Are you confused by academic terms, catchall phrases, and claims by all the different internal and external consultants when it comes to choosing a behavioral improvement process for your company? Do I call or use this or that? Do I address attitudes or behaviors? How do I make sense out of everything I hear and read? How do I sort it all out?
Controversy exists regarding the most effective methods to changing an organization's SH&E culture and preventing accidents, injuries and health/environmental incidents. Just like the age-old question, " Which came first, the chicken or the egg?", in safety today, we ask, " Is behavior-based safety the most effective path?" Many claim yes. We say. by itself, no!
A key question in the minds of most safety professionals, managers/supervisors, and labor leaders in organizations today seems to be, "How do we insure that the men and women that work in our company are integrating safety, health, and environmental excellence into their daily routine?" For safety, health and responsible treatment of the environment to become integral to your organizational culture, each of these elements must be viewed as essential to the productivity process. Safety, health and the environment must be on par with quality, production, cost management, etc. Everyone must recognize their responsibility and accountability for the well being of one another and the world we live in. Critical to achieving this objective is leadership's commitment to choose those actions that will demonstrate a concern for the person and their safety, health as well as the environment we all live in.
Even though people do not want to get hurt, they sometimes, either deliberately or nondeliberately, behave in an unsafe manner. These actions may result in an accident, injury, or environmental incident. Positive or negative circumstances, during times of personal or business change, can be such a distracting influence that incident rates can rise.
Internal and external safety professionals and consultants today are often involved in bantering conversations about what methodologies are most effective to improve a safety culture, as well as influence and change the unsafe attitudes and behaviors of the men and women that work there.
