Safety Observation and Feedback

A year or two ago, I wrote a column that outlined QSE’s position that voluntary participation is the best option for most organizations. I proposed that using “% Participation” as a metric of complacency and the better quality of observations in a voluntary process justified the added work associated with promoting participation.

In this article I want to explore the benefits of mandatory participation and some of the circumstances when a mandatory approach is appropriate. Those of you familiar with Quality Safety Edge recognize that we do not believe in a “one size fits all” approach and that we believe that different organizations have different needs. I can think of two different QSE clients that implemented mandatory observation processes and I have no doubt that we will see more, especially as we increase our work internationally. 

Our Spring 2011 newsletter highlighted Tucson Electric Power’s highly successful use of behavior-based safety. A principal subsidiary of UniSource Energy Corporation, TEP generates power for over 400,000 customers in Southern Arizona.

A user on one of the behavior-based safety (BBS) sections of Linkedin.com recently stated that he thought BBS was one of the “simpler” elements of an organization’s safety management system. Though I did not respond at the time, I considered that this comment was probably made by someone whose only experience with BBS was a STOP system, or one of the other relatively basic observation programs promoted by a number of organizations and practitioners.

By Tarek Abousaleh

When deciding on a behavior-based safety (BBS) process, it is important to take into account more than simply whether there is a need for behavior change in order to reduce incidents and injuries. In addition to recognizing the need for members of the organization to join together in taking responsibility for reducing incidents, an analysis of the rules and contingencies of the workplace should be completed.