{"id":553,"date":"2018-05-04T08:14:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T07:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.advancedrms.co.uk\/web\/?p=553"},"modified":"2018-05-05T10:54:12","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T09:54:12","slug":"what-is-behaviour-based-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advancedrms.co.uk\/web\/what-is-behaviour-based-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"What is behaviour based safety?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A question we are often asked is, “what is \u2018behaviour based safety?”. Not surprisingly there is no simple (or short answer!) to this question but the following should go some way to providing it.<\/p>\n

When describing behaviour based safety it is important to firstly define its\u2019 purpose. The purpose of any behaviour based safety approach should be to eliminate or at least minimise the existence of risk taking behaviour through the development of a \u2018high performing safety culture\u2019.<\/p>\n

The safety culture itself is simply the \u2018behavioural norms\u2019 that go on within the environment in question. Behaviour is both influenced by the environment and also the outcomes that one comes to expect from the behaviour. The more positive these outcomes are and the more accepting is the environment then as human beings we develop habits both in our way of thinking and acting.<\/p>\n

Traditional approaches to behavioural safety focus heavily on the front line behaviours of the workforce, whereas an effective approach must focus on those organisational and environmental aspects that influence the behaviour of the workforce and that typically start at the top of the organisation and cascade down. We refer to this as the organisational \u2018context\u2019. This means in practice that you cannot and must not ignore the leadership and management behaviours and those things that influence how leaders and managers behave.<\/p>\n

If everyone\u2019s behaviour from the top to the bottom of the organisation is such that safe behaviour and supportive management behaviour is the \u2018norm\u2019 then a high performing safety culture is in existence.<\/p>\n

We know that most accidents are caused by people\u2019s unsafe behaviour. Behaviour that either directly or indirectly (eg \u2013 management failing to encourage safety) creates risk. Such behaviour will arise because people are either doing something they were unaware was unsafe or doing something they knew was unsafe but chose to do it in any case \u2013 typically believing that \u2018nothing will go wrong\u2019. Most unsafe behaviours are in fact a matter of \u2018choice\u2019, some so frequent that they simply become unsafe habits.<\/p>\n

The challenge in most organisations becomes \u201chow can we influence our people who have no desire to get hurt to work safely all of the time\u201d.\u00a0 This is where the organisational \u2018context\u2019 is key and the safety culture is all important.<\/p>\n

It is an odd fact that human beings are naturally risk takers and it is largely our higher order of intelligence that makes this so. With our intelligence comes a tremendous capacity for memory and fast recall and so experience during our lives can heavily influence our perception of the likelihood aspect of risk versus the all important potential for serious loss. In health and safety terms this is the role of the frequently quoted \u2018accident triangle\u2019 where we experience only rare loss compared to the frequency of unsafe behaviour. This is a crucial fact that cannot be ignored or taken lightly and so any behaviour based safety approach needs to acknowledge it is seeking to engage and influence intelligent human beings whose life and work experience may have created a shift in their perception of risk and therefore their motivation to always behave safely. Taking a risk becomes the product of what is known as \u2018risk compensation\u2019 and occurs largely because a person feels safe in doing so despite the cold reality of what is potentially at stake.<\/p>\n

This is why a behaviour based safety approach must be all encompassing\u00a0<\/em>and must respect human nature rather than try to battle it. If we constantly take the approach that it is \u2018in the person\u2019s best interest to behave safely\u2019 (which it is of course) but then fail to take our natural risk taking appetite into account then our programmes will always fall short of creating the safe habits that can eliminate accidents. An effective approach will have an appropriate focus on the type of behaviours\u00a0<\/em>that can arise and differentiate between errors (unintentional unsafe behaviour) and violations (intentional unsafe behaviour). The maturity of the existing safety culture will determine both the prevalence of unsafe behaviours and also the likely ratio between these two very different behaviour types. In a highly mature organisational context (such as a commercial passenger airline) one would expect to see a low frequency of unsafe behaviours and interestingly where they do happen a dominance of error over violation. In a less mature safety culture (such as a construction company) one would expect to see higher frequency of unsafe behaviours and <\/em>a shift towards a dominance of violation over error. The approach taken and the focus provided in any behaviour based safety programme must take the existing cultural maturity in to account so that the right solutions are applied in the correct manner. Errors require for example an improvement in capability (training, equipment, design etc) and violations require an improvement in motivation (measurement, reward, recognition, accountability etc).<\/p>\n

An effective behaviour based safety approach will therefore consist of the following key phases:<\/p>\n

Phase 1 \u2013Assessment<\/strong>: Understand the strengths and weaknesses within the current safety culture. This is a critical phase and must provide clear insight in to aspects such as:<\/p>\n