27/07/2018
Do you believe in behaviour based safety (BBS) approach?
Various approaches have had reasonable success in reducing unsafe behaviours in the workplace. Some involve penalties; others involve surveillance; others involve guidance, codes and procedures to follow; others still are supportive and training-oriented. Some initiatives come from the employer, from the social partner organisations, from state regulatory bodies, and some worthwhile initiatives come from individual employees’ own insights, ideas, training and development activities around health and safety. The ultimate aim of a safety initiative is a “total safety culture”; however, this concept is rarely defined. A total safety culture is a culture in which:
a) individuals hold safety as a ‘value’ and not just a priority; b) individuals take responsibility for the safety of their co-workers in addition to themselves; and c) all level of employee are willing and able to act on their sense of responsibility .We need to apply the learning from the many years of analyses of accidents and ill health because this will contribute to future prevention strategies and activities. Behaviour Based Safety (BBS) is an approach that we believe can be applied successfully; it is gaining more interest across industry sectors globally and has the great advantage of needing the involvement of the individual employee, in addition of course, to employer commitment.
How often have we experienced situations in which an employee’s competence in a work process is assessed at the point that they leave the training room with the assumption that, once learned, the process will be applied correctly and safely? This fails to take account of the many factors that influence and reinforce learning and behaviours. BBS is closely linked to company culture and values and it is an excellent tool to improve safety performance in the workplace.
Behaviour Based Safety - I Believe!
