New Approaches to Managing Workplace Safety 2019 Alan Bartholomew - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Alan Bartholomew BSC; M.ED.; IOSH Tech.

Behavioural Safety

New Approaches to Managing Workplace Safety 2019

Workshop Sessions

By the end of the workshop you should be able to consider:

• Different Approaches to Behavioural Safety;
• The Psychology of Human Safety behaviour;
• The Challenges of Safety Leadership and Culture;
• Identifying Behavioural Safety Targets in your

Business;

• Influencing behaviour: Different behavioural

approaches;

• Ensuring Accident Investigators consider

behavioural questions;

Session One

Human Safety Behaviour Key Issues to set the Scene

• In the 21st century the consistent decline of accident and incidents rates

has stalled.

• Why is this and how can we take the next steps in safety management?

The ‘Safety’ Plateau

Behavioural Management:

Empowering Staff

Engineering Controls Effective HSMS Systems Accident/Incident rates 1970’s 1980’s/1990’s 2000’s Behavioural Management:

Telling Staff

What is Behavioural Safety?

• ‘The systematic application of psychological

research

• n

human behaviour to the problems

• f

workplace safety (Dominic Cooper 1999)

• A central belief has been that ‘injuries and

illnesses’ are a result of ‘unsafe decisions’ by workers, underpinned by a variety of factors

• To prevent injuries staff at all levels should

identify and target ‘unsafe behaviours’ and work together to reduce the impact of these

IOSH - ‘Looking for higher standards’

• Behavioural Safety is a natural progression

from highly prescriptive engineered and procedural systems

• Is a recognition that progressive companies will

already have an effective Health and Safety Management System (HSMS)

• Behavioural Safety should recognise workers as

mature human beings with an interest in their

• wn wellbeing
• Workers can contribute best when they can

influence their own safety practice

Hierarchy of Risk and Human Behaviour

People Control Behavioural Place Control Technical

The Target Zero Culture

• 1. Hands up if you have a zero target for ‘accidents and incidents’ in your

business?

• 2. How many of you genuinely believe zero is an achievable target 365

days every year, forever?

• Dr Robert Long (www.humandymensions.com) suggests these things about

zero targets:

 They set managers and colleagues up to fail and  Colleagues/managers hide or don’t report failures (e.g. near misses) for fear

• f being accused of failure

Is Behaviour a Matter of Choice?

If we’re honest sometimes we think safety but we don’t behave safely

Safe Behaviour Unsafe Behaviour Choice Why is there sometimes a mismatch between intention and practice?

Risk Decisions - Conscious or Unconscious

• The unconscious brain processes 11

million bits of information per/sec prior

• This unconscious brain influences our

perceptions of risk – e.g. we use experience to make risk choices

• The conscious mind processes

information at 40 bits of information per/sec. In this mode we use rational thinking, e.g. follow SOP’s

How many of your businesses have a safety strategy that deals with risk thinking at an unconscious level?

Behavioural Safety - Some Key Issues

Behavioural Based Safety

3) Ownership

Promoting ‘ownership of safety’ as a core business value for all Leaders; Managers; Colleagues; Contractors and Clients

4) Measurement and Analysis

Understanding why safety ‘goes well’ and analysing why things ‘go wrong’

1) Leadership

Recognising how safety leadership influences ‘Safety Culture’ through action or inaction

2) Awareness

Ensuring all staff are aware how their ‘behaviour and attitude’ can influence safety practice

Session Two

Behavioural Psychology

Human Safety Behaviour – What do you Believe?

Heinrich 1930’s

• 88% of all workplace accidents

caused by “man-failure” (human error or mistake)

• employers and business owners

need to control hazards as well as pay attention to the behaviour of workers Behaviourism/Behaviourist

James Reason 1990

Rather than being the main instigators

• f accidents operators tend to inherit

system defects created by:  poor design;  incorrect installation;  faulty maintenance  poor management decisions.

Social Psychology

Behavioural Safety How does your HSMS view your staff?

Workers: A problem to Control? Workers: A solution to harness?

Sydney Dekker 2011

Human Psychology – The Safety Debate

On your tables briefly discuss the following: What drives safety behaviour?

• 1. Is everything okay as long as we follow

instructions? (Behaviourism)

• 2. Do we always think through what we learn and

make safety decisions based upon training and rational thinking? (Social Psychology)

• 3. Do we always think before acting? (Conscious V

Subconscious)

A summary of Psychological Approaches

Behaviourist Psychology

• Human Behaviour changed by external

influences - Safety Rules or Manager control

• Worker ‘errors and violations’ controlled

through ‘one best method’ (SOP’s)

• Behaviour control uses reward (Near Miss

reporting) and punishment for rule violations and sometimes errors/mistakes

• Anticipates conscious thinking re SOP’s
• Popular from 1920’s to 1970’s
• Reward and Punishment still used in many

HSMS systems today Social Psychology

• Human behaviour a response to internal

thinking and external influence

• People are complex with value and

belief systems,

• You can ‘train out’ human errors and

violations

• Use of reward and punishment should

be last control option – not effective long term

• More popular theory of human

behaviour from 1980’s onwards

• Behaviour based on conscious thinking

Human Error & Violation HSG 48

HSE - Human Factors (HSG 48)

‘Human factors refer to: environmental; organisational and job factors, and human and individual characteristics which influence behaviour at work in a way which affects health and safety’.

This involves addressing human factors in:

• relevant job, individual and organisational safety;
• risk assessment;
• accident investigation;
• design and procurement;
• day-to-day operations;
• involving the workforce and their representatives;
• selecting from a range of effective control measures.

Sydney Dekker – Understanding Human Error

Safety Failure - Latent or Active

Active failures:

• have immediate consequences - made by front-

line workers; operators; engineers etc.

Latent failures: -

• made by non operational colleagues; e.g.

designers, leaders and managers; CEO’s

Latent influences:

• subtle safety influences
• difficult to see unless questions asked during

auditing or following accident or incident investigations

On your table discuss:

1. In your organisation identify colleagues who have a latent safety role? 2. What safety training do you give these colleagues so that they understand their part in safety management? 3. How many times do ‘latent safety’ issues get recorded as a ‘near miss or safety violation’?

Latent Safety – a Summary

• poor design of plant

and equipment;

• ineffective training;
• inadequate supervision;
• ineffective safety

communication;

• uncertainties in roles

and responsibilities

Common Sense

A definition: “The ability to see what is in front of someone else's eyes rather than your own – that’s what would make it common” Robert Ludlum

Common sense is a much misused term in everyday life but what might it actually mean in safety terms?

Behavioural ‘Common Sense’ in Safety

• How an organisation communicates and engages

with their employee’s on safety and

• How it uses staff ideas to empower their human

behaviour risk management strategies

(Bartholomew 2019)

Examples:

• Using staff perception of where ‘errors and

mistakes’ are most likely to occur in operations;

• Creating risk assessments and method statements

that discuss and reflect on conscious and unconscious behaviours

Session Three

Safety Leadership and Culture

Leadership and Management

A healthy organisation requires both safety managers and leaders

Safety Leadership – What safety leaders should do!

Suggestions: 1. Acts as a good role model 2. Regularly promotes safe work practice 3. Is approachable and receptive to colleague ideas on safety 4. Develops a team ethos where everyone looks out for each other 5. Respond quickly to safety concerns and feeds back on actions taken

On your tables discuss these questions?

 Name 5 things you do regularly to support safety practice?  Name 5 things your CEO does regularly to support safety?  Name 5 things board members do regularly to support safety? How do you measure success regarding the above activities?

Technical role Functional role Coaching and motivating role Culture shaping role Leading Supervising

Leadership Roles

Supporting

Safety Leadership – Dr Dominic Cooper

Safety Leadership Styles - Transactional

Style:

• Leader tends to talk at

people

• Leader thinks people

perform best when clear chain of command

• Leaders use Reward

and punishment to motivate staff

• Does not encourage

innovation or change

Safety Leadership Styles - Transformational

Style About:

• Integrity and fairness
• Clear goals and high

expectations

• Provides support and

recognition

• Involves other’s emotions
• Gets people to look

beyond their own self- interest

• Inspires people to reach

for the improbable

Safety Leadership Styles - Servant leadership

Style About:

• Focus is on the needs of
• thers before your own
• Listening and

acknowledging other colleagues' views

• Building a sense of

community

• Style leads to higher

engagement and trust

• Increased innovation

Safety Leadership – Culture and Learning

When your staff go on safety training courses do managers always:

• Pre-brief staff regarding what they should

expect to get out of the safety training?

• Debrief them after the course and find out how

they will put new safety learning into practice?

• Check after 3 months how they have changed

their safety practice?

If your business does not do this - it will contribute to a poor attitude towards safety and its culture!

What ‘Empowers’ Culture Change?

If you had buttons you could push to make the biggest change to safety behaviour inside your organisation. Which of the following would you choose and why?

• Design
• Behaviour
• Culture
• Leadership
• Systems

Dominic Cooper – Safety Culture

Safety Culture – Dr Dominic Cooper

Safety Culture

“The product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies and patterns of behaviour that can determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of an organisation’s health and safety management system”. ACSNI Human Factors Study Group, HSC (1993) Psychological Aspects ‘How people feel’ Can be described as the ‘safety climate’ of the

• rganisation,

This is concerned with individual and group values, attitudes and perceptions. Behavioural Aspects ‘What people do’

• Safety related Actions

and Behaviours

• Conscious/Unconscious

Situational Aspects

‘What the organisation has to control safety’

Policies, procedures, regulation organisational structures, and the management systems

Safety Culture Concepts

Emerging Culture  Little safety leadership  Production always prioritised over safety  Little workforce Involvement  Little proactive safety practice  Accidents seen as part of the job  Workers blamed for Accidents  Generic or basic RAMS

Behavioural Safety:

• Not ready for any

Implementation

Managing Culture

 Some safety leadership  Production often prioritised over safety  Some workforce involvement  Staff disciplined for safety breaches  Monitoring focus is reactive indicators  Workers sometimes blamed for accidents  Some consultation

• n RAMS

Behavioural Safety:

• Start planning

implementation

Involving Culture

 Essentials of safety leadership in place  Production still sometimes prioritised

• ver safety

 Some effective workforce involvement  Compliance by supervisory control  Some monitoring on accidents and N/M  Some root cause analysis (RCA) of accidents  Workers asked to contribute to RAMS Behavioural Safety:

• Ready for basic

implementation Cooperating Culture  Safety leadership

• ngoing and visible

 Safety always more important than Production  Proactive workforce safety involvement  Safety monitoring on leading and lagging indicators  Root Cause Analysis (RCA) conducted on reported accidents & incidents - linked to Organisational; Job & Personal, factors  RAMS linked to Behavioural Safety Behavioural Safety:

• Consider complex

implementation Continuous Improvement Culture  Safety leadership is visible - a value for all  Safe production is always top priority  Proactive safety learning applied daily by teams and staff  Safety performance inherently linked to Business KPI’s  Latent and Active safety understood at all levels  Accidents and Incidents seen as system flaws  Behavioural Safety is an integral part of RAMS Behavioural Safety:

• Behavioural Systems

Operating effectively

Safety Cult lture Assessment

Developed from a model created by HSL

Assessing and changing a Safety Culture

Exercise:

• On your table discuss the

type of safety culture that this photo suggests?

• Identify and record what

steps you would take to change this culture?

The perception The message Why is perception the most important issue?

Behaviour

What peo people do do or

• r beli

believe they sho should ld do! do!

Safety Culture?

Session Four PM

Behavioural Safety Targets

Identifying Behavioural Safety Targets

Watch the excerpt from ‘Safety Differently’ and then discuss the following questions:

• In your current safety plan how much of this is devised

by the production staff?

• If you could only target three behavioural safety issues

in your business what would they be?

• Could you reduced your overall annual safety targets to

a bullseye sticker size that you can strongly promote?

Leadership Performance Indicators – Dominic Cooper

Job:

• Tasks
• Workload
• Controls
• Procedures
• Displays

Individual:

• Competence
• Safety Attitude
• Personality
• Skills
• Risk Perception

Organisation:

• Leadership
• Culture
• Work Patterns
• Communication
• Resources

Other Factors

• Business Values
• Legal Liability
• Reputational

Damage

Targetting Behavioural Change

To make behavioural safety changes you first have to recognise what you can and cannot do

What will you agree to do and when?

In Table Groups discuss: 1. What extra could you do on a regular basis to support behavioural safety management in your business? 2. How will you undertake these actions e.g. who do you need to work with? 3. What monitoring will you put in place to check whether these actions are being done?

Session Five

Influencing Human Behaviour in your Business

ABC - Model of Behaviour Modification

Activators: (Antecedents)

• events that come before behaviour and influence behaviour to
• ccur (manager asks colleague to get backlog of boxes moved by end of day)

Consequences:

• whatever happens (something or nothing) to the

colleague which always follows the behaviour

(colleague injures back rushing - uses poor lifting technique)

Behaviour:

• any action that you can see

someone doing or hear them saying

(colleague rushes to get boxes moved)

A

Continuous Feedback Needed

(Reinforcement)

B C

ABC – Behaviour Analysis - Negative Culture

Unsafe Behaviour Fail to Wear Hearing Protection Activators (influences) Behaviour Consequences (If caught)

• Colleagues take shortcuts

through hearing protection area without ear defenders

• Always busy at work
• Everybody does it - so can I
• I’m only in there a short time
• Ear defenders kept in locker

Staff regularly take short cut through high noise areas of warehouse

• In breach of company

procedures but

• Managers don’t usually take

any notice

• I get to lunch quicker
• Everybody does it
• Minimal likelihood of

disciplinary action

ABC Behaviour Analysis - Positive Culture

Safe Behaviour Damaged rung on ladder identified Activator (Influence) Behaviour Consequences (If caught)

• Aware that damaged

rung is unsafe and could result in injury

• Staff feel empowered to

stop the job if unsafe - encouraged by manager to be safe

• I always want to get the

job done safely

• Don’t use ladder

with damaged rung

• Easy procedure to

get replacement

• Colleagues know

business will always spend money to keep staff safe

• The job takes longer but

done safely

• Reduced risk of

incidents/accidents for self and others

• Complies with

procedures & legal duties

• Reinforces ‘Safety’ as a

value for business/staff

ABC - Positives in Practice

• On your table discuss what

questions you might use to change the attitude to danger for these scaffolding employees?

• If you were an external

consultant where would you target your safety interventions in this business?

Can Behaviour Change be fun?

Nudge Theory – Working with the Unconscious

• Nudge theory has been around for some

time and is now being applied to safety practice.

• A successful nudge could be anything that

influences a desired behaviour change, e.g. to indicate hazards

• Safety nudges link to the science of signs

and symbols (Semiotics) - how visual and environmental issues nudge us subconsciously into doing the right thing

• An example would the sign opposite

placed on every ladder on a site

Safety Nudges

Nudges can be used in workplaces to:

• make the safest choice the default choice
• prompt safe practice and actions
• encourage workers to assess, use and

request the correct resources

• reduce complacency
• encourage participation in safety

programmes and initiatives

• increase hazard awareness

Safety nudges have the potential to address both Conscious and Subconscious behaviours such as errors and violations;

Using Nudge principles

• 1. What approach you would

take to influence the poor manual handling practice

• pposite?
• 2. Where do nudge principles

fit in the ‘Hierarchy of Risk Control’?

Human Factors and Safety Coaching

Coaching Spectrum

Downey, M. (1999), Effective Coaching, Orion Business Books

Coaching (Servant) Telling (Transactional)

A good coach moves up and down the continuum as necessary

Coaching - Question Framework

Competency - assess current level of

safety performance

Outcomes

• set safety outcomes for

improvement

Action

• agree safety tactics and

initiate action

Checking

• give safety feedback &

make sense of the planned changes

Competency

Determine what people are currently doing or have tried

Think about

• ne additional

question? What other ways have you tried so far? How can we do this task safely?

Servant Leadership

Outcomes

Agree outcomes or goals for the person or team

What will safe practice look like in this instance? How will we all know we are safe? How important is safety for you? Think about one additional question?

Servant Leadership

Action

Look for opportunities to or create situations to apply this approach

To leaders:

What can you do for the business to keep everyone safe?

To managers:

What do you do daily to help make your team safer?

Servant Leadership

Checking

Check progress against outcomes, make sense of what has been learnt, encourage feedback, reset outcomes

Do we need this current procedure? What isn’t working well in safety terms? What extra equipment would help? How are you getting on with this task?

Influencing (Cialdini)

Learning Feedback Process: (AA)

Observe a ‘behaviour’ If they followed the SOP how did that work? What would they change in the SOP if they had the choice? How does their team usually approach safety when doing tasks task? What other/different equipment would help them with safer practice? Positive message - Encourage the use

• f safe practice at all times.

Telling Feedback Process: (AC)

x Observe a ‘behaviour’ x Tell the person what you saw x Tell them whether they followed rules (SOP) or not x Tell them how to change their safety practice and what to do better next time x Thank them for undertaking the observation and leave them with positive message

Safety Coaching – ‘Learning’ not ‘Telling’

Session Six

Behavioural factors when Investigating Accidents

Performance Influencing Factors - HSE

On your table we have now put some copies of Performance Influencing factors as identified by the HSE in HSG 48.

• 1. Discuss which of these are the

most important of these in your business?

• 2. Which of these do you ask your

accident investigators to focus on during their investigations?

Accident Hindsight Bias – Sydney Dekker

Safety Choices

My Safety Choices Outcome 1 -

Safety

Outcome 2 -

Minor

Outcome 3 -

Disaster

Investigator Option 1 How stupid! Why did they do that?

Safety Choices Safety Choices Safety Choices

Investigator Option 2 What contributed to this Accident? What can we learn?

Investigating Accidents – Human Factors

Investigating accidents can be like looking for puzzle pieces. Where do you start?

When investigating human behaviour you need to think about what the person saw/was thinking before things went wrong?

Accident Investigation & Human Behaviour

People Control Behavioural Place Control Technical Does your HSMS spend enough time investigating why human safety controls failed?

Why things go wrong?

Safe Person Concept - (Predictable Risk)

Provide PPE Relevant Training Information

• n hazards

Clear Instructions Method Statement Supervision and Support Create Safe Systems of Work Specialist Equipment Effective Staff Selection

Maintains safety vigilance for self and colleagues Recognises own abilities and limitations - asks for help Competent to perform tasks assigned Thinks like an effective team member Self-disciplined - works within agreed SSOW but analyses and challenges when needed Maintains safety whilst adapting to changing circumstances

Safe Person Concept – (Unpredictable Risk)

Work design & context Safety Leadership Supervision / Coaching Behaviour Change Performance Management

Maximising Human Reliability

Conclusion:

• We have covered a great deal of

ground today looking at how individuals think and behave in the context of different safety cultures and leadership styles

• The next stage is yours?
• If you have any questions then

please think of these and we will try to answer them in the final Q & A part of the session