivates that employee (e.g., ask, observe).
3. Feedback
It is the leaders responsibility to deliver frequent
feedback when he/she observes safe behaviour.
The leader leads a feedback-rich environment;
the leader doesnt just deliver the feedback, but
also encourages staff to deliver feedback to
each other. A strong leader can increase overall
communication and motivation of a site by
simply increasing positive feedback, provided
the feedback is specific and genuine.
4. Goal Setting
The leader can initiate goal setting with his/her
staff, which can lead to staff setting their own
goals. That is, the leader can begin a goal
setting culture, but as staff perform behavioural
observations on each other, they will begin to set
their own goals. The leader can initiate overall
site goals based on the group data from
behavioural observations. A strong leader will

follow-up with these goals and provide timely

feedback to employees on their progress
towards the goal, and recognise achievements.
5. Behavioural Observations
A successful observation programme typically
involves employees conducting observations on
each other; however the safety leader needs to
champion the process. The leader should be
involved at the design stage, and should provide
continuous feedback on the success of the
programme. The leader will also be responsible
for any environmental or procedural changes
that result from observations there are often
safety changes needed that employees do not
have the authority to carry out (e.g., hazard
removal).
This list of leader responsibilities is not exhaustive,
and the leader plays a continuous role in promoting
safety improvements at his/her worksite. Safety
leaders are the role-models for personal safety, and
employees will look to strong leaders to see how
they should behave at work safety leaders need to
walk the talk.

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Behaviour Based Safety Guide

Tips for successfully implementing a BBS

programme in your workplace

Set clear and realistic goals: what do you want to achieve? How will you
know that you have achieved it?
Pilot the intervention in a small section or department of the organisation
first pick an easy area where people are accessible, positive and in a
stable environment.
Contact similar companies or trade associations to discuss their
interventions and experiences.
Listen to your employees and use the process to improve communication.
Involve employees early in the choice of programme to increase the
likelihood of employee investment and participation, and so that they feel a
sense of ownership.
Tailor the language, style and branding of the programme to your
organisation. Market it to the employees just as any product or service is
marketed to them.
Focus on the real root causes of errors and accidents in the workplace: not
just actions, but motivations or consequences behind the actions.
Always emphasise that safety is not a priority, which can change according
to external factors, but a core value which must be considered in every
action and task that an employee undertakes.

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14

Case study

Case Study: Behavioural Intervention Over Time

In 2010, Myers, McSween, Medina, Rost and Alvero
published an article providing results from a 20-year
BBS intervention, highlighting the success of the
programme and the durability of behaviour change
over time.

Step 1
All employees were informed of the intervention, the
rationale behind the intervention and the goals of
the intervention. A thorough safety assessment was
conducted to ascertain past interventions, get input
from employees, identify high risk areas and
activities, and identify training needs.
Step 2
A design team was created consisting of 10
employees who volunteered to take part, an area
manager and a committee leader. The design team
were trained on behaviour analysis and the
behavioural safety process over a 3-day workshop.
Step 3
The design team identified basic safety values(e.g.,
teamwork, employee empowerment), and then
pinpointed practices and behaviours that would be
indicative of those values. Then the team created a
safety process for each unit of the plant, stating the
values and practices for each process.
Step 4
The design team (along with behavioural
consultants) trained all employees on behavioural
observation techniques and the rationale for using
observation to measure safe behaviour. Employees
practiced observation and delivery of feedback.

The intervention took place in an oil refinery in which

plant managers had expressed a clear interest in
reducing injuries and improving the safety culture.
An initial assessment of the previous 3 years of
incident reports revealed that unsafe employee
acts contributed to 96% of injuries. The intervention
was initially introduced to one area of the refinery as
this area showed the highest risk and the most past
injuries. The following steps provide a brief
description of the intervention:

Step 5
Employees were asked to complete at least two
peer observations per month using checklists that
listed relevant safe behaviours. The design team
reviewed the observations monthly, graphed the
data, and reviewed the data in monthly safety
meetings. The data taken were frequency of
observations, participation, and types of safety
concerns from the observations.

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Behaviour Based Safety Guide

Case study

Step 6
Employees received monthly feedback; both verbal
and visual. Lists of employee suggestions and
actions taken were also posted. Rewards were
delivered in the form of meals or small celebrations
if the team met their monthly goals (% increase from
the previous month), and managers were always
present for these celebrations.

Main lessons:
Employees and management expressed an
interest in improving safety prior to
implementation this is essential for
voluntary participation.

Provide some information highlighting the

benefits of changing a behaviour.

Step 7
Following implementation in the initial area of the
plant, the programme was rolled out plant-wide.

Train all employees on the intervention so

that all can take part and contribute to
behaviour change.

Results:
Although direct observation data was taken and
used to drive the intervention, injury data was
consulted to view the overall success of the
programme. Following intervention in the initial area
of the plant, 24 months passed before the first
recordable incident (this was unheard of in that area
of the plant).

Celebrate success this does not need to

be tangible rewards; it could be
acknowledgement of achievement.

Provide verbal and visual feedback. Visual

feedback serves as a reminder of our
success, and provides a forum to track
progress.

Overall the mean incidence rate in the refinery

reduced from an average of 4 per year prior to the
BBS programme, to an average of under 1 per year
following introduction of the programme (lower than
the industry average). Additionally, over the years,
participation in the programme remained above
60% indicating a high level of employee
engagement in safety.

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

16

Additions

Any intervention in any workplace for any purpose

whether it is a BBS approach or not should look at
the organisation from a few standpoints. Firstly, as a
whole, the organisational culture should be
assessed: how are things generally done in that
organisation? Does the organisational culture reflect
safety-related issues or does it bypass them?
Secondly, safety culture/climate should be
assessed with a view to basing a BBS intervention
on improving a future assessment. That is, a safety
culture assessment could be taken before a BBS
intervention, and then again after the intervention
has been in place for a period of time. The feedback
from this will enhance the effects of the BBS
programme, and will add a sort of validity in the
eyes of the employees working safely. A safety
culture refers to how attitudes and beliefs about
safety long term (culture) and more recent
(climate) have come about, and what they are in
the organisation. There are various ways to assess
safety culture or climate, with the survey approach
being a very popular method in recent years. This
method looks at the overall group of employees and
presents individual responses to questions in the
aggregate, so that the result is a summary-type
profile of the average employee. There is also the
individual approach. Whilst the survey approach
would give an overview, an individual approach
might look to one group say, roofers on a building
site and run a focus group: a meeting of a
specified group of employees, for a specific
purpose, in confidence, whose individual views will
be prioritised and become the focus of attention for
follow-up actions. The purpose of this is to ascertain
what safety-related or job-specific behaviours are
the norm and what are unacceptable within that
subgroup.

The individual approach is more time-consuming

and generally requires more resources, but can be
utilised well if a sectional approach is adopted, i.e.
hosting a focus group with ten per cent of the
employee group, and getting their views and
attitudes to an item or several items concerning their
safety. These are standard practice in a lot of
organisations and can be used effectively in
conjunction with a BBS programme.
Finally, management and organisational factors
have a strong influence on accidents and incidents,
either directly or through their impact on the
behaviours of employees. Employees at all levels of
an organisation should champion a behaviour-based
safety approach, and express a genuine interest in
keeping employees healthy and safe.
In sum, an effective behaviour-based safety
programme should contain the following:
1. Engagement from both employees and
management.
2. Clear, concise definitions of behaviours
targeted for change.
3. These targeted behaviours are chosen from
past incident reports, safety assessments,
observation, and near miss data.
4. An observation process.
5. A feedback process.
6. Target behaviours for employees,
supervisors and managers to improve,
including measurement and feedback.
7. A process for identifying and remediating
hazards (Agnew & Ashworth, 2012).

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Behaviour Based Safety Guide

References

Agnew, J., & Ashworth, C. (2012). Behavior-based safety: Setting the record straight. Aubery Daniels
International Inc. http://aubreydaniels.com/pmezine/behavior-based-safety-setting-record-straight
Braksick, L.W. (2007). Unlock Behaviour, Unleash Profits. McGraw-Hill: New York.
Daniels, A.C. (2000). Bringing out the Best in People. McGraw-Hill: New York.
McSween, T.E. (2003). The Values-Based Safety Process. John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey.
Myers, W.V. , McSween, T.E., Medina, R.E., Rost, K., and Alvero, A.M. (2010). The implementation and
maintenance of a behavioral safety process in a petroleum refinery. Journal of Organizational
Behavior Management, 30, 285-307.
Ludwig, T.D., Biggs, J., Wagner, S, & Geller, E.S. (2002). Using Public Feedback and Competitive Rewards
to Increase the Safe Driving of Pizza Deliverers. Journal of Organisational Behaviour Management,
21(4), 75-104.
Perdue, S. (2000). Beyond observation and feedback: Integrating behavioural safety principles into other
safety management systems. Proceedings of the 2000 American Society of Professional Engineers
(ASSE) Conference and Exposition.
Uhl, D. (2012). Turn up to learn: Leasership in high-hazard industries. Aubery Daniels International Inc.
http://aubreydaniels.com/pmezine/turn-learn-leadership-high-hazard-industries

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

18

References

Successful BBS interventions (cited in Agnew & Ashworth, 2012)

Hermann, J.A., Ibarra, G.V., and Hopkins, B.L. (2010). A safety program that integrated behavior-based
safety and traditional safety methods and its effect on injury rates of manufacturing workers. Journal
of Organizational Behavior Management, 30(1), 6-25.
Krause, T.R., Seymour, K.J., and Sloat, K.C.M. (1999) Long-term evaluation of a behavior based method for
improving safety performance: A meta-analysis of 73 interrupted time-series replications. Safety
Science 32, 1-18.
Myers, W.V. , McSween, T.E., Medina, R.E., Rost, K., and Alvero, A.M. (2010). The implementation and
maintenance of a behavioral safety process in a petroleum refinery. Journal of Organizational
Behavior Management, 30, 285-307.
Smith, S. and Walter, L. (October 2011). EuroKera North America is Named an Americas Safest Company
Winner. EHS Today http://ehstoday.com/mag/asc-eurokera/.
US Department of Energy, Department of Energy Behavior-Based Safety Process; Volume 1: Summary of
Behavior Based Safety. DOE Handbook (2002). http://www.oshatrain.org/pdf/doebbs.pdf.

Examples of BBS programme overviews:

Construction Owners Association of Alberta (COAA). Best Practice for Behaviour Based Safety.
http://www.coaa.ab.ca/Portals/0/Downloads/BP%20Safety/Behavioural-BP.pdf
Process Industries Safety Management (PRISM) Thematic Network on Human Factors Behavioural Safety
Application Guide.
http://www.epsc.org/data/files/PRISM/JOMCs_finalised_version_of_Application_Guide.pdf
TexasSafe: A Guide to Total Safety Culture. www.texasmutual.com/safety/cd/bbs.doc
US Department of Energy, Department of Energy Behavior-Based Safety Process; Volume 1: Summary of
Behavior Based Safety. DOE Handbook (2002). http://www.oshatrain.org/pdf/doebbs.pdf.

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Behaviour Based Safety Guide

Notes

Behaviour Based Safety Guide

20

A country where
worker safety, health
and welfare and
the safe management
of chemicals are
central to successful
enterprise

ISBN NO. 978-1-84496-175-7

HSA0392