Behavioral Safety Program Research Articles

Behavioral safety programs in high-risk industries: A conceptual approach to incident reduction

Behavioral safety programs in high-risk industries: A conceptual approach to incident reduction

Behavioral Safety: An Efficacious Application of Applied Behavior Analysis to Reduce Human Suffering

ABSTRACT Behavioral safety is one of the most mature and efficacious applications of organizational behavior management in industrial workplaces. Built on the foundation of behavior analysis, behavioral safety attempts to prevent harm and reduce human suffering by targeting risk and intervening upon environmental factors related to safe behaviors. The current paper will (a) review the core components of a behavioral safety process, (b) highlight the extension of modern OBM methodologies (e.g., behavioral systems analysis) in behavioral safety, and (c) review best practices from world-class behavioral safety programs accredited by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies (CCBS).

Human Services During the COVID Pandemic: Using Behavioral Safety Programs to Protect Human Services Workers and Students.

ObjectivesBehavioral safety programs have been effective in decreasing injuries across a number of industries. The COVID-19 pandemic is placing stress on the human services field—an industry already noted for its high injury rate. As most organizations resume full operation in the midst of the pandemic, procedures to mitigate the risk of virus transmission are vital. The current manuscript describes the use of a behavioral safety program and its effects on COVID-19 transmission in a school serving setting.MethodsThis case study consisted of implementing an organization-wide behavioral safety program in a private school that served students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. During the course of the study, 124 to 128 direct care staff were employed by the school and served 168 students during the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsDuring the behavioral safety program, there were a variable but continuous number of safety observations. The percent of safe behavior in the classrooms began near 90% and approached 100% at the conclusion of data collection. During the study there were no documented COVID-19 infections traced to the school.ConclusionsBehavioral safety programs could be effective in promoting behavior associated with minimizing virus transmission; therefore, these programs may also have utility in preventing communicable diseases in human service settings.

Occupational Risk Perception and occupational and work-related diseases prevention

Abstract Background It is estimated 6500 daily deaths by occupational diseases with a high social and economic impact. Several studies show that the perception of occupational risks acts as a precursor to preventive attitudes and behaviors of workers. Nevertheless, attention paid to the perception of occupational risks is scarce and even controversial. This study focuses on a model used by behavioral safety programs associating it with the psychometric paradigm, to understand the worker's risk perception of a Portuguese Health Education and Research Institution (Portugal). Methods This cross-sectional study covered a total of 84 workers. Of these,73% had a very differentiated academic background (doctorate, and post-doctorate degrees). Workers can carry out their activities in more than one work area.60% work in Research, 49% in the Education, 42% in Laboratories and 47,6% in the General and Administrative Services. Risk perception (cognitive and emotional) was assessed using an online questionnaire that also included sociodemographic and occupational information and perception of exposure to occupational hazards. Results 95% of participants reported exposure to at least one occupational risk factor, but only 22% perceived the risk (probability of accidents and illnesses associated with the work performed). There was a positive correlation between the perception of exposure to occupational hazards and risk perception (p < 0,001) and that, the greater the perceived risk, the lower the tolerance to it (p < 0,001).While teaching, research and laboratory work is associated with low perception and high-risk tolerance, individual variables such as gender, age, educational qualifications, and professional category did not influence the perception of risk. Conclusions Understanding how risk is perceived by workers is determinant for the effective occupational risk management. Key messages Occupational risk perception is necessary to prevention of occupational and work-related diseases. Occupational risk perception is determinant for the complementarity of the on-site diagnosis of real work situations and relevant for dynamization of Occupational Health services.

An Industry’s Call to Understand the Contingencies Involved in Process Safety: Normalization of Deviance

Marathon Petroleum Company (MPC), Illinois Refining Division (IRD) adopted a behavior science approach to its safety operations becoming one of the first sites accredited for its behavioral safety program by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies (CCBS). Beyond success in managing personal safety, there is increased and intense attention toward Process Safety in the oil and gas industry where equipment, processes, and behavior are managed to reduce the potential for catastrophic loss, damage, and impact on human life and livelihood. The oil and gas industry is increasingly looking to the behavior science community to understand the contingencies related to “normalization of deviance”, where behaviors begin to drift from process standards and become the norm among work teams over time. Further, the oil and gas industry seeks to understand how interlocking contingencies may both shape and maintain normalization of deviance, as well as how systemic interventions can address the issue.

Attributes influencing the acceptance of behavioral safety programs by employees of manufacturing firms in India

The purpose of this study was to find the attributes which played an influencing role for employees to follow the safety programs voluntarily, as the success of any safety program will depend upon the employees’ awareness and willingness to participate in the program. This exploratory research was conducted among employees in India to test the relationship between antecedents and consequences; and safety behavior of the employees. The researchers used statistical inference, more precisely binary logistic regression to test the relationship between the variables. Results indicated that both antecedents and consequences have an influencing role on the safety behavior of the employees. The method of implementation and post implementation monitoring constituted the antecedents. Similarly, knowledge of accidents and involvement in accidents constituted the consequences. As the data for this research through structured questionnaire was collected directly from blue collar workers in various manufacturing industries across India, it provided first-hand information on relationship between antecedents and consequences; and safety behavior of the employees. Key words: Safety behavior, acceptance, safety management.

Behavior-Based Safety Programs Improve Worker Safety in India

Behavioral safety programs prove their rapid effectiveness in changing unsafe working behavior in Indian multinational organizations – or anywhere. An ongoing national action re search survey of behavior-based safety (BBS) in India counts among its participants 1,750 executives and 713 workers in 57 multinational organizations representing a variety of industries, such as petroleum, steel, cement, power, and chemicals. This article presents selected original case studies and field observations made in BBS training interventions conducted between 1997 and 2009. These observations can be useful in extending the BBS concept and process to human resources and safety professionals, as well as to anyone concerned about correcting unsafe behaviors in the workplace, reducing the incidence of accidents, and promoting safe behaviors to develop an injury-free culture in their organizations.

Behavioral Safety Programs in the Department of Energy

Behavioral safety is the application of reinforcement theory to foster an increase in “safe behavior.” The process starts with a behavioral hazard analysis to identify unsafe workplace behaviors. A checklist is then developed to assist in the observation of work behavior. Safe and unsafe behaviors are recorded and provided as feedback (reinforcement) to the worker, which increases safe behavior leading to continuous improvement and worker involvement. Developed in the late 1970s, behavioral safety has an impressive track record. Research has shown that as safe behaviors increase, safety incidents decrease. Within the Department of Energy, behavioral safety has been instituted at industrial sites such as the Savannah River Site (SRS) and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPRO), and at national laboratories such as Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL). In all cases, implementing the behavioral safety process has led to an increase in safe behavior and a decrease in overall safety incidents.

Behavioral Safety Research in Manufacturing Settings

Occupational safety continues to have large humanitarian and economic repercussions. This is particularly true in the manufacturing industry which has had the highest injury and illness rates for the past three years. Historically, attention was focused on determining the factors that correlated with safety. However, such approaches have fallen out of favor and the focus has shifted to manipulating the environment-engineering and behavioral safety. This manuscript reviews 18 behavioral safety programs implemented in manufacturing settings according to (a) settings, (b) subjects, (c) experimental design, (d) dependent variables, (e) intervention effectiveness, (f) miscellaneous effects, (g) maintenance, (h) integrity and reliability, and (i) social validity. Suggestions for future researchers are discussed.

Efficacy of the components of a behavioral safety program

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.

Behavioral safety program: Creating a new corporate culture

The traditional approach to safety in the workplace has been based on Heinrich's analysis of insurance data which he interpreted to conclude that most accidents are caused by “unsafe acts”. To reduce the number of ‘unsafe acts”, safety training, employee selection and supervision were applied as remedial steps. However, after many years of applying this approach, as well as incorporating workplace inspection through the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct), no substantial improvements have occurred in workplace safety. Thus the classical approaches to workplace safety have plateaued. Several field experiments have found that a behavioral modification approach to safety is an effective means to move from the existing plateau. The essential ingredient in the improved approach is motivation. An experiment conducted in a large industrial setting demonstrated the effectiveness of a well-designed behavioral safety program. A follow-up study at the same facility after two years indicated that the program did not produce a lasting effect. However, a few recent studies with a focus on the outcome of behavior rather than on the behavior itself have shown a more lasting effect on the safety behavior of workers.

Improving Safety Performance With Goal Setting and Feedback

The effects of training, goal setting, and feedback to improve occupational safety are shown. The results essentially replicate those of previous research demonstrating the success of a behavioral approach to safety. The study emphasizes the necessity of feedback in relation to goals. The utility of behavioral safety programs and suggestions for future improvements are noted.

Promoting job safety in building: An experiment on the behavior analysis approach

The behavioral approach has been emphasized to accident prevention by many authors. The approach has not been used in building. The aim of this study was to determine whether the behavior analysis approach can be used effectively to improve occupational safety in building, to apply behavior analysis in connection with the internal safety inspections at the site, and to evaluate experimentally the effectiveness of this safety effort. The study was conducted on two building sites. A Behavior Analysis program including specific safety targets, follow-up and reliable feedback was put in practise. The study proved that a behavioral safety program effected safety even in the difficult setting of building. The accident rate of the experimental site was smaller and the accidents were less serious than at the control site. Also the safety inspection function was improved, as well as the quality of safety performance.

Effect of training and feedback: Component analysis of a behavioral safety program.

Effect of training and feedback: Component analysis of a behavioral safety program.

Effect of training and feedback: Component analysis of a behavioral safety program.

Effect of training and feedback: Component analysis of a behavioral safety program.