Behavioural Safety
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could tackle what is an influencing element in virtually all of your accidents and
near misses?
Wouldn’t it be even better if the solution to that element was well tried, cost effective and a catalyst for
further improvements (and not just for safety)?
The implementation of a behavioural safety programme is not a magic wand, but it can be very effective,
providing senior management are prepared to support it. It can provide that elusive step change to a
company’s safety performance that has reached a plateau, it can be used to reinvigorate an existing safety
culture or be used to create a safety culture where one did not exist.
So what is behavioural safety?
Behavioural safety can mean many things to different people. For us behavioural safety can perhaps best
be described by listing just some of the behaviours that the programme is meant to instil;
1.
Employees wearing hearing protection without a single manager in sight.
2.
Employees looking out for each other.
3.
Line managers taking their legal responsibilities seriously
4.
Managers talking constructively about safety with workers
5.
Managers of all levels seen to be setting a good example
To achieve some of the above behaviours it is likely that the culture will have to evolve – and that takes
time, often 2-3 years, but we have seen some significant changes even within days of a training session
from the most unlikely of people!
It should be expected that on the road to changing the culture some barriers would appear; such as people
not wanting to get involved – senior management should be ready for these and deal with them quickly.
Depending on the company, it is likely that some workers will have seen initiatives disappear even before
the ink has dried on the notice board telling them about it. As such, some employees will wait and see what
happens without getting involved. If the employee is a line manager, or even worse a senior manager, then
they must be persuaded to get involved in the initiative otherwise the initiative could falter.
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Behavioural Safety