Behavioural Safety - Human Factors

Abstract

It is believed by many in the Health and Safety sector that up to 80% of work-related accidents are down to employee behavior or the human factor, in the form of acts or omissions. Such behavior as this can lead to many small-factors coming together to produce a negative outcome or accident. There are many reasons why employees engage in ‘at-risk’ behavior at work including but not limited to: cutting corners to save time, ergonomic factors, accepted practices, reinforcement of at-risk behavior by the actions of supervisors, misunderstanding at-risk behavior and instinctive risk-tasking behavior. The emphasis of the behavior based approach to safety is on employees’ behavior. Through influencing behavior, this system can reduce injury rates. The behavioral based approach to safety is focused exclusively on the observable, measurable behaviors critical to safety at a particular facility. This is a task orientated view of behavior, and it treats safe behavior as a critical work-related skill. It should not be confused with inspections and audits of the workplace for unsafe conditions. Behavioral safety is part of a natural progression of safety management from highly prescriptive approaches, through the engineered or procedural systems which most progressive companies have long since established, to a system which recognizes workers as mature human beings with a genuine interest in their own well-being, who contribute best when they can see that they themselves can have an influence on their own safety. To achieve this transition is to change the culture of the work group involved, so this approach will not provide instantaneous results. Human behavior is often categorized as reflex/automatic, intended and habitual, and this is what we need to change or adapt. This paper will look at best practice and how employers and employees can influence the human factor, by examining how we can reinforce safe behaviors or good habits and removing or reducing unsafe ones. The key to which lies in first indentifying those behaviors which are critical to safety and in subsequent regular observations to monitor them.

Management System Approach for Addressing Biosafety and Biosecurity of Emerging Pathogens in a Biosafety Level-3 Core Facility

“…It is believed that majority of work-related accidents are due to employee/laboratory personnel behavior. 30 There are many reasons why employees face accidents at work including but not limited to the procedures, health factors, and misunderstanding/ miscommunication of risks. Fatigue, complacency, stress, and high work demand at work also may contribute to laboratory incidents and accidents.…”