According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), nearly 2.93 million workers die each year due to work-related accidents and diseases worldwide. While organizations invest in advanced machinery, engineering controls, and detailed safety procedures, workplace incidents continue to occur because safe behaviours are not always consistently followed. Consider a giant steel plant in Odisha, an automobile assembly plant in Tamil Nadu, or a chemical processing plant in Gujarat. In theory, they have state-of-the-art engineering controls, cutting-edge machines, and voluminous safety manuals.
What goes wrong? It’s not their machinery.
It is their human behaviour that becomes the missing link. Traditional safety systems are very rigid and largely rely on physical safety and punishment mechanisms. However, for building a proactive safety culture, companies will need to pay heed to workplace safety behaviours.
This guide gives a glimpse of safe behaviour and risky behaviour in practical industrial cases. Further, it delves into how BBS can help understand multifaceted human behaviour in terms of safety. Finally, it presents the framework for building an extremely collaborative safety culture.
What is Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS)?
Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS) is a proactive safety technique that involves observation of workplace activities on a regular basis so as to analyse and change human behaviour. The approach focuses on identifying and improving at-risk behaviours before they lead to incidents.
BBS is primarily a people-oriented approach because it shifts the responsibility of safety from safety officers to the actual workers in the field. The approach emphasizes peer observation, peer discussions, and learning.
Safe behaviours are actions that follow established safety procedures, use appropriate controls, and reduce workplace risks. Unsafe behaviours involve actions that bypass safety requirements, ignore hazards, or increase the likelihood of incidents. Understanding the difference between the two is the first step in building a proactive safety culture.
Understanding the ABC Model
For one to alter an undesirable behaviour, it is imperative that one understands the stimulus for the behaviour. The primary building block of any Safety Observation program is the ABC Model. The ABC Model is a psychological model of behaviour that divides behaviour into three components:
A. Antecedent (The Stimulus)
Antecedents are those events, conditions, or instructions that cause the individual to behave in a certain manner. Examples include: a supervisor demanding higher production rates, a warning sign on the wall, a safety training session, or even a heavy rainfall.
B. Behaviour (The Action)
It is the physical action taken by the worker. The behaviour can either be safe or unsafe. An example of a safe behaviour would be clipping the safety harness onto the anchor line. On the other hand, the behaviour could also be unsafe, e.g., circumventing a machine guard to rectify a jam.
C. Consequences (The Outcome)
Consequences are the effects of the behaviour, whether immediate or long-term. Consequences may be desirable and include early completion of a task or verbal praise by the boss. They may also be undesirable, including a severe injury.
Human psychology is such that it places great importance on consequences that are immediate and guaranteed. A worker who breaks a safety rule and gets the reward of saving some time while remaining unharmed is bound to commit the unsafe act once more. This is what BBS does to bring about behavioural change.
Real-World Examples from Indian Industrial Sites
The following illustrative examples show how safe and unsafe behaviours can influence workplace safety across different industries.
Unsafe Working in Heights – In case of Infrastructure
There is an ongoing construction project for the flyover metro railway in Delhi-NCR.
- Unsafe behaviour:A construction worker needs to secure a bolt in his task. He has a safety harness attached to his body; however, he fails to attach his lanyard to the lifeline because the nearest anchor point is three meters away from him. He thinks, “I will be able to do this in ten seconds.”
- Safe behaviour: The worker pauses before stepping on the insecure platform. Instead, he moves to the safety line and attaches his lanyard.
Lockout/Tag out (LOTO) in Manufacturing Plants
A packing line at a manufacturing plant near Pune suddenly gets jammed.
- Unsafe behaviour: There is pressure on the maintenance operator to keep track of their daily production metrics. Rather than heading to the main electrical control panel for isolating the machine, he directly inserts his bare hands into the mechanical sorter to retrieve the jammed box from the machine while it remains powered up.
- Safe behaviour: The operator first shuts down the entire conveyor belt system and then uses his own personal padlock on the main breaker switch in accordance with the guidelines of LOTO.
Confined Space Entry in Petrochemical Refineries
There is a need for an internal inspection of sludge in a tank located within a large-scale chemical processing unit in Dahej.
- Unsafe behaviour: The entry crew completely depends on the results of the atmospheric gas test carried out yesterday morning. The supervisor instructs the workers to enter the tank without conducting any further pre-entry tests with a calibrated multi-gas detector. They believe there has been no significant change in atmospheric conditions overnight.
- Safe behaviour: The entry crew does not cross the plane of the tank door until an appointed gas tester conducts the air sampling at various depths. They make sure that oxygen levels are fine and that there is a standby attendant posted with a hoist winch.
Human Factors That Drive Unsafe Actions
For effective workplace behaviour safety, safety managers should dig deeper. Employees do not take unnecessary risks because of malicious motives. There are certain human factors that affect their judgment when it comes to risks.
- Overfamiliarity and Complacency Trap
An individual who has been doing one task for five years without any accidents occurring will become complacent towards the machine. He or she does not see the machine as a potential danger anymore. Due to such overfamiliarity with the machine, the person becomes oblivious to warning signs that may appear, causing him or her to make tragic mistakes.
- Production Urgency and Cognitive Exhaustion
In case corporate executives put speed above all else in terms of workplace safety, employees are put under psychological pressure. Long hours of work in order to get a plant started result in exhaustion and an inability of the mind to perceive the situation clearly.
- Negative Peer Pressure
Employees of the same crew may ridicule other employees for putting on protective equipment or stopping work to have a look at a permit.
How to Establish a Sustainable Safety Culture via BBS?
To turn your organization around, you need a systematic implementation strategy. Here are some critical steps in creating your open, proactive safety culture:
Step 1: Leadership Commitment
Safety culture begins and ends with leadership. Executives and plant managers need to set the example. When your manager walks onto the production line without a safety helmet and steel-toed boots on, he/she can undermine the credibility of the safety program. You have to show your workers that they mean more to you than production rates.
Step 2: Psychological Safety
No one will come forward and say anything about a near miss or any risky behaviour of their co-workers if he/she is scared of getting demoted, fired, or penalized. Your company needs to create an atmosphere that allows people to speak up. Every unsafe act is not about punishing anyone; it’s about making your system better.
Step 3: Training of BBS Observers
Choose your front-line leaders within every department and train them in structured observations. They need to know how to do it properly, using objective checklists, logging the metrics, and giving immediate and non-judgmental feedback to their co-workers.
Workplace Behaviour Variables and Interventions
|
Industrial Scenario |
Unsafe Behaviour (At-Risk) |
Safe Behaviour (Desired) |
BBS Intervention / Solution |
|
Material Handling |
Lifting heavy valve boxes manually with a bent back to save time. |
Utilizing a mechanical hoist or lifting with legs while keeping the back straight. |
Conduct peer observations on ergonomics and provide immediate coaching. |
|
Chemical Handling |
Pouring corrosive liquid acids without wearing a full face shield. |
Checking the chemical SDS and donning all mandatory PPE before opening a drum. |
Use the ABC model to identify why face shields are missing or ignored in that zone. |
|
Electrical Repair |
Working inside a live junction box panel using uninsulated metal tools. |
Verifying zero voltage with a calibrated meter and applying a personal LOTO lock. |
Review behavioural observation trends during toolbox talks. |
Conclusion
Workplace safety is not achieved by simply completing a checklist. Real resilience comes when safe behaviours become part of everyday work practices.
Here are three fundamental practices needed for creating the best safety system:
- First, adopt a behaviour-based safety (BBS) system which recognizes good behaviour rather than just tallying injuries.
- Second, teach your supervisors how to examine human and psychological causes of taking shortcuts in terms of safety.
- Third, have a rock-solid corporate culture that guarantees no personal blame in the face of field feedback.
Turn Intentions Into Habits Throughout Your Company
Learn more about NIST Global’s Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS) Training Program and equip your workforce with the skills to build a proactive safety culture.
Key Takeaways
- Safe and unsafe workplace behaviours significantly influence incident prevention and overall safety performance.
- Adopting a Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS) program enables an organization to move from being reactive and blame-oriented to being proactive and caring.
- By knowing the human aspects that motivate people in their decision-making processes and by applying the ABC model of behaviour analysis, organizations will be able to eliminate unsafe behaviours and cultivate safe behaviours.
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