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January 16, 2022
With accuracy rates as high as 86 percent, predictive analytics have helped organizations save lives.
The Safety field has made continual progress over many decades; however, many organizations have reached a plateau and are looking to move from great to world-class. Companies have robust training and effective safety processes, yet struggle making continuous safety improvements. Great organizations also implement processes like Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) and Human Organizational Performance (HOP) to supplement their compliance-driven programs, yet people are still getting hurt. Although, some people claim that "HOP is the archenemy of BBS" and have set up BBS as a "strawman" to HOP. This article will discuss the next safety evolution will occur through a synthesis, not division, of BBS and HOP using system analysis and predictive analytics to create a more proactive "Predictive-Based Safety" process.
To reduce the number of injuries, organizations use audits or inspections to judge compliance with their policies and procedures. BBS focuses more on observable safety-related behaviors, rather than on whether people are following rules. Thus, a robust BBS process does not replace audits or inspections; it simply looks at safety from a coaching versus policing perspective. Once a risky behavior is identified, employees analyze system and environmental factors influencing the risky behavior, brainstorm improvements, and then use future observations to verify those changes. Focus on behavior does not place blame but helps identify where organizations might be drifting into potential failure. Thus, observing someone doing something risky helps the employees examine the presence or absence of safety "barriers," not just on catching someone doing something wrong. Finally, BBS focuses more on the coaching relationship between employees, and stresses the importance of the conversation, not just fault-finding.
The origins of BBS stem from Applied Behavior Analysis (not from Heinrich, as often misquoted). This discipline focuses on organizational aspects directing and motivate peoples' safety-related behaviors. BBS began with the Komaki's (1978) study of safety-related performance feedback, improved upon with research by Geller, who coined the term "Behavior-Based Safety" back in the 1980s.
The Safety field has made continual progress over many decades; however, many organizations have reached a plateau and are looking to move from great to world-class. Companies have robust training and effective safety processes, yet struggle making continuous safety improvements. Great organizations also implement processes like Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) and Human Organizational Performance (HOP) to supplement their compliance-driven programs, yet people are still getting hurt. Although, some people claim that "HOP is the archenemy of BBS" and have set up BBS as a "strawman" to HOP. This article will discuss the next safety evolution will occur through a synthesis, not division, of BBS and HOP using system analysis and predictive analytics to create a more proactive "Predictive-Based Safety" process.
Behavior-Based Safety (BBS)
To reduce the number of injuries, organizations use audits or inspections to judge compliance with their policies and procedures. BBS focuses more on observable safety-related behaviors, rather than on whether people are following rules. Thus, a robust BBS process does not replace audits or inspections; it simply looks at safety from a coaching versus policing perspective. Once a risky behavior is identified, employees analyze system and environmental factors influencing the risky behavior, brainstorm improvements, and then use future observations to verify those changes. Focus on behavior does not place blame but helps identify where organizations might be drifting into potential failure. Thus, observing someone doing something risky helps the employees examine the presence or absence of safety "barriers," not just on catching someone doing something wrong. Finally, BBS focuses more on the coaching relationship between employees, and stresses the importance of the conversation, not just fault-finding.
The origins of BBS stem from Applied Behavior Analysis (not from Heinrich, as often misquoted). This discipline focuses on organizational aspects directing and motivate peoples' safety-related behaviors. BBS began with the Komaki's (1978) study of safety-related performance feedback, improved upon with research by Geller, who coined the term "Behavior-Based Safety" back in the 1980s.
SOURCE:
https://ohsonline.com/Articles/2018/12/01/BBS-HOP.aspx
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