What is a Behaviour-Based Safety
(BBS) approach?
This guide is informed by the field of Behaviour-
Based Safety (BBS), which is often described
as a bottom-up approach (frontline employees),
with top-down support from safety leaders.
A behaviour-based safety approach promotes
interventions that are people-focused and often
incorporate one-to-one or group observations of
employees performing routine work tasks, setting
goals carefully and giving timely feedback on
safety-related behaviour, coaching and mentoring.
The initiatives have a proactive focus, encouraging
individuals and their work groups to consider the
potential for incident involvement, (accidents) and
to assess their own behaviour as safe or unsafe
always, no matter what.
A BBS approach is one which:
• Is based on solid principles about engaging,
motivating, assisting, reinforcing, and
sustaining safe behaviours.
• Takes a systematic approach, examining the
motivation underlying behaviours, in order to
increase safe behaviour.
• Is an ongoing effort; not ‘once-off’ provisions,
but a new way of working that the safety leader
must continually promote for sustainable,
positive results.
• Takes time to achieve; however, results can be
observed immediately due to the nature of
measurement involved.
• Emphasises increasing safe behaviours rather
than focusing on length of time without injury.
BBS programmes do not depend solely on
‘lagging indicators’ (after the fact), and instead
shift the focus to ‘leading indicators’
(preventative).
• Is not a substitute for an already existing
comprehensive health and safety programme;
it is a supplementary tool that will enhance the
effect of already existing practices, and will
allow for an objective measurement system.
• Aims to understand causes of incidents and
near misses and correct them through the
behaviour of relevant people. For example,
reducing hazards often requires behaviour
change of managers and frontline workers,
and equipment redesign involves behaviour
change of engineers.
“BBS is about everyone’s behaviour, not just
the frontline” (Agnew & Ashworth, 2012)
BBS stems from the field of organisational
behaviour analysis. The focus in both
organisational behaviour analysis and BBS is
behaviour. The overarching theme in behaviour
analysis and BBS is that behaviour is maintained
by what occurs after it (consequences).
Many safety interventions in work settings focus on
antecedents, or events that come before behaviour
that may evoke behaviour. For example, many
work settings rely heavily on training, safety signs,
pep talks, toolbox talks, or pre-briefs. These can be
effective in activating behaviours initially, but it is
what occurs after our behaviour that ensures the
behaviour will occur time and time again.
For example, a toolbox talk addressing
correct manual handling techniques might
result in correct techniques on the day of
the talk; however, over time employees
will revert to old practices. This is because
nothing has occurred after their correct
behaviour to indicate that it is correct, or
that it has benefitted the individual or the
organisation to be so safety-conscious.
Behaviour Based Safety Guide
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