Safety Observation Process

Pathway to an
Injury Free Career
If we can predict it: we can prevent it!

Safety Observation

What Is a Safety Observation?

Tool to raise safety awareness in a non-threatening way

Allows for directed / guided observation teams

Tool to build trust

Feedback loop mechanism

increase safety awareness

decrease anxiety or threat of reporting errors

Goal is to fix things quickly and effectively

Safety Observation

Effective Safety Management

Characteristics of effective safety performance:

Measurable.
Focuses on positive activities.
Direct impact on outcomes.
Opportunity for two-way feedback and positive
reinforcement.
Opportunity for goal setting based on performance data.

Safety Observation

Observations identify job site hazards, controls,

conditions, manage exposure to risks, reduce
exposure, and thereby reduce injury.
Apply a strategic approach:
Anticipate and prevent active error at the job site.
Reduce total number of at-risk critical behaviors and/or
conditions.
Identify and eliminate the related barriers/latent organizational
weaknesses.
Change other factors to encourage safe behaviors.

Safety Observation

Safety ObservationObjectives

Provide positive reinforcement / feedback for safe

behaviors observed.

Identify error-likely conditions for corrective actions.

Gather meaningful data for analysis that identifies

institutional weaknesses in work management
systems.

Do Work Safely

Safety Observation

Fix the Person or the System?

Is the Person
Clumsy?
Or Is the
Problem . . .

The Step???
Safety Observation

II. Human Performance &

Integrated Safety Management

Safety Observation

Human Performance Improvement

Five Basic Principles
1. People are fallible, and even the best make mistakes.
2. Error-likely situations are predictable, manageable, and preventable.
3. Individual behavior is influenced by organizational processes and values.
4. People achieve high levels of performance based largely on the
encouragement and reinforcement received from leaders, peers,
and subordinates.
5. Events can be avoided by understanding the reasons mistakes
occur and applying the lessons learned from past events.

Safety Observation

Industry Statistics on
Causes of Events
Human Error

System Induced Error

Operational Upset

Human
Error

(organizational weakness)

Equipment
Failures

Safety Observation

Unexpected
Error

When Things Go Wrong

How It Is Now
Human error is the cause of
accidents:

How It Should Be
Human error is a symptom of
trouble deeper inside a system.

You are highly trained

You are human

and

and

If you did as trained, you would

not make mistakes

Humans make mistakes

so

so

so

Lets also explore why the

system allowed, or failed to
accommodate your mistake

You should be PUNISHED!

Lets IMPROVE THE SYSTEM!

You werent careful enough

Safety Observation

When Things Go Wrong

Safety Observation

Where we are coming from:

I keep entering this in the system but something needs to be done. The majority
of the traffic going down and up Pecos drive is speeding. and a lot of the traffic
is Gov. vehicles. Speed humps need to be put in place. Someone is going to get
hit.
There should be Speed humps installed on Pecos Road because of the excess
speeding going on while people are walking to there buildings in the morning
and also during lunch. Gov. vehicles and personal vehicles driving very fast up
and down the road. NEED SPEED HUMPS!!!!
As I was walking from the guard gate into PF-1, I observed a craft trucking
speeding from the south to the north in a 10 MPH posted area. I was about to
step into the crosswalk when they saw me and stopped suddenly. I motioned to
the driver to slow down. They just laughed.

Safety Observation

Where we are headed:

Vehicle Operator Observation
1.0 Pre Trip Inspection

Observed multiple cars in TA-55 parking lot and discovered that several of their tires were
either under inflated or over inflated. with weather conditions becoming a factor proper
tier pressure is important to check before driving.

Frost on windshield caused potential visibility problem. On discussing the issue it was
decided to be late for a meeting and take the necessary time to completely clean the frost
from the window before travelling.

During inspection of my motorcycle prior to leaving home for work, I found the brake light
to be non-operational. The tail light was working, but not the brake light. I installed a spare
bulb and that fixed the problem.

Observed LANL semi driver leaving yard pulling trailer, he did not do a pull test on trailer
to make sure it was secure to tractor, stopped driver helped with pull test.

Safety Observation

Vehicle Operator Observation 2.0 Stopping

Driver initially stopped with about 1/2 car length distance between our vehicle and the vehicle in front of us, but increased
this to a full car length after discussion.

Driver did a rolling stop at the stop sign. Pointed out the "California" stop in a nice way and driver agreed that full stop
would have been safer.

Driver in government vehicle did not fully stop at stop sign when leaving parking lot. I noted who the driver was (someone I
knew) and spoke/teased them about it later. They agreed that they should have fully stopped.

Driver often yields at stop signs rather than stops. A discussion was held concerning the behavior and the drive admitted to
fault and stated that through awareness, the drive will be comply to stop signs and making a complete stop. In addition, a
discussion was held concerning crashes that could be prevented if the drivers stopped completely as required by law.

Vehicle Operator Observation 3.0 Parking

Several cars were noted in the parking lot as having parked outside of designated spaces.
I spoke with one driver, who didn't really care that they might get a ticket. They did not
want to have to walk from TA-50 parking lot stating that it was more dangerous to walk and
possibly slip on the ice than park in an unmarked spot.

The driver did forget the turn the wheels while parking on a hill. This behavior was
identified and will be corrected for future vehicle operations.
Safety Observation

Vehicle Operator Observation

4.0 Backing

Airports could be designed so that airplanes would never have to back up.

Driver and Observer do not understand this question. Is this asking if the passenger
backed up the vehicle before the driver did?

Driver failed to check rear of vehicle for any possible hazards before backing up. Spotter
was needed and used after being notified.

The driver was not aware that it is a good driving practice to sound the horn prior to, and if
possible, during the backing up process. He concurred that this signals pedestrians
behind the vehicle to clear the area and committed to begin using this practice.

The driver did not sound the horn while backing up. This was a safety concern that both
the observer and the observee learned by performing the ATOMICS observation.

Driver and Observer do not understand this question. Is this asking if the driver backs up
the vehicle by turning the wheels 90 degrees and moving the vehicle side ways?

Safety Observation

Safety Observer Roles and Responsibilities

Observer rules for observing performance:
Judge the behavior of the worker being observed with the
same criteria you would use for yourself.

We judge ourselves with external factors.

We judge others with internal factors.

Safety Observation

Fundamental Tenets of Safety Observations

Focuses on behaviors and conditions

No name, no blame process

Process is for people, it involves everybody

Gives positive reinforcement for safe behaviors.

Pro-active; uses leading indicators

Statistically driven.

Unlike TRC/DART provides process numbers workers control.

Safety Observation

ATOMICS Safety Process

4 Essential Elements
Identify the critical behaviors and conditions
Collect data
Provide feedback
Use data to reduce/remove latent organizational
weaknesses.

Safety Observation

Focus Shifts

To:

From: crisis reaction

process improvement

Safety Stand downs

Stop

Re-read procedures

Think

Safety Meetings

Act

Retraining

Review

Safety Observation

Focus Shifts

From:

To:

tracking accidents

Total Recordable (TRC)

Days Away Restricted Time (DART)

preventing accidents

Fix the problem

before it injures the
worker.
Identification of error
likely situations.

First Aid cases

Strengthen defenses.

Safety Observation

Focus Shifts
To:

From: downstream factors

upstream factors

Lagging indicators

Leading indicators

Non diagnostic

Process improvement

Crisis Reactions

Accident prevention

Stand downs

Near miss reporting

TRC/DART

Develop defense in depth

Lessons learned

Error tolerance
Just work environment
Safety Observation

Observations manage exposure to risks,

reduce exposure, and reduce injury.

Apply a strategic approach:

Anticipate and prevent active error at the job site.
Reduce total number of at-risk critical behaviors.
Identify and eliminate the related barriers/latent organizational
weaknesses.
Change other factors to encourage safe behaviors.

Safety Observation

How do we change behavior?

Traditional methods to improve safety performance:
Progressive Discipline

Committees

Administrative Policies

Focus Groups

Visions, Goals, Plans

Additional Defense Layers

Core Value Statements

Contests & Awards

Safety Training

Safety meetings

New Safety Initiatives

Motivational speakers

Safety Observation

How do we change behavior?

Traditional safety response:
Injury: employee finished cleaning toilet inside stall turned tight and hit head on coat hanger
Response: retrain employee on being more aware of surroundings and potential hazards.
Injury: walking to truck, slipped on ice
Response: employee reminded to check walking area before proceeding to vehicle for slippery
conditions
Injury: employee walking around vehicle-slipped on ice and almost fell
Response: retrain employee on slips, trips, and falls safety.
Injury: employee missed dip in sidewalk, slipped and fell
Response: be conscious of where you are walking
Injury: employee sneezed acute internal pain in lower left rib cage area
Response: encourage employee to stabilize body alignment before sneezing
Injury: disposing metal piece, cut edge caught employees glove cutting through and cutting
finger
Response: need to describe to workers conditions that make up line of fire and self control of
natural reflexes.

Safety Observation

 If we can predict it: we can prevent it!

Safety Observation

Observations identify job site hazards, controls,

conditions, manage exposure to risks, reduce
exposure, and thereby reduce injury.

Safety Observation

Are you from OSHA?

Safety Observation

At-risk behavior is usually a trigger,

NOT a Cause
Poor
Communication

Habit

Imperfect
Memories
Time
Pressure

Poor Ergonomic
Job Design
No Supervision

Peer Pressure

Lack of
Accountability

Inadequate
Training
Confusing
Procedures
Safety Observation

Understanding Behavior
With

ABC Analysis
Activator

Behavior

Consequence

Police Car Flashing Red

Lights

Slow down/speed
up

Citation/nothing

Radiation Work Practices

Turbo-Frisking

Contamination Y/N

Phone rings

Answer phone

Talk with caller

Safety Observation

Influencing Long-term Behavior

Consequences control behavior!

Safety Observation

Factors that Affect the Power of Consequences

Timing:Sooner
Later
Consistency: Certain
Uncertain
Significance: Positive
Negative

The most powerful consequences are:

Soon
Certain
Positive
Safety Observation

Feedback
Feedback is a powerful way to influence behavior
Feedback is a consequence.
To be effective it must be:
soon,
certain,
and positive

Safety Observation

Organizational Responsibilities
Reducing Errors (observations)
It is nave (foolish) to think that positive reinforcement is the single
mechanism for safety observations success.
Managing Defenses (data analysis)
The organizational change initiative, identification of system, facility,
and equipment issues identified are at least as likely to be primary
improvement mechanisms as positive reinforcement.

Safety Observation

Interaction Technique

Before the observation:

Let people know you are observing them

Answer any questions about the process

Mention that there will be feedback/discussion after

After the observation:

Observer reinforces safe behaviors, and, if needed, discusses
observed at-risk actions and options to avoid future
occurrence,

Safety Observation

Giving Feedback
Discuss at-risks and explore barriers to working safely

Separate discussion of at-risk behaviors

from positive feedback.

Ask open-ended questions

(Ex: Whats the worst accident that can happen? How could
you be hurt doing this task. Why are you doing it this way?)

Ask for suggestions/ideas, draw out the corrective action that

may be required from the person.

Record comments. Seek a personal commitment from that

the individual will carry out the action and thank them for
participating.

Safety Observation

Giving Feedback

The goal of the behavioral observation is to improve

(influence) the performance (behavior) of the workers
observed.

It is critical for workers to understand the types of behaviors

and conditions that either increase exposure (at-risk
behaviors) or reduce the risk of exposure (identified safe
behaviors).

Safety Observation

A Safety Observation

Is a sampling procedure

Is the cornerstone of the safety process

Is systematic and standardized

Samples behaviors and conditions, not individuals

Safety Observation

A Safety Observation

Shares expertise:
From January 2010 to May 2010 the Vehicle Operator
Observation sheet was utilized by the ASM-MM group 24
times and by all other organizations 314 times.
From January 2010 to May 2010 the Lifting Observation
sheet was utilized by ASM-MM 62 times and by all other
organizations 268 times.

Safety Observation