Whitepaper

Enhancing Safety Outcomes in Your Organization:

The Advantages of Shifting

from Reactive to Proactive
Behavior-based Safety (BBS)

Wear
Helmet
1. Introduction
In his book ‘The Power of Habit’, author Charles Duhigg explores the science behind habit creation and formation.
In most cases, as per research conducted by neuroscientists, “95% of what we do originates in the subconscious
mind.” This means that people don’t do most things out of choice; they do it out of HABIT.

This gains relevance in the world of safety management when we realize that the most common source of
workplace injuries or accidents is ‘human error’.

For whatever reason, employees and workers perform high-risk tasks without taking the necessary precautions.
Sometimes, they perform tasks a certain way, unmindful of the risks involved.

For instance, they may have walked around the shop floor without wearing a helmet in certain areas because it was
too hot. But that has to be avoided. A habit change needs to happen, and the question is how do we bring that to
every worker in the organization? Can we build a culture wherein every worker, every employee across the
organization thinks about the risks involved, worries about the safety of themselves, their colleagues, and their
workplace, takes necessary control measures, and then performs the task?

Behavior-based Safety (BBS) is all about:

Getting rid of bad/unsafe habits

Inculcating good/safe habits

The first step to making this happen is to identify and document unsafe acts and
subsequent “behavior changes” needed.

Can we ensure the worker without the helmet realizes the risks, and changes this habit? This is where
Behavior-based Safety (BBS) comes in.

In this whitepaper, we talk about key best practices for Behavior-based Safety (BBS) and how to leverage the power
of digital transformation and automation to eliminate risky worker behaviors.

80-95% Contribution of unsafe behaviors toward safety incidents

Source: http://www.behavioral-safety.com/

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2. Accepting the Need for Change

The same old thinking produces the same results. Despite

implementing safety management systems, incidents continue
to happen because behavior-based issues are not addressed.

Remember the 3Ws when it comes to safety risks:

● The Work - Conditions (Working Conditions, Task at hand)

● The Workplace - Processes (Processes, Cleanliness, Safety Policy, etc.)
● The Worker - Behaviour (Training, Skill)

To see the change and improve safety performance, we must proactively

address each of these aspects.

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3. Curbing Unsafe Acts and Behaviors
Must Become #1 Priority
“Accidents occur for many reasons. In most instances, people tend to look for “things” to blame when
an accident happens because it's easier than looking for “root causes”. But the estimate is that 80 out
of every 100 accidents are the fault of the person involved”

– Study Conducted by Department of Labor & Industry, State of Pennsylvania (Read here)

In some cases, a flawed machine or a sharp edge on the shopfloor may be the real root cause of a safety incident.
But, as the study quoted above says, human error is the cause in 80% of the time. The only way to fix such safety
risks is to proactively pursue BBS best practices, deliver the right training and communication, and bring about
change in the way people perform tasks at work.

According to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 5,190 fatal work injuries recorded in the
United States in 2021, an 8.9-percent increase from 4,764. Playing the blame game while analyzing these safety
incidents doesn't help. Real change will happen when people take an effort to curb unsafe acts at work.

Chart 1. Number of fatal work injuries, 2011-21 Chart 2. Fatal work injury rate, 2011-21
6,000
4.0
Fatal work injury rate per 100,000 FTE workers
5,000 3.5

3.0
4,000
2.5
3,000
2.0

2,000 1.5

1.0
1,000
0.5

0 0.0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Source: National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics

Here’s a scenario
In one of the plants, we observed that if the machine or a line is not
behaving as it should due to some mechanical issue, the workers
would rush around. This was unsafe, but a common scenario.

With the right training and communication, only a select team of

workers – who are trained and have taken the necessary control
measures including wearing PPE – will come close to the
problematic line to solve the issue.

75% of workers feel that risky shortcuts are a normal part of work and cannot be discussed with
coworkers, supervisors, or managers. Colby College

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4. Common Causes for Unsafe
Behaviors
Some of the common behaviors that lead to accidents in a workplace include:

Resorting to Shortcuts: Time is the essence, and to complete a task earlier,

people tend to use shortcuts. Sometimes the monotonous nature of a task
can also lead to workers using shortcuts to reach the end goal.

Overconfidence: Overconfidence can lead to people taking risks and not

following procedures, or using the wrong methods or tools to complete the
job on hand.

Not Being Prepared: Job safety requires the worker to be fully informed of
what the task involves, the risks, and the outcome. Often, people do not ask
for complete instructions for fear of being judged. This can have serious
consequences.

Being Distracted: Life is full of ups and downs. When one is too excited or
too depressed, the chances of not paying attention to their task are very high
and can be hazardous.

The good news is that it can be changed.

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5. Best Practices for Behavior-based
Safety (BBS): 4 Key Steps
Step #1: Design and Implement a Robust Safety Observations Process
Planning safety walks and scheduling periodic inspections to monitor how workers are performing their
tasks is the first step to implement BBS.

BBS Observations (BBSO) lay the foundation to drive and inculcate safety culture to all workers and
employees – but particularly for ones engaged in high-risk tasks or working in risky workspaces. During
safety walks, one must closely observe employees to identify unsafe acts and unsafe conductions.
Automation of the safety inspection workflow will enable better data visibility and streamline the
process of planning control measures and taking corrective actions.

In case there are no EHS teams onsite at a location, it must be made clear that the plant manager is
responsible for BBSOs and Safety Inspection management.

Step #2: Empower every employee to report “at-risk” behavior

Better safety requires a genuine team effort from every person on the shop floor, construction site, lab, or
any location for that matter. They need to be trained right and be empowered to report risky behavior.

Once reported, workers must be trained on SOPs and processes must be set to ensure they adhere to
safety-related SOP requirements. All of this is possible only with the help of a modern EHS solution with
in-built features to track/monitor safety observations, findings from safety inspections, etc.

Step #3: Robust Incident Lifecycle Management

The steps above are proactive safety management efforts, that must be implemented to spot warning signs
and prevent an incident from happening.

Unfortunately, despite all efforts, some safety incidents do happen, and setting up a robust incident
management lifecycle is key.

Incident Management Lifecycle should include the following key steps:

Robust incident reporting capturing all key details, including unsafe human behavior

CAPA process that addresses systemic, unsafe acts

Robust risk assessment process

Conduct behavior-based audit

Track safety management audit training (SMAT)

Implement peer-to-peer safety, where workers/employees look out for each other

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Step #4: Address unsafe behavior with agility
Now that you’ve identified possible behavioral flaws, gaps in the process, unsafe conditions, etc.
– the immediate next step is to fix unwanted, risky behavior. The following aspects are critical to making this happen:

- Design and automate BBS-based programs and initiatives

- Train and communicate (about the criticality of better safety) with all employees,
through process channels

- Hold team leads, plant heads, and other key stakeholders accountable for better
safety and get them to build a safety-first culture

- Reinforce and reward good behavior, and inspire other workers to follow suit

- Employee participation lies at the core of BBS. The question to answer is - how
do you keep your people across locations truly invested in the safety agenda of
the organization?

As senior management leaders, one must walk the talk, and being out on the shop floor
to promote "better safety" sends a strong signal of management commitment to
workplace safety and catalyzes employees to act safely.

Inspect if
Identify critical
employees are
worker
complying
behavior
with SOPs

Warn, train and

coach, and reward Review and
your people for a track
better/safe progress
approach

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6. Leveraging Technology to Improve
Safe Behavior and Safety
Management Outcomes
To implement a robust BBS workflow, the following process must be automated with data at the core:

- Safety Observations: Track and monitor both BBS and data from periodic safety
inspections. Also, make sure small observations are recorded and acted on.

- Incident Management: The end-to-end incident management lifecycle must be

a combination of proactive, preventive, and reactive processes. To do this right,
data visibility, collaboration and action management (status of corrective actions
and open action items) are key.

- Risks Assessments and JSA (Job Safety Analysis): Thorough risk assessments
and JSA mechanisms can certainly reduce the number of unsafe acts, by putting
in place control measures.

- Training: Safety training often becomes a compliance chore, a box to tick off.
Plan a proper communication strategy to ensure safety training is fun and intuitive
– while at the same time memorable so people remember to perform all tasks
with a safety-first mindset.

Paper-based systems can make it tedious both for the person reporting observations and for the safety team to
follow up with action and track the effectiveness of the control measures in preventing the event from blowing up.

A cloud-based EHS solution such as ComplianceQuest empowers workers with the tools to quickly report BBSOs
and share them with accompanying evidence such as photos and videos to substantiate their
observations.

A centralized repository of past incidents and these observations provides the leaders with the data needed to
identify patterns, triage, and take timely action.

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Some of the benefits of BBS include:

Data-Driven Tracking: Having a centralized repository helps leaders effectively

track behavioral data and identify high risks to take effective action and minimize
incidents

Report On the Go: Being cloud-based, workers can report unsafe behaviors
anywhere, anytime. They can take pictures of unsafe behaviors and attach them to
the observation record. Leaders can access these reports from anywhere and
respond quickly.

Improved Communication and Collaboration: The system facilitates teams

located in disparate sites to communicate within the platform. This improves
transparency and visibility. It also allows for the progress of action taken to be
monitored and the impact assessed for greater effectiveness.

Continual Improvement: As it allows employees to proactively report and record

observations and near misses, it enables safety leaders to continually improve safety
management. Unsafe behavior is addressed immediately through appropriate
training, awareness, and other controls as required.

Culture of Safety: Safety is an enterprise-wide activity and not the responsibility of

the leader alone. Empowering the workers with a tool to report unsafe behavior
increases employee participation and establishes a culture of safety.

Positive Reinforcement: The solution also enables identifying safe behaviors and
acknowledging them. This acts as a positive reinforcement, setting an example for
others to follow and be a part of the effort to make the organization safe for them.

The EHS Solution also integrates with other safety management features such as Safety
Inspections, Incident Management, Environment and Sustainability Management, CAPA,
Risk Management, Document Management, Audit Management, and Training Management
to provide an end-to-end solution for safety management. To know more, visit:

https://www.compliancequest.com/lp/ehs

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 Looking for a modern, cloud-based solution to improve
Behavior-based Safety at your organization?
Try ComplianceQuest’s SafetyQuest Solution to proactively
address safety risks and tackle unsafe worker behaviors,
with a truly world-class solution that can be a game
changer to your business.

Request a Demo

About ComplianceQuest
Transform to a fully connected business with a next-generation AI-Powered Product Lifecycle, Quality and
Safety management platform, built on Salesforce. Our connected suite of solutions helps businesses of all
sizes increase quality, safety and efficiency as they bring their products from concept to customer success. Our
intelligent data-driven platform comes with best-in-class integrated processes to mitigate risks, protecting your
employees, suppliers and brand reputation, and to increase innovation, compliance, profit and customer loyalty.
ComplianceQuest is pre-validated and easy to implement, use, and maintain, allowing for streamlined
communication and collaboration across the product value chain.

For more information, or to request a demo with a ComplianceQuest expert, contact ComplianceQuest today:

• Visit
• Email us at [email protected]
• Call us at 408-458-8343

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