John J wrote:Jeff 30 yrs at the same company and I can't take credit for the implementation as I was on the other side of the fence in a union role.
Our BBS is as much a part of our H&S management as process safety, human factors, permit systems etc. There are no incentives because, as an earlier contributor said, it drives the wrong behaviours.
The journey hasn't been without problems. The initial introduction was aimed at management and supervisors. It was only when the whole workforce had the opportunity to become observers that it really made an impact.
As said the process has evolved and is more focused on coaching in its current form but the principles still apply.
This mirrors my journey John although across different companies and unions.
You have to take some credit because you recognised the benefit of the initiative when in the union and then sustained it for 20 years as an H&S bod. Agree on the incentives front, counterproductive and divisive.
I think Hilary mentioned semantics but semantics are important in that people say BBS but mean the range of things you describe or they say BBS and could mean an unsafe behaviour observation and counting initiative.
I still am not sure what people mean when they say "We do BBS" without asking them "What's that?" and having a long listen.
The term may be evolving but I take it to mean
1)an observation, recording and staff feedback system when unsafe behaviours are observed. A bit like Du Pont's STOP of yesteryear.
Or
2)Some form of group training where the idea of risk and how we all process info differently is openly discussed and the staff discover that; their attitude to risk may be different from their colleagues, effects of peer pressure on an individuals decision making, group think and other human factors. This hopefully ends with a much clearer understanding by everyone about what is acceptable safe behaviour and give them a 'relevant set of tools for understanding' (a heuristic) risk and unsafe behaviours that they otherwise would not have considered and may have fallen victim to. In other words saying wait instead of OK when faced with a choice that may have very negative consequences.
I usually think Type 1) when people say BBS and consider Type 2) not as BBS myself but just good awareness and risk training.
Type 3) is the felt visible leadership style of management having a set number of safety conversations with staff where the manager starts it off and then listen to the worker. I think of this as BBS when someone is selling the training to you and you go out and do it because your boss tells you too. When it happens naturally I just think of it as good management practice or being human.
Just my opinion and my reality from my experience. I like dogs and don't like cats doesn't make me right or wrong.
I hope the OP sees that there are different opinions on the effectiveness of BBS and how it is handled.
My personal opinion is that Observation and Feedback systems are ineffective because human behaviour is far too complex, non linear and predicated by too many extraneous factors beyond the employers control to be modified by a straightforward alert to the person that they did something wrong.
Safety conversations that delve deeper and foster respect by making the workers lot better are to be praised. But I don't think of that as BBS; it is just a well executed risk and ergonomics assessment because it includes user experiential knowledge to guarantee a result that works for company and staff.
Kind regards
Jeff