Quality Safety Edge: Behavior Based Safety -- Improving Your Safety With a Behavioral Approach

Improving Your Safety
With a Behavioral Approach
(Reprinted from Hydrocarbon Processing)

Considerations for deciding who should conduct observations (Table 4)

If your organization is:	Then:	Considerations
Still working on the design and implementation of behavioral safety process	Design team members should conduct observations	Ensures a realistic process Provides a base of experience for training others
A traditional chain of command	Managers and supervisors should conduct observations - OR - Staff personnel should conduct observations	Supervisors develop good understanding of process Employees will not get the benefit that comes from being observers Often easier to maintain Works well for weekly or monthly observations
Traditional chain of command with evolving quality/team process	Start with management and supervision, then increase involvement of employees - OR - Staff personnel only	Important to have both employees and managers participate on the design team
Well-established, self-managed teams or high levels of involvement in the quality process	All employees should conduct observations	Ensures a high level of understanding of safety requirements Requires management effort to maintain observations Usually required for daily observations

This article first appeared in Hydrocarbon Processing (August 1993) and is reproduced here with permission.