Behaviour Based Safety

(BBS)

SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

And
Attitude towards Safety
Akhilesh Kumar Singh
SHE&DM Dept.
Preventable Accidents, if not
prevented due to our
negligence, it is nothing short
of a murder.

- Dr.S.Radhakrishnan
2
 WHY SAFETY

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 Safety Is Not A Resource

It Is Not an Influence

It Is Not A Procedure

And It Is Certainly Not A Program

Rather, Safety Is State Of Mind

An Atmosphere That Must Become An Integral Part Of

Each And Every Procedure That The Company Has.

This , Then Is What We Mean By Built In Or Integrated Safety

It Is The Only Brand Of Safety That Is Permanently Effective

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 Type of Safety Management
Systems

SWAMP Safety without any management process

NORM Naturally occurring Reactive Management

SSM World Class (Systematic Safety Management)

BBS Behavioral based safety or Safety as culture

in organization.
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 Basic Principle of Safety management
An unsafe act, an unsafe condition, an accident: All these are symptoms of something wrong
in the management system

Certain sets of circumstances can be predicted to produce severe injuries. These

circumstances can be identified and controlled:
unusual, non routine Non-productive activities

Safety should be managed like any other company function. Management should direct the safety efforts by

setting achievable goals, by planning, organising and controlling to achieve them Production

Drama Safety Mr. Double Standard Management Goal Setting

Planning
Banner
Organizing
Seminar Implementing
Essay Competition Evaluation
Quiz Review
Poster

The key to effective line safety performance is management procedures that fix accountability

The function of safety is to locate and define the operational errors that allow accidents to occur. This
function can be carried out in two ways
1. by asking why - searching for root causes of accidents and
2. by asking whether or not certain known effective controls are being utilised 6
 Basic Principle of Safety management
The causes of unsafe behaviour can be identified and classified. Some of the classifications
are overload (improper matching of a persons capacity with the load), traps, and the
workers decision to err. Each cause is one which can be controlled

In most cases, unsafe behaviour is normal human behaviour; It is the result of normal people
reacting to their environment. Managements job is to change the environment that leads to
the unsafe behaviour.

There are three major subsystems that must be dealt with in building an effective safety
system; the physical, the managerial and the behavioural

The safety system should fit the culture of the organisation

There is no one right way to achieve safety in an organisation, however, for a safety system to be effective, it must
meet certain criteria. The system must:
force supervisory performance
involve middle management
have top management visibly showing their commitment
have employee participation
be flexible
be perceived as positive
 Research indicates that :
90% of the accidents are due to unsafe acts

40-50% of the unsafe behaviors are noticeable at any plant/site

at any given point of time;

25-30% of safety awareness is lacking among employees which

gets reflected in their unsafe behaviors;

Every organization has thousands of unsafe behaviors

Targeting zero accident does not ensure that your plant is safe.
 CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS

At Risk
Conditions
4%

96%
At Risk Acts
 Unsafe Acts vs. Unsafe Conditions

85 % - 90 % of all incidents are the result of unsafe

acts;

10 % - 15 % of all incidents are the result of unsafe

conditions.

Question: If this is true, why are most efforts geared

towards unsafe conditions?

Answer: Its easier to deal with unsafe conditions

than unsafe acts.
 What is Behavior Based Safety?

Behavior is the manner of conducting oneself.*

Therefore, behaviors are observable acts.

Behavior Based Safety focuses on behaviors that promote

safety.

* Merriam-Webster dictionary
 What is Behavior Based Safety

- Human behavior causes most accidents

Comfort

Saving Time

Convenience

Lack of understanding and training

Complacency

Wrong Safety focus

Celebrating production over safety

 Behavior Based Safety is NOT:

A fully-developed safety program.

o It is a process designed to eliminate behaviors that put
workers at risk and enhance existing safety protocols.

A process used to enforce safety rules, nor to correct

hazardous conditions.
o Safety rule violations and hazardous workplace conditions
must be corrected outside of the BBS process.

A process for assigning blame or criticizing workers.

BEHAVIORAL BASED SAFETY

IT CANNOT BE SUCCESSFUL STANDING ALONE

IT IS AN ELEMENT TO BE USED IN COMBINATION

WITH OTHER ELEMENTS

CANT BE THE FLAVOR OF THE MONTH

ITS NOT A MAGIC BULLET OR SHORTCUT..

INCENTIVE PROGRAMS.

Incentive programs

can give a wrong focus on safety and health.

They will not improve the HSE
It will just give us more fat cats
 FOUNDATION CONCEPTS

It is better to slay a dragon than to teach people ways to live peacefully with him!!!

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL &

BEHAVIORALBASED SAFETY PROGRAMS???
TRADITIONAL SAFETY PRATICE ..

TYPICALLY A TOP-DOWN APPROACH

FOCUS ON REGUALTIONS & PROCEDURES
TREATS SYMPTOMS
EXTERNAL ENFORCEMENT
DO AS I SAYJUST DO IT BUT WHEN BACK IS
TURNEDTHEY WILL DO WHAT THEY WANT TO DO
BEHAVIORAL BASED..

IS A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH
FOCUS ON EMPLOYEE BEHAVIORS
ADDRESSES ROOT CAUSES
INTERNAL ENFORCEMENT
How does BBS Differ From Traditional Safety?

Traditional Safety
Is reactive focuses on correcting problems only
after they have occurred.
Searches for root cause of accidents
Using incident/accident data from investigations
e.g. Incident and Severity rate: TRCR/DART
Focuses on making the working environment less
hazardous.
Sometimes assigns blame to individuals.
Emphasis on negative reinforcement.
 How does BBS Differ From Traditional Safety?

Behavior Based Safety

Is proactive discourages at-risk behaviors.
Focuses on observing worker behavior.
o Common behaviors that place employees at risk are noted
and adjustments are made.
o Data come from behavioral observations.

Has a holistic understanding of worker behavior.

o Notes the environment in which behavior occurs, the
behavior itself, and consequences of this behavior.
THE COST

FOR EVERY Rs.1.00 OF DIRECT COSTS FOR

INJURY/ILLNESS THERE ARE UP TO Rs.

100.00 OF INDIRECT COSTS

BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS I
WHAT ARE
BEHAVIORS?
ARE BEHAVIORS
OBSERVABLE?
ARE BEHAVIORS
INHERENTLY GOOD
OR BAD?
BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS II
BEHAVIORS RESULT IN POSITIVE OR
NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR WORKERS.
IMMEDIATE, SURE & GOOD
CONSEQUENCES REINFORCED.
IMMEDIATE, SURE & BAD
CONSEQUENCES REFUTED.
 Behavior Based Safety Underlies and
Benefits Traditional Safety

Accidents

Near Misses

Traditional
Safety

Unsafe Unsafe
Acts Conditions

Behavior Based Safety

 Always Keep in Mind

BBS is focused on two concepts:

BEHAVIOR
o What is behavior?
o What are the factors influencing at-risk behavior?
o How can this behavior be discouraged?
RISK
o What is risk?
o Why do people take risks?
o What are the consequences of taking these risks?
 Remember: Behavior is
the manner of conducting oneself

Behaviors cannot be isolated from the environment in which they

occur.

Behavior Environment

Therefore, if employees are expected to promote safe practices the

working environment must encourage this behavior.
 Risk = exposure x probability

Exposure extent a person is involved in an activity.

Direct Indirect

Probability the chances of an accident occurring during activity.

1 in 6 1 in 52
 How do Consequences Affect At-Risk
Behavior?

Behavior Accident No
Probability Accident

Accident

Severity
Probability
Risk = exposure x probability
Consequence
 Positive Consequences Influence At-
Risk Behavior

Convenience
Time savings
Increased productivity
Getting away with it
Feeling bullet-proof

Howdoes
How doescheaper/better/faster
cheaper/better/faster
influencetaking
influence takingrisks?
risks?
 Workers reasons for taking a risk:

In my opinion . . . Thats the way I always do it!

In my experience . . . I dont know.
I dont think its a problem because . . . I didnt think about it.
Ive done it before and not gotten hurt. Its the way we always do it around here.

Su
Whats wrong with it?

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BEHAVIORS
C

Limited Choice

Obstacle
I cant do it any other way because . . .
It would be difficult to do it that way because . . .
If I do it that way, (this would happen).
 Human failure taxonomy

Human failures

Unintended actions
Intended actions

Errors - Unintended consequences

Violation - Intended
Mistakes Lapses Slips
consequences

When the person

When the person decided to act When the person
When the person does something,
does what they
without complying with a known rule meant to, but forgets to do but not what they
or procedure should have done something meant to do
something else
 Slip, lapse or mistake?

Involuntary or non-
No
intentional action
Was there prior
No Was there intention in
intention to act? Yes the action?
Spontaneous or
Yes
subsidiary action

No
Did the actions Unintentional action
proceed as planned? (slip or lapse)

Yes No

Did the actions Intentional but

achieve their desired mistaken action
end?
Yes

Successful action
THE CHALLENGE..

REALIZE THE VALUE

OF DOING THINGS
THE RIGHT WAY
Organizational Performance Model

Systems Behaviors
Great
Performance

Climate
BBS is an OHSAS Compliance

the organization shall establish, implement and maintain a

procedure for:

the participation of workers by their appropriate

involvement in hazard identification, risk assessments and
determination of controls.
 BBS Triangle

Fatality

Injury

Near Miss

At-risk Behaviors
Attitude:

Are inside a persons head -therefore

they are not observable or measurable

however
Attitudes can be changed by
changing behaviors
Behavior: Any directly measurable thing that
a person does, including speaking, acting, and
performing physical functions.

Behavior is Definable, observable, correctable

and measurable.
 Promotion of Behavioral based safety in THE Organization

Questions to be asked: GOAL

1- Where are we now?
2- Where we want to be?
ACT ACCORDINGLY
3- How will we get there? Top Management to ACT and
provide tangible solutions
RECORD AND REPORT
Take note of all the feedbacks and record all
information then report to the top management
COMMUNICATE
Invest time in talking with the employees
MANAGEMENT DECISION AND
INITIATIVE
Investment Training

REVIEW YOUR INDICATORS

START Incidents, Accidents, Near Misses
Safety Violation Reports
 OHSMS implementation WILL PROVIDE A PLATFORM FOR promoting Behavioral based
safety OBSERVATIONS

OHSMS IMPLEMENTATION DESIRED OUTCOMES MEASUREMENT

Provide a safe/ Behavioral

A management tool to
integrate various OHSMS accident free Based Safety
components to achieve environment More BBSO
the business objectives in Compliance to Less Near
a responsible manner
Policy
safety Misses/ First
Organization requirements Aid Injuries
Planning and Employees No Serious
Implementation Participation Incidents/ Fatal
Monitoring for
Compliance
and injures
Incident Investigation Involvements COMPANYS
and Reporting PRIDE
COMPANYS
Auditing
MANAGEMENT EXPECTATIONS
Review
COMMITMENT
BBS- The Concept

Domino Theory
According to Heinrich the accident is avoided by removing the middle
one (unsafe act) of the dominos. This theory provided the foundation for
accident prevention measures, aimed at preventing unsafe acts or unsafe
conditions.
The first update of the Domino Theory was presented by Bird & Loftus.
This update introduced two new concepts;
The influence of management of managerial error
Loss, as result of accident could be production loss, property damage or
wastage of other asset, as well as injuries...continued
BBS- The Concept

International loss Control Institute or ILCI model

The domino model has been noted as a one dimensional
sequence of events. Accidents are usually multi-factoral and
develop relatively lengthy sequence of changes and errors. This
has led to the principle of multi causation
BBS- The Concept
Multi causation theory
This theory argues that for every accident
there may be many contributing surface &
root causes. These factor may include,
Environmental Factor: Hazardous
condition such as improper guarding,
defective equipment, toolsetc
Behavioral Factor: Such as improper
attitude, lack of knowledge / skills,
inadequate physical & mental conditionetc
(it is important to understand that there are
underlying causes for these behavioral
factors. Management can have great
influence over these factors)
 Inspection vs. Safety Observation

Inspection Safety Observation

Things People

Passive Interactive (I care)

Experts (them) Everyone (us)

Negative Positive + Negative

Document / Follow up Document / Follow up

 Safety Observation Skills

Notice Safe & unsafe acts, conditions

and work practices

Talk with employees about your

observations and safety aspects of their job

Gain employees commitment to work

safely
 Safety Observations Categories

Reactions of people Positions of people

Personal protective Tools & equipment.

equipment

Orderliness
standards
Procedures
(Housekeeping)
 Benefits of Safety Observation

Prevent Injuries & property loss.

Test compliance with standard

Raise safety awareness;

Identify weakness in safety system
Reinforce positive safety behavior

Identify and correct unsafe situations.

Establish standards

Motivate people.
Test understanding of standards
 Observations Exercise

For the following pictures note down

Good Safety points
Unsafe Behavior or situation
 When Someone is Working Unsafely

Observe, decide how to get the persons attention , stop the

unsafe act (safely)

Comment on what the employee was doing safely

Discuss with employee the possible consequences of the

unsafe act , safer ways to do the job

Employees agreement to do the work safely

Discuss other safety Issues of the job

Thank the employee

 Discussing the Unsafe Act

If you comment:

Express your concern

Focus on effects , not acts

If you question:

Question to explore

Question to learn not to teach

Safety Contact - Creating a learning Culture
Why Safety Contact ?

Willingness to share

Learn from others mistakes

Learn from incidents internally and externally

Create safety as a top of mind concern/care

 How to do Observation

Observe, decide,
stop act safely
Analyze this picture using this 6
steps & What would you say (Team
exercise)
Positive

Discussion

Agreement

Other Issues

Thanks
 Discussing the Unsafe Act

If you comment:
Express your concern

Focus on effects , not acts

If you question:
Question to explore
Question to learn not to teach
Picture A

1. Observe, decide,
stop act safely
2. Positive
3. Discussion
4. Agreement
5. Other Issues
6. Thanks
Picture B

1. Observe, decide,
stop act safely
2. Positive
3. Discussion
4. Agreement
5. Other Issues
6. Thanks
Picture E

1. Observe, decide,
stop act safely
2. Positive
3. Discussion
4. Agreement
5. Other Issues
6. Thanks
 Observation Process

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Schedule the Safety Observation

Observe people in the workplace

Talk with employees

Document the safety Observation

Follow up
 Layered Observation System

Who What How often With whom

Top management Entire operation Once per quarter Mid-management.
segments One to four times per Team members
month Employees

Mid-management Entire area One to four times per First-line

month supervisor.
Team members

First-line supervisor Own work area Three to five times Employees

per week

Team Own work area Cross- As requested Each other / Other

Observe with other teams
teams

Safety pro Entire operation of area Three to five times Every one
Safety network per week
 Using Observation Information

Reinforce positives.
Detecting developing problems.
Assess personnel.
See trends.
BBS LEADS TO REDUCTION IN UNSAFE BEHAVIOURS AND
THUS A FALL IN ACCIDENTS
BBS CHECKLIST FOR OBSERVERS

BEHAVIOUR CATEGORIES No. of Safe No. of At- No. of

Behaviors Risk correction
Behaviors on spot.
PPE

Housekeeping

Using tools and equipment

Body positioning / protecting

Material handling

Communication

Following procedures

Visual focusing (attentiveness)

Using mobile while working

Total =
BBS India 09322006518
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Six Stages of interaction to implement BBS

i. Passive attention Mode

ii. Attentive Mode
iii. Passive thinking Mode
iv. Active Thinking
v. Self observation Mode
vi. Self Correction
Keys to Success:

Continues Engagement
Frequency of observation
Periodic meeting on observation
 DuPont Metrics and Measurements

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Trailing Indicators
Statistics
Costs
Penalties
Current Indicators
Indices, safety observation findings
Incident investigation reporting
Safety meetings
Leading Indicators
Quality of safety observation program
Near miss reporting
Employees perception of safety
 Leaderships Role:

Establish a safety observation system

Conduct your own layered safety observations

Ensure that others are conducting safety observation

 Leaderships Role:

66

See that appropriate action is taken

Review safety observation information

Develop improved safety metrics

Thanks