PeopleSkillsBehavior analysis for safer and better workplaces
PeopleSkillsBehavior-Based Safety, BBS, is about working systematically with the concrete behaviors that affect safety in everyday life.
Rules, technology, training and instructions are needed. But ultimately, it also matters what people actually do in the situation where the risk arises.
PeopleSkills helps organizations identify important safe behaviors, understand what influences them, and create better conditions for safe working practices that persist over time.
The work starts with making safety concrete. What behaviors are important? What do people actually need to do in different situations?
We then examine what influences behavior in the real work environment. This could be equipment, instructions, workflows, feedback, leadership behaviors, social consequences, or how work is organized.
Behaviors can then be observed and tracked over time, making it possible to see if change is actually occurring and to adjust work based on what the measurement shows.
1. Current situation
We start on the floor. We join the work, talk to employees, managers and safety representatives and read incidents and accidents. We often do a preliminary study with surveys and interviews. The report gives an honest picture of the safety culture, of whether safety work is getting the attention it needs and of what training is required for the effort to be lasting.
2. Management and support team
Top management is trained first, for full participation. Then a support team from corporate or site management: the organization's own backbone in BBS, those who know the method, hold the process together and are the bridge between production and management. Without that step, BBS easily becomes a campaign that dies out.
3. Core team
In each department, a core team of volunteer employees close to the work is formed. They are trained and are the ones who observe, provide feedback and report obstacles. A mission of trust.
4. All employees
Everyone is trained in the basics: why security is difficult, how behaviors are controlled, and what everyone does in BBS. No one stands aside.
The process is repeated for each new behavior until safe behaviors become habits.
1. Pinpointing
The core team identifies with their colleagues which behaviors determine safety here, based on incidents, accidents and the question of where it will hit next. Few behaviors at a time, so clearly described that two people assess them the same.
2. Measurement
Colleagues observe colleagues in short random samples. No names are recorded. The results are collected at group level.
3. Feedback
The group sees its results in production, over time. The mirror of the team, not the individual. Good feedback is about what makes it easier to do right, not about who did wrong.
4. Reinforcement
The most important step. Behaviors that are noticed when done right are repeated. A recognition from a colleague, a word in the morning meeting. Obstacles are taken care of by support teams and management. When a safe habit is established, it is celebrated by the entire group.
5. Evaluation
Is it working? We look at behavioral data, barriers, management engagement, and the usual safety metrics. When a behavior becomes habitual, the group shifts focus. This is where most programs die, when feedback becomes sparse. That’s why management and executive engagement are measured in the same way as employee engagement.
PeopleSkills' approach to behavioral safety is called Safe Habits.
The work is based on defining concrete safe behaviors that can be observed, followed and given feedback. Before the change work begins, we create a picture of the current situation. Then managers and employees work together with observation, feedback and the conditions in everyday life that affect the behavior.
The goal is not to make people think more about safety. The goal is to make safe behaviors easier, more common, and eventually a natural part of work.
The approach is based on applied behavioral analysis. We have been working with it in Swedish industry since 2008. The basis is simple: safe behaviors should be easier to do and more rewarding for those who do them, every day, on the floor.
Green Cargo
Freight traffic at 23 railway yards throughout Sweden, 1,200 train drivers and 1,700 employees. Solid safety work already existed, but accidents returned. We worked through all 23 railway yards with Safe Habits. The deductible costs for accidents fell to a fraction of the previous level and the work was appreciated by the employees.
Brenderup Group
Trailer manufacturing with facilities in Stigamo outside Jönköping, Wieleń in Poland and Tysse in Norway. Since Safe Habits were introduced in Stigamo and Wieleń, incidents and accidents have decreased significantly, mostly in the factory in Wieleń, and the Swedish Work Environment Authority has had no complaints about the safety work.
SKF, Gothenburg
Implementation in a factory with an already well-developed safety structure. Employees, specialists and managers have been trained and participation is high where BBS has become a way of working.
3M
Implementation of BBS at three of 3M's Swedish units: Peltor in Värnamo (hearing protection), Speedglas in Gagnef (welding helmets) and Slip Naxos in Västervik (abrasive materials). Three completely different operations, good results in all three locations.
What is behavior-based security?
Behavior-based safety, BBS, is a working method where you identify the concrete behaviors that determine whether work is safe, observe them in everyday life and provide feedback so that safe behaviors become more common. The basis is applied behavior analysis.
How does BBS differ from systematic work environment work?
Systematic work environment work provides rules, risk assessments, protective equipment and routines. BBS is about what people actually do when the rule and the risk meet in everyday life. BBS does not replace systematic work, it builds on it.
Does BBS blame the employees?
No. That criticism applies to early programs from the 70s where you observed the floor and left management out. That's not how we work. Management is involved from the beginning, as are all levels in between. Managers' behaviors are observed and followed up in the same way as employees', and most obstacles to safe behavior are in equipment, workflows, staffing, and decisions that management owns. BBS is about removing those obstacles, not about pointing fingers at the person who made the mistake. BBS is based on increasing motivation, not on absolving responsibility.
What do managers and safety representatives do in BBS?
Managers and safety representatives do not supervise. They pay attention to the work, show interest, remove obstacles to safe behavior, and ensure that the process continues. Their own behavior often determines whether the work will last over time, which is why they are trained first.
How are employees involved?
Employees define for themselves which behaviors are important in their workplace. They observe each other and support each other with feedback on what is being done right. BBS works when employees own the work and help each other, not when it is directed from above.
How do you measure whether BBS is working?
The proportion of safe behaviours is monitored over time, before and after the intervention. Incidents, accidents and costs follow, but behaviours are visible first and are what can be influenced.
How long does a BBS implementation take?
It depends on the size of the business. A single workplace can have a functioning way of working within a few months. Multiple facilities take longer. The important thing is that the work continues after the implementation, that's when the results come.
Is BBS suitable for our industry?
BBS is used in manufacturing, construction, steel, chemicals, transportation, rail, recycling, energy and water. The more work is done with hands and at risk, the greater the benefit.
Can we get support for the cost?
PeopleSkills is an approved training provider with Afa Insurance. Employers with collective agreements can apply for financial support for part of the cost of work environment training.
Is this a way to monitor employees?
No. No names are recorded in the observations. No one in management sees who observed whom. The results are collected and displayed at the group level. Anxiety is common at the beginning and usually disappears when people see how it works.
What result can we expect?
In a meta-study of 73 industrial applications of BBS, accidents were reduced by an average of 26 percent in the first year and 69 percent after five years (Krause, Seymour and Sloat, Safety Science 1999). Results vary between operations and depend on anchoring, leadership, the quality of observations and how obstacles are actually removed. We therefore do not promise a percentage in advance, but we measure from day one so that you can see for yourself what is happening.
Ulf Dennholt is a course leader in Behavior-Based Safety in Risky Work Environments at Frans Schartau's Business Institute, Stockholm City University of Applied Sciences.
PeopleSkills also carries out company-specific training and longer BBS interventions for businesses where work safety needs to be developed.
The training is based on applied behavior analysis and works concretely with safe behaviors, risky behaviors, observation, feedback, measurement, and how the work environment affects what people actually do.
PeopleSkills Sverige AB is an approved training provider with Afa Insurance for company-adapted work environment training.
Private employers who meet the conditions can apply for financial support for part of the cost of work environment training. The support is aimed at employers with collective agreements and occupational injury insurance, TFA.
Joint training courses where managers and safety or work environment representatives participate together are given special priority. The employer applies for the support and Afa Försäkring's current terms and conditions apply.
Do you want to develop your safety work, train managers and employees, or investigate whether BBS could be the right way of working for your business?
Get in touch and we'll start with your actual situation and what you want to change.