Safety Culture Excellence

Greetings, recorded this on the road in Louisville, Kentucky. The topic this week is about an upcoming webinar scheduled for this Friday, 05 March 2010 titled, Assessing Your Behavioral Safety Process: Finding New Results. - http://www.proactsafety.com/webseminars 

Many traditional Behavior-Based Safety process results plateau after the first two to three years of operation. At this point, the process can become routine and lose the original results-based orientation. When this occurs, the successes that motivated the process early on quickly diminish, and the entire process tends to simply “go through the motions” and slowly lose momentum. Don’t let this happen to you. 

Based on ProAct Safety’s extensive experience in assessing and improving all major approaches to Behavior-Based Safety, this webinar will provide a simple structure to internally assess your existing Behavioral Safety process.

I hope you are able to join us!

Shawn M. Galloway

ProAct Safety

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [07:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (498)

Read Full Post »

Greetings, recording this on the road in Cheswick, Pennsylvania. We receive a lot of calls from organizations looking to purchase software for their behavioral safety processes. So for the podcast this week, I would like to provide some independent thoughts on this. There really are several software options available to an organization looking to implement a Behavior-Based Safety process. 

They range from spreadsheet tools to installed or online databases. Our firm (ProAct Safety) is familiar with all major methodologies and applications currently in use throughout the world. Due to this unique position, our firm has often played a support role in identifying, selecting and utilizing the most effective application that fits each organization’s needs. Many companies choose to internally create an application. This can be a good strategy. We have helped several organizations by providing the critical functional guidance necessary, to ensure a successful outcome.

A key success factor in any implemented Behavior-Based Safety Process is data management.  The data is what enables continuous improvement and helps the observers keep score.  Sometimes the reason workers are not improving in safety is because something is getting in the way.  Identification of safety obstacles and barriers, and measuring their impact is a powerful tool in improving safety.  Traditional safety tends to only focus on lagging indicators and failure rates.  The percent safe provided by a behavioral safety approach, is a great leading metric for comparison to the downstream metrics of accident rates, severity rates, costs of accidents etc.

It is critical for a steering team to design an effective data management and problem-solving technique, in conjunction with their behavior-based safety efforts.  This data flows to the steering team and helps them to remove barriers to safety and change the influences that could tempt workers to take risks.  Additionally, the ability to isolate problem areas increases the ability to focus corrective effort reducing wasted resources.  The observations are most definitely a great tool for beginning the creation of a culture of safety awareness and development of a personal safety focus; however without a good Behavior-Based Safety data management strategy, the process may not be sustainable.  

The data usually reveals first the weaknesses of the data, i.e. too little, not representative, not complete, what’s and no why’s on comments, etc.  Once the data gathering process is adjusted, the data starts to reveal where the greatest risks are and why workers are taking them.  The observation data combined with the original Pareto Analysis data helps to prioritize the risk issues for the team to address.  

The steering team will need to be able to identify trends in the performance.  It is important to know if risk taking is increasing, decreasing, or remaining relatively constant.  Since the observers in a Behavior-Based Safety process cannot see every precaution taken or not taken at the site, it is important that the behaviors sampled are representative of what is happening across all times and locations at the site.  If data is bunched into certain times or locations, the data may not be reliable.

Behavior-Based Safety Process considerations when determining software needs:

• First define the (paper) trail of how the completed checklists get to the data entry person
• Determine who the data entry person(s) will be
• Does the application need to be within the corporate infrastructure, an installable application, or online?
• How will the steering team/committee retrieve the data from the computer for their meetings (printed copies of reports vs. access to computer and projector to see the data in real time)
• What data will be posted and shared, and how will this be accomplished
• Will the team require support in understanding data and trends and the ability to create action plans to address them?

 We recommend the following types of reports for Behavior-Based Safety Data Analysis:

Report:  Overview

What to look for:  Low % safe, high # of concerns, adequate sample size

Use: Select areas that need improvement or attention

Typical Distribution: Steering Team

Report: Overview chart

What to look for: Safe vs. Lucky

Use:  Feedback to workers

Typical Distribution: Post and share with everyone

Report:   Trends

What to look for: Is percent safe increasing, decreasing, or staying the same?

Use: Track the effectiveness of the process and specific action plans

Typical Distribution: Steering Team, Workers in areas of action plan focus

Report: Observer Progress

What to look for: Has observer completed assignment and what is the quality of the data

Use: Manage the observation process and give feedback and recognition to observers

Typical Distribution: Steering Team

Report: Comments

What to look for: What is influencing a person to take a risk:  perception, habit, or barriers

Use: Develop steps of action plans to improve safety

Typical Distribution: Steering Team

Report: Additional Comments or Best Practices

What to look for: Suggestions or concerns about the process from observers or workers

Use: Continuous improvement of the process and safety

Typical Distribution: Steering Team

Report: Breakdown Reports

What to look for: Are the areas of concern concentrated by location, time, day, or other variables

Use: Target areas of concentration for action plans

Typical Distribution: Steering Team

Report: Action Items

What to look for: Any activities that are a result from this initiative that are: Actionable and within the team’s control (if not, who will manage follow-up?) and focused on measureable results

Use: Manage activities, follow-up, focus efforts and continuous improvement to ensure a results orientation

Typical Distribution: Steering Team

I hope I have provided a couple of ideas that are useful for you. I’d like to close with this, if you only have time to do one thing in safety today, what would it be and how will it contribute to making this a safer world for us all? Thanks for tuning in…

Have a great week!

Shawn Galloway

ProAct Safety

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [9:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (447)

Read Full Post »

Bonjour! Recording on the road this week in Paris, France. We have recorded many topics on Behavior-Based Safety and specifically the observation portion of the initiative. After all it is the engine of the average process. However, consider that conducting observations is not the only source of energy and there is not one type of observation strategy. There are several methodologies and practices. What works for one organization won’t necessarily work for another. Moreover what works for one site will not often continue to work later on. If you are still observing in the exact same manner that you did when the process started, than I have to question, is the process is still having the desired impact? An approach like this should have a positive impact on your culture and thus your culture should be enhanced, and so should the strategies.

This then means that we need to continue to enhance our tools to facilitate future gains. Peter Drucker said in his book The Essential Drucker, “Success always makes obsolete the very behavior that achieved it. It always creates new realities. It always creates, above all, its own and different problems. Only the fairy tale ends, ‘They lived happily ever after.’” So let’s consider there are 5 major observation strategies for Behavior Based Safety and Terry and I sat down recently and discussed these. I hope this gets you to consider other options to accomplish success with your Behavior-Based Safety process. Here’s how the conversation went…

Have a great week,

Shawn M. Galloway

ProAct Safety

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [10:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (536)

Read Full Post »

Guten Tag! Recording on the road this week in Basel, Switzerland. We have assessed and worked with all major methodologies of Behavior-Based Safety (Behaviour-Based Safety, BBS, Behavioral Safety, etc). Regardless of the effectiveness of the methodology, it is easy for processes to lose the drive for results, and fall into the process orientation. What I’m referring to is cranking the process, requiring more and more observations without measuring the impact on results. There is a principle in performance management that says “be careful what you measure, because people will work towards the measurements”.

If the only thing you measure in a Behavior-Based Safety process is the number of observations, then it is likely that you will get your numberes, but will they be quality observations; and will those numbers improve safety, or just crank a process? So years ago this brought us to start asking the question “What Triggers an Observation in Behavior-Based Safety?” We often find that the answer to this question provides insight to whether the initiative is focused on a results or a process orientation. I hope this topic gets you thinking about what you are measuring in Behavior-Based Safety. Moreover I hope it gives you some ideas to remind people this is just a tool in our safety toolbox. It is not the magic cure for all safety ails. This tool should be used to focus on understanding what influences behavior and overall culture. Certainly performing the observations will help, but remember the observations are not the end goal. Ensuring people are not at risk is what we should be after. So let’s get started with the conversation…

Have a great week,

Shawn Galloway

ProAct Safety

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [13:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (498)

Read Full Post »

Greetings from the road this week in Barnsley, England. Before we get started with the topic for this week, I wanted to let you know that we have identified the dates for ProAct Safety’s Annual Conference. If you would like to mark it on your calendar, it will be the 6^th – 8^th of April 2010. I hope you can make it out, as we would love to see you there!

So for this week, we have an 8-step recommendation for responding to an accident after implementing Behavior-Based Safety.

1.      Set Realistic Expectations

2.      Stress the Importance

3.      Stress The sense of Vulnerability

4.      Ask the question do we have the behavior or precaution on our checklist that could have helped prevent or minimize the injury?

5.      Ask what is the percent safe for that precaution?

6.      Ask could we have seen this coming?

7.      Ask how long until we can get on top of this?

8.      Ask what can I do as a facilitator and coach to help you help us improve safety?

So Terry and I are going to discuss all of these steps in length. With that let’s jump into the discussion about these guidelines…

The audio file can be found at www.SafetyCultureExcellence.com, or you can subscribe on iTunes. 

Have a great week,

Shawn M. Galloway

ProAct Safety

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [14:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (539)

Read Full Post »

Greetings recording this week in Peoria, Illinois! We have received some amazingly positive responses from a recent article of ours (Unions and Behavior-Based Safety: The Seven Deadly Sins) that was published in EHS Today in the October 2009 edition. If you would like to view a hard copy and print out the article, please either visit www.EHSToday.com or www.ProActSafety.com. For the podcast this week I have recorded the article so it can be listened to at your leisure. A free webinar on this topic has been recorded and can be found on the ProAct Safety website as well.

I hope you enjoy, here we go!

Have a great week!

Shawn Galloway

ProAct Safety

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [12:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (561)

Read Full Post »

Greetings everyone! Just a quick announcement while I’m snowed in at a hotel in Omaha, Nebraska (winter is definitely here…). I have uploaded the Intro to Lean Behavior-Based Safety video to YouTube. Due to the requirement that the videos can be no longer than 10 minutes, I had to break it into six sections.  As some of you know I previously uploaded it in its entirety to this site last December, however I have come to realize that this site’s host is having difficulty now playing the previously published videos. You can still download it the full video here: http://www.safetycultureexcellence.com/2008/12/21/intro-to-lean-behavior-based-safety-video-by-proact-safety/.

If you would like to watch the six segments at YouTube, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/ProActSafety. The six sections are below the description.

Intro to Lean Behavior-Based Safety

Length: 60 Minutes

Presenter:     Terry Mathis, Founder & CEO - ProAct Safety

Host:            Shawn Galloway, President & COO - ProAct Safety

What You Will Learn:

• What is Lean BBS^®? - Lean is not just less
• Why this approach has become the most successful in the industry
• What options are available for Behavior-Based Safety in today’s lean atmosphere
• How Lean Behavior-Based Safety works in logistically challenged organizations
• The typical results that a company should expect
• How to identify if your company is not ready for Behavior-Based Safety
• How to ensure success and trust with represented workforces (Labor Unions)
• Why customization is vital if sustainability is your goal
• Existing processes - critical questions and easy to spot waste
• What it takes to ensure success of a Lean Behavior-Based Safety approach

Lean Behavior-Based Safety is based on the philosophy of achieving faster accident reductions with the minimum internal resources and external cost requirements, ultimately achieving a more sustainable internalized continuous improvement process.

Borrowing proven techniques from Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and experiences from over 1000 successful implementations, Lean Behavior-Based Safety has proven to be the most efficient and practical approach to an already effective theoretical process.

Part 1 – Intro to Lean Behavior-Based Safety Presentation

Part 2 – Intro to Lean Behavior-Based Safety Presentation

Part 3 – Intro to Lean Behavior-Based Safety Presentation

Part 4 – Intro to Lean Behavior-Based Safety Presentation

Part 5 – Intro to Lean Behavior-Based Safety Presentation

Part 6 – Intro to Lean Behavior-Based Safety

Have a great week!

Shawn Galloway

ProAct Safety

Read Full Post »

Greetings recording on the road in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This week I’d like to share with you the details of a highly requested workshop. We have been delivering this workshop privately for companies since January 2002. This approach to Behavior-Based Safety has proven to be the most successful in the industry at both short and long-term results.  This workshop will train participants to utilize ProAct Safety’s Lean BBS® methodologies for facilitating an implementation or improving existing processes. Most importantly, it will prepare the consultants to anticipate and handle the issues that can challenge the success and sustainability of Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) efforts. 

Participants will also be able to identify opportunities to minimize the perception of change, achieve the quickest success possible, and ensure long-term process sustainability. We have been extremely successful with our Internal Consultant Certification Workshop, which is designed for organizations that desire to internalize and sustain Behavior-Based Safety capabilities. Additionally, ProAct Safety is familiar with all of the major implementation methods and has developed a collection of best practices through our experience with over 1,000 successful Behavior-Based Safety implementations. 

Because of this unique position, we are able to instruct individuals on specific consultative methods to customize & implement Behavior-Based Safety, and attractive but ineffective approaches to avoid. Companies using this path strategy should have highly qualified personnel and sufficient internal resources. ProAct Safety will certify the selected individuals to return to their location and begin designing and implement a customized Behavior-Based Safety process. This approach is not strictly a train-the-trainer course, nor is it intended to teach individuals to simply deliver training on Behavior-Based Safety. 

Every site will have its own unique challenges and cultures. To allow the internal consultants the most opportunities for success, it is extremely important that they understand and internalize the strategies to identify the site-specific variables that have or could become, problematic barriers. What works at one site will not always work at another. Lean BBS® utilizes aspects of performance and quality systems to drastically reduce the typical internal resource requirements of a Behavior-Based Safety process. Lean Behavior-Based Safety focuses on the leveraged use of resources, resulting in better results in a shorter time, less disruption to operations, and less resistance from workers and unions. 

Multiple Programs In Place: Re-energize Your Existing BBS Process Unfortunately, it is common to see the results from many traditional Behavioral Safety processes plateau after the first two to three years of operation. At that point, the process can become routine and lose the original result-based orientation. The successes that motivated the process early-on disappear and the entire process tends to slowly lose momentum. Successful Behavior-Based Safety processes do not typically fade away, but can be much less effective than they are capable of being. This is the perfect time for BBS process improvement. Improvement strategies can accomplish several important objectives:

·         Attain the next step in accident-reduction results through better targeting

·         Increase the level of expertise in the personnel active in the process

·         Provide new techniques to the observation and data analysis strategies

·         Re-energize the process utilizing Lean BBS® techniques to improve results and increase employee participation

·         Reduce resource requirements to maintain the process

·         Assess the existing Behavior-Based Safety process for foundations to build on

·         Make more efficient use of site leaders and steering teams

·         Narrow the focus of the checklist to improve efficiency

·         Focus observations where they will produce the best results

·         Learn tactics for continuous process improvement to ensure process sustainability

For a list of the dates, cost and materials that will be provided, please visit our website at www.ProActSafety.com I’d like to close with this, if you only have time to do one thing in safety today, what would it be and how will it contribute to making this a safer world for us all? Thanks for tuning in.

Shawn Galloway

ProAct Safety

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [5:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (409)

Read Full Post »

Greetings recording this podcast in Atlanta, Georgia. I’d like to share with you some information about an upcoming event. We are holding a public workshop titled “Safety Culture Excellence Seminar”. These are events that we have been holding privately for organizations for many years. After the request of many, we have decided to take these events on the road and open them for the public. This will be a three day series held at locations around the world, however you do not need to participate in all three days, you can pick and choose from the three different topics if you would like. 

Day 1 will be Advanced Tactics for Behavior-Based Safety: Applying Lean Principles and Ensuring Results.  This session will enable participants to create a customized plan, using the latest Lean Behavior-Based Safety (Lean BBS®) Technologies for spearheading safety process improvement. Lean Behavior-Based Safety is based on the philosophy of achieving faster accident reductions with the minimum internal resources and external cost requirements, ultimately achieving a more sustainable internalized continuous improvement process. Borrowing proven techniques from Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and experiences from over 1,000 successful implementations; Lean Behavior-Based Safety has proven to be the most efficient and practical approach to an already effective theoretical process. Utilizing the best of your existing Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) process, your site or committee leaders will explore the options and learn the lean techniques that will successfully breathe new life and efficiency into the existing structure.

Day 2 will be Leadership Safety Coaching: Teaching Your Supervisors to be Safety Coaches. This seminar will give managers and supervisors the background and tools to become effective safety coaches. They will learn how to focus workers on the most effective accident-prevention strategies, discover and manage influences on workplace behaviors, measure the progress of cultural changes, and coach and counsel effectively to address safety-related behavioral issues with workers. The use of these skills will greatly improve safety, but more importantly will, make managers and supervisors more effective in all dealings with workers and each other.

Day 3 will be Assessing and Developing Your Safety Culture:  This session will enable participants to create a customized plan to assess and improve site and/or organizational safety culture. Common myths about safety culture will be dispelled and a good working definition will be developed to empower understanding and customization. Assessment methodologies will be discussed and compared and each participant will see how to best determine the cultural strengths and improvement opportunities. Based on the assessment findings, plans will be formulated to find the most practical and effective strategies to build on cultural strengths and address weaknesses. Opportunities will be investigated to utilize other site improvement initiatives to aid in the cultural improvement plans. All plans will conclude with measurement strategies to ensure long-term change viability and early identification of problems. 

If you are interested in participating in one of these events please visit www.ProActSafety.com and click on events for the schedule.  I’d like to close with this, if you only have time to do one thing in safety today, what would it be and how will it contribute to making this a safer world for us all? Thanks for tuning in…

Shawn Galloway

ProAct Safety

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [4:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (572)

Read Full Post »

Greetings, this podcast recorded in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Last week Terry and I talked about the four (4) part model, FILM – Focus, Influence, Listen and Measure. If you haven’t listened to last week’s podcast I highly encourage you to go back and do so first, prior to continuing with this topic as this one builds on last week’s model. This week we sat down and discussed the four primary factors that influence risk taking.  I hope you will be able to find a way to apply these models to your organization. If you need any assistance, please feel free to contact us. All of our contact information can be found at www.ProActSafety.com. 

This audio file can be found at www.SafetyCultureExcellence.com

Have a great week!

Shawn M. Galloway

ProAct Safety, Inc.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [17:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (341)

Read Full Post »