Efficacy of the components of a behavioral safety program

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Since Komaki et al.'s (1978) pioneering work of applying behavioral analysis for industrial safety, several researchers reported successful applications of behavioral safety programs in different work situations. However, most of these programs consisted of a number of components, e.g., safety training, safety performance feedback, goal setting, incentives to performance safety, (e.g., praise, coupons, T-shirts, etc.), consolidated into a single treatment. Although these programs led to improvements in safety behavior of workers, and in a few instances to lower accident rates during the program, it is not clear which components of the safety programs contributed most to the improvement. The present study was conducted to assess the individual effectiveness of training, performance feedback, and goal setting on the safe behavior of workers in an industrial setting. Two groups of workers performing similar operations were selected for the experiment. While the experimental group was treated with safety training, feedback, and goal setting, the control group continued working without any treatment. The safety performance index (SI), a ratio of number of observations safe divided by the numbers safe and unsafe, (Komaki et al., 1978) was used to measure the status of safety on the shop floor. The experimental group did not show any significant change in the safety behavior until safety performance feedback was introduced. This observation indicates that training alone may not be adequate to ensure safe behavior in a workplace. The safety performance index improved further with the introduction of goal setting for the performance. The improvement was significant indicating that feedback with goal setting may begin to maximize the effectiveness of a behavioral safety program in the workplace. The study will be useful in allocating resources to improve safety in the workplace.