SECTION 3 – BBS PROCESS MAP

Behaviour Based Safety Process

1.0
Identify the behaviours critical to obtaining
required safety performance.

2.0
Communicate the behaviours and how they
are performed correctly to all employees.

3.0
Observe the work force and record safe/at
risk behaviours. Intervene with workers to
give positive reinforcement when safe
9.0
behaviours are observed. Provide
coaching/correction when at risk behaviours Communicate any
are observed. changes to workforce.

8.0
4.0 Change behaviours to be
Collect and record observation data. observed or change activators
or change consequences as
appropriate.

5.0
Summarize and analyze observation data.

6.0
Communicate observation data and
analysis results to all employees.

7.0
Provide recognition or celebrate when safe
behaviour improvements occur.

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SECTION 4 - BEHAVIOUR BASED SAFETY PROCESS GUIDANCE
STEP 1.0 All workers regardless of their employer, trade or tasks they perform
Identify the will perform behaviours which are the observable actions of
behaviours critical people. A behaviour can also be observed as having been
to obtaining performed by observing the result of the behaviour. E.g. the required
required safety behaviour is: Complete a field level risk assessment. It is unlikely that
performance an observer will actually observe the worker completing the field level
risk assessment, but by looking at the field level risk assessment
card the observer can confirm the behaviour has been satisfactorily
performed.

In this step the behaviours that the workers need to perform to

achieve the desired safety performance e.g. zero injuries, are
identified. Behaviours expected of workers, supervisors and
management should be identified. There can be a number of sources
of possible required behaviours:

Learning experience reports,

Incident investigations,
Individuals who actually perform the work,
First aid/ injury records and details ( i.e part of body injured, action
causing injury), incident and inspection trends.

Representatives of all segments of the workforce should be

involved in identifying behaviours: experienced workers,
supervisors, new workers, management. Involving workers in
choosing the behaviours helps to get them involved and get
their buy-in to the process.

Behaviours should be described as specifically as possible.

Behaviour descriptions should meet the following criteria:
Measurable - can be measured
Active - something the worker has to do Reliable - the
behaviour is repeatable the same each time and at least two
people should be able to see the behaviour and measure it
the same way
Controllable - the action is the control of the worker
performing it Observable - can be observed, seen happening
Specific - described so that the worker doing it knows exactly
what to do
Note: In BBS “workers” includes all levels in an organization
foremen, general foremen, superintendents, project managers,
managers, CEOs. Everyone should expect to have behaviours
defined for them that will help bring about injury elimination. A
critical behaviour for a manager might be:

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 Start every meeting with a safety topic or reference.
Complete all observations as part of BBS implementation
When visiting a job site perform one observation accompanied by
another worker.

No one is exempt from participating in BBS

Some examples of behaviours are:
Wear hearing protection when required through posted signs, work
permit, field level risk assessment
Attach fall prevention harness to a secure anchor point
Complete a field level risk assessment before starting a task
Wear a seat belt while driving a motor vehicle
Check hand tools for defects before use
Intervene with co-workers to provide coaching/ correction when they
perform an “at risk” behaviour
Sample tools See Section 8
STEP 2.0 All workers need to know what the required behaviours are and
Communicate the most important, how the required behaviours are performed safely.
behaviours and how E.g. wear fall protection harness when working at height. A person
they are performed can wear a fall protection harness safely or in an “at risk“ way. If it
correctly to all is not snug fitted properly to the workers body, the cross strap is too
employees high etc, then the worker is not wearing the harness safely.

In this step the required behaviours and how to do them safely is

communicated clearly to all workers. It is important to the success of
a BBS process that all participants receive a clear, easily
understood, communication. Weekly/monthly safety meetings
provide a good forum for this to happen.

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STEP 3.0 In this step workers who have received the proper training in how to:
Observe the work a) perform observations and
force and record b) interact with the workers observed to provide
safe/unsafe feedback/correction/coaching
behaviours and c) go out into the workplace to observe the workers.
Intervene with
workers to give
positive Individuals providing this training should have a good understanding
reinforcement when of the ABC Behaviour model and the BBS process.
safe behaviours are
observed. Provide Observations should be planned when possible. There are a variety
coaching/correction of different factors to be considered when performing an observation.
when unsafe These include:
behaviours are a) consider observing work where the higher risk hazards, or the
observed. experience of the workers may be a factor;
b) avoid interfering with the work activities;
c) do observations in two person teams;
d) complete the observation report away from the work area;
e) examine the work area for access/egress, housekeeping.

When planning observations here are some of the worker groups

that can be observed:
a) new employees
b) younger employees
c) people under pressure/stress (mind on task)
d) new sub-contractors
e) people rushing/running.

A possible set of steps to perform a complete observation /

interaction are:
a) observe the workers for 30 - 60 seconds as you approach
them, introduce yourself to the workers. When doing this the
observer should not distract the workers at a critical moment (
e.g. cutting, lifting, using ladders etc). Wait until the
interruption can occur when there will be no risk posed to the
workers
b) explain what you are doing and that you will observe them for
a bit longer,
c) observe them for some additional time
d) stop workers,
e) feedback what you have observed in a positive manner with
awareness of the self esteem of the workers that have been
observed,
f) provide positive reinforcement for all those behaviours that
were performed in a safe manner

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 g) when at risk behaviours are observed ask for feedback from
the workers to help understand why the at risk behaviours are
being performed, and provide coaching/ correction so that the
required safe behaviour is obtained
h) thank the workers for their assistance,
i) encourage them to continue to work safely.

It is most important that all observed behaviours that are immediately

dangerous to life, health or the environment are stopped as soon as
they are observed. In this situation the observer does not follow the
observation steps. The first priority is to stop the dangerous
behaviour. The observer should discuss the problem with the
workers. If the workers do not accept the observer’s action and
challenge the observer aggressively the observer should not confront
the worker. The observer should stop the discussion and deal with
the problem by talking to a foreman or supervisor.

It is important that observers make it their primary objective to look

for behaviours being performed safely. It is too easy, and in fact it is
human nature, to only look for the at risk or wrong behaviours. For a
Behaviour Based Safety process to give the best results the
emphasis must be on recognizing/rewarding the workers when they
perform the behaviours safely. After the observers have completed
their observations they must intervene with the workers to either
provide positive reinforcement/feedback to the workers on their
successful performance of the required behaviours or to provide
correction/coaching to the workers when the required behaviours
have been performed unsafely.

In most cases each intervention will involve positive reinforcement/

feedback and correction coaching. At times recognition or reward
(silver dollar, scratch and win lottery tickets) can be used to provide
additional positive reinforcement.

The positive reinforcement the observer provides to the worker when

the safe behaviours are observed are a key part of improving the
overall behaviour performance of a work group. It is essential that
this positive reinforcement is given every time safe behaviours are
observed.
The comments made by the workers observed should be recorded
when possible. Often these comments will give good indications of
why the required behaviour is not being performed. E.g. wearing
gloves - if the observed workers’ comments all suggest they are
uncomfortable to wear (too big, too small), then it points to the need
for making a wider range of sizes available to the workers.

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 The more information that can be obtained from the workers as to
why they are not performing the correct behaviours the better. It will
help to identify the appropriate changes required to get the
behaviours performed correctly.

It is important that whenever an “at risk” behaviour is observed,

there is an interaction with the person performing it, so that some
coaching/ correction can occur. If this does not happen, particularly
when a supervisor sees an “ at risk” behaviour and ignores it, then
the workers will get the feedback that doing the “at risk” behaviours
is acceptable. They will see that there is no consequence resulting
from the “at risk” behaviour and there will be no influence on the
worker to stop doing the “at risk” behaviour.

To assist an observer to document the observation results properly

an observation form listing the behaviours being observed should
be available to the observers. It is recommended that the number
of behaviours being observed is limited so that a one-page
observation form can be used.
Sample tools See Section 8
STEP 4.0 In this step the results of the observations are collected from the
Collect and record observation forms and recorded in a data collection/analysis
observation data system. This can be manual or electronic. An electronic system is
the better option because it can also provide an ability to analyze
the observation results.
STEP 5.0 In this step the observation results recorded in Step 4.0 are
Summarize and summarized and analyzed. Observation data should be
analyze observation summarized into a format that will be simple to interpret and enable
data extraction of behaviour performance data. During the analysis it is
important to review the observation data for quality and consistency.
Problems with either can lead to invalid data. The frequency at
which the data is summarized and analyzed is at the choice of the
work group. Some suggested summaries are:
Overall % Acceptable for all behaviours
% Acceptable for each separate behaviour
Observation comments
Trend Chart - Overall % acceptable for all behaviours plotted
over time
Trend chart - % acceptable for each behaviour plotted over
time
Observation and Intervention activity data - # observations
performed for each behaviour
Charts showing correlation between behaviours and incidents
When the data is summarized, an analysis of behaviours that are
not being done at risk can be done. An ABC analysis technique can
be used to do this. The analysis will typically result in suggestions

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 for changes to: Antecedents or Consequences of the behaviour.
Changes in conditions are sometimes the outcome. E.g. buy a wider
range of glove sizes. These changes are made in step 8.0
Sample Tools See Section 8
STEP 6.0 In this step the results of the observations, the summarized data,
Communicate the data analysis and any changes to Antecedents, Consequences
observation data or Conditions are communicated to the employees. It is essential
and analysis results that this communication happen. It ensures that the workers are
to all employees kept informed of the results of the observations and changes that
may be happening. This should encourage their continued
participation.

Communication to the work group can act as an antecedent in the

ABC model. What is not known cannot be corrected. It is expected
that the simple act of communicating the information will prompt the
work group to proactively correct their unsafe behaviours.

The communication method should be the one most suited to the

audience. Notices on bulletin boards, story boards or at meetings
are all suitable alternatives. A prominent bulletin board can be very
effective because it is always visible and thus gives continuous
feedback on the behaviours.
STEP 7.0 In this step the appropriate recognition of the workers or
Provide recognition celebrations happen when the desired, or improvements in,
or celebrate when behaviour performance occurs. Often this is not done and the
safe behaviour workers may get the impression that no-one cares that the
improvements behaviours are being done safely. This step is very important to
occur. provide the positive reinforcement to the workers for performing the
behaviour safely.

Recognition and celebration happen when the behaviours are being

done safely. Often the % acceptable behaviour reaches 95% plus
scores. When this happens it may be appropriate to change the
behaviours that are critical to obtaining required safety performance.
This is done in Step 8.0. If the critical behaviours are changed they
behaviour observation forms being used need to be changed also.
STEP 8.0 In this step any changes to Antecedents to, or Consequences of,
Change behaviours the behaviour resulting from the ABC analysis are made. Changes
to be observed or in conditions resulting from the analysis are also made in this step.
change activators E.g. buy a wider range of glove sizes. The changes should be
or change properly recorded in all relevant BBS documentation.
consequences as
appropriate When the % acceptable behaviour reaches 95% plus scores, or
other inputs suggest it (e.g. first aid causes), it may be appropriate
to change the behaviours that are critical to obtaining required
safety performance. This is done in this step.

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 To help with problem solving the following can be considered:
 Improvement opportunities can be identified through
observation, intervention and root cause trends
 Positive intervention techniques present the best opportunity
for improvement
 Use knowledge and experience of others to assist
 Management system failures can typically account for 85% of
unacceptable behaviours

Improvement strategies can include:

 Consider impact on existing safety program
 Obtain necessary support and resources
 May require changes to behaviour based training
 Monitor implementation and evaluate impact on behaviours
STEP 9.0 In this step any changes made in Step 8.0 are communicated to the
Communicate any work force. If the changes are going to be made it is essential that
changes to all the work force know what they are so they can change their
workforce behaviours accordingly.