Behavior Based Safety

Behavior Based Safety (BBS), is a process that informs management and employees of the overall safety of the workplace through “safety observation”.  BBS is intended to focus workers' attention on their own and their peers' daily safety behavior. The goal of BBS program is to improve the employee safety of the organization.

The Basic of an Oberservation

When implementing a BBS program, observers (employees trained to conduct on-site safety reviews) conduct reviews of other employees with an eye on their behavior. These observers record safe and unsafe behavior, in addition to noting safe and unsafe workplace conditions. The observer then shares the findings with the worker and provides feedback. Positive feedback is encouraged. Discussing the ways in which employees can perform their tasks in a safer manner helps workers and observers to become more aware of their behavior. BBS programs are based on a continuous feedback loop where employees and observers provide input on improving safety to each other and safety professionals utilize the data collected in conducting the observations to continually improve the BBS program.

 

The Behavior Based Safety Checklist

Organizations that implement a BBS program determine the appropriate list of behaviors to observe based on the unique behaviors and risks of their organization. Safety professionals usually develop a checklist format that is easy and quick for observers to complete in the field and lists the target behaviors. Live Saving Rule can also make as a good BBS checklist.

For example, for organizations that operate a vehicle fleet, you might develop a behavior based safety checklist focused on common driver behaviors, such as the use of seat belts or signals. Checklists often include the basics of the observation (time, date, location, behaviors observed, observer) and the number of safe and unsafe observations of the reviewer. The checklist also includes fields for any feedback and comments provided to the employee.

Based on your BBS goals and objectives, you might also create a schedule that determines how many observations (and what type of observations)  should be conducted throughout your organization on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.  Schedules and observations can change based on the continuous feedback loop of a BBS program.

However as observation checklists and schedules become more in-depth, they also become harder to track and manage. You may want to turn to technology to improve the management of your BBS Program without sacrificing its effectiveness.

How Do I know that my BBS program is working

Measuring the effectiveness of BBS programs can be tricky and require constant and real-time review of the observation data collected by your observers.

Organizations focus on analyzing observation metrics such as percent safe (the number of safe observations divided / by the total number of observations conducted) with the goal of increasing the number of percent safe observations.  Safety professionals look to then reduce unsafe behaviors by targeting behaviors with a high unsafe percentage and developing applicable training and/or other programs to change this behavior.

Organizations also often look at their incident rates  with the goal of reducing their incident rate as their percentage of safe behaviors increases. In addition, organizations also conduct surveys and interviews to determine the impact that BBS programs can have on safety culture and /on employee morale.

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