Behavioural Safety Programmes
“Promoting safe behaviour at work is a critical part of the management of health & safety, because
behaviour turns systems and procedures into reality”. 1
80% of work related accidents may be due to employees’ behaviour or their acts or omissions.
HSE research1 concluded that proprietary and in-house behavioural safety processes improve
safety when implemented effectively with some case studies showing an 85% improvement in
accident rates.
Behaviour based safety programmes tend to focus on the observable and measurable behaviours
critical to safety at a particular facility. They are often effective at improving behaviour such as
wearing PPE or using the correct tool but may not be effective for low probability/ high
consequence risks. They promote desired behaviours by introducing positive reinforcement and
feedback for behaving safely.
BEST PRACTISE STANDARDS
Successful behavioural safety programmes:
1. Require senior management commitment.
2. Need sufficient resources and planning to ensure they fit in with your organisation’s culture
and health and safety management system (HSMS).
3. Should commence when your existing HSMS is mature and in line with good practice such as
HS(G)65, “Successful Health and Safety Management” or BS8800 or OHSAS18001.
4. Engage significant workforce participation e.g. through steering groups.
5. Will train steering group members and “observers” in behavioural safety techniques and
communication skills to provide feedback.
6. Define the critical safety behaviours the programme will address i.e. the main drivers of your
accident frequency.
7. Set realistic goals and targets for improvement.
8. Define frequency and number of observations, which are often recorded on checklists.
9. Provide feedback to employees following observations.
10. Use employee feedback and trend data from observations to modify and improve the working
environment.
11. Regularly review the objectives and critical safety behaviours of the programme.
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS
There is no legal requirement to instigate a behavioural safety programme but they can be an
effective tool as part of your health and safety management system. Implementing one can assist
with requirements of Health and Safety at Work Act and Management of Health and Safety
Regulations, particularly with regard to monitoring performance and providing information and
instruction to employees.
GUIDANCE & USEFUL INFORMATION
• 1
Strategies to promote safe behaviour as part of a health and safety management system
(Contract research report 430/2002).
Download at www.hse.gov.uk/research/crr_htm/2002/crr02430.htm
• Reducing error and influencing behaviour HS(G)48. HSE Books www.hsebooks.co.uk
• HSE Website – www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors
• Behavioural Safety – Kicking bad Habits (IOSH).
• Download at www.iosh.co.uk/files/technical/Behaviouralsafety%2Epdf
• QBE Behavioural Safety, “Issues Forum”. Download at www.qbeeurope.com/rm
For further information contact RM@UK.qbe.com

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