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Based on your experience in safety management, how has BBS contributed to the rise ordecline of workplace injury or illness?

It has done a little of both. I have participated in major introductions of BBS observation processes inthe 1980s and 1990s. During that time, I witnessed many organizations implement different types ofobservation processes. In some organizations, the implementation is well placed, offering new injuryprevention tools and enlisting employees as safety resources. If the organizations culture is advanced

enough and the BBS process is integrated into the existing system, then the program is usuallysuccessful.Unfortunately, I have seen too many other organizations in which BBS programs are misused and/ormisunderstood. In these organizations, BBS is sometimes used as a club, with some workers beingpunished for working unsafely. Another common problem I have seen is processes that use long andgeneral laundry list observation forms that fail to pinpoint behaviors in behaviorally specific terms.The result of these vague observations is a process that collects and posts meaningless data.Often, these organizations have the misguided idea that an observation process will be a miraclesolution that will fix all of their safety problems. These same organizations then neglect otherimportant aspects of their safety system. In these cases, implementing a BBS observation processseldom decreases injuries and can even detract, or distract, from pursuing other critical safetyinitiatives.

BBS programs rely on a workers willingness to report an accident knowing they will beheld responsible and be labeled an unsafe worker. In your experience, is it difficult to

trust the BBS data collected or to consider it accurate for workplace injury statistics?

At best, BBS observation data represents infrequent sampling of any specific workers behavior. The

data collected is not a measurement of routine behavior but of observed behavior. In my experience,this is okay, because the real value of an observation process comes from encouraging a worker (orworkers) to work consciously. This occurs as a product of the interaction with the observer and the

coaching feedback. Posting the observation results for an entire workgroup provides only very generalbenchmarking feedback on behavior and on the continued activity level within the observation

process. Observation statistics, in and of themselves, usually indicate trends, not specifics.

Since BBS programs rely heavily on worker behavior, do management teams dodgeresponsibility for the safety of their workers?

Some organizations evade their responsibility out of the misguided expectation that an observationprocess will fix all of their safety issues. A more appropriate framework is one where an observation

process is just one tool for improving safety. In this model, management has significant responsibilityfor safety. Also, as observation processes have evolved, I see fewer designs that leave managementand supervisory behavior totally out of their process the way many early implementations did.

Monitors for BBS programs are fellow workers instead of outside professionals. In yourexperience, does this practice ever result in biased data?

I think conversation is more important than observation, and collecting observation data is asecondary product of the observation. Ideally, observers should tell the worker what they are lookingfor before starting the observation. This sets the stage for the worker to act consciously and opens the

door for a discussion of the risks and of the safest course of action for a specific task. With thisapproach, the goal is not so much about recording and reporting accurate data as it is about creating

an opportunity for safety communication between the worker and the observer.

If the goal is accurate data on safe or at-risk performance, then the monitor must be separate from

the work activity. However, this approach is less effective at changing behavior positively, and it maylead to pushback from those being observed.

In your experience, do companies investigate why a worker is labeled as an unsafeworker or do they simply react based on the label? Are there long-term consequences?

Please elaborate.

It depends on the organization. If several workers are working unsafely in a similar area, then theorganization should look at what may be wrong with the work design and at what the strongest

consequences are for at-risk behavior in that area. In this scenario, there is probably some reasonthat the at-risk behavior makes sense to the workgroup. Obviously, if the antecedents and

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consequences continue to support at-risk behaviors, these behaviors will persist. In this situation,blaming an individual worker (or workers) will not bring about significant improvement.

It is critical that this analysis of antecedents and consequences occurs and that corrective action istaken. This course of action is one marker of a highly developed observation process and helps to shift

the focus off of blaming the worker (or workers).

With alternatives such as the hierarchy of controls, why havent more companies shiftedtowards other means of ensuring safe equipment and safer working environments?

Of course, organizations should look at work conditions first. Eliminating hazards and shieldingworkers from exposures should always be the starting point. Only when this has happened, can an

observation program work effectively.

Has BBS outlived its usefulness and is now being forced into implementation or does it stillhave completely useful attributes?

Unfortunately, some organizations have used poorly designed programs or programs that werebehavior-based in name only, leading some to have a negative perception of BBS. However, behavior

remains a critical focus for effective safety systems, even if the hierarchy of controls has beenfollowed. For instance, consider driving to and from work. Auto manufacturers continue to engineersafer cars and more and more controls are put into place, yet we have not been able to eliminatewrecks. Factors like time pressure, boredom, inattention, poor perception of risks, etc. still lead to

behaviors like driving at excessive speeds, making quick lane changes, accelerating through changinglights, tailgating, etc. These same kinds of factors impact our behavior in the workplace and thus there

will always be a need to address behavior. Consequently, BBS observation processes remain aneffective tool to help ensure a safe workplace.