Chances are you have a behavior-based safety (BBS) process in place for all of your projects. And the reason you have that BBS process to begin with is to reduce accidents.
With 90 percent of accidents happening because of errors by workers, it seems like an obvious decision. But what if your BBS is actually working against you? Your current process is probably built around the notion that workers are the problem. To improve worksite safety, the goal is to catch, report and fix worker errors. The success of the process is measured by the impact on a lag indicator: accident rates.
The current BBS process is too slow and inconsistent to be effective. The system is not aligned to meet worker expectations. For instance, say a worker identifies a problem and reports it to management. It then takes a long time to process the paperwork, get a report, distribute and analyze the report, and have management share the findings and solution with the workforce.
For feedback to be as effective as possible, it needs to be quick, certain and positive. The current process actually impedes effective feedback. Additionally, the BBS process does not take into consideration how people make choices based on their cognitive biases, stimulus-response conditioning, the culture, and environmental traps and triggers.
The repetition of an inefficient process results in a chain reaction:
• When a worker shares feedback, he or she expects it to be processed quickly and to see results.
• When that expectation is not met, he or she receives no feedback, or management’s response is perceived as a punishment or penalty, the worker is not motivated to continue participating in the system. The worker often becomes apathetic and identifies as a victim. If that experience is repeated, it becomes a belief.
• When that same story is repeated for other workers, it becomes a shared belief.
• Shared beliefs equal culture.
Dr. Martin Seligman conducted research on what he coined “learned helplessness,” which is the result when a person functions in a system that is unresponsive to them and they feel helpless to change. The result could be apathy, malicious obedience or feeling like a victim.
The participation paradox occurs when management wants worker participation, but it is actually the consequences that management deliver that will increase or decrease worker participation. Most BBS programs are not very effective in providing a clear line of accountability for management’s responsiveness or engagement. This process becomes even more diluted and confusing if the safety department is perceived as the owner of the process and responsible for worker behavior. Clarity of roles and responsibilities between management and safety are imperative for this system to work and be a sustainable and positive element of the safety management system. Victims have villains, and management often becomes the villain.
It is time for a paradigm shift. Managers need to rebalance the process around workers by seeing them as partners, solution providers and innovators. Instead of catching workers making errors and just responding with rules, trust and engage them in the process. Focus on lead indicators like participation rates and good catches of workplace barriers that turn into value-added solutions that can be leveraged throughout the organization.
New paper and digital technology provides automated, actionable analytics that are easy to understand and use. It can measure worker participation and management’s response time and engagement efforts. Recent studies show that 85 percent of the workforce is unengaged. Just imagine what you could accomplish if you could flip that to your competitive advantage.
Let J.W. Toups Inc. show you how to discover breakdowns, bottlenecks, waste, and reduce accidents with our digital technology. Our system is powered worker-driven intelligence. We will you help reach the hearts and minds of the workforce and tap into their imagination and ingenuity to gain more market share.
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