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Hayley_777  
#1 Posted : 03 December 2021 12:39:22(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Hayley_777

I am having to create a presentation on Pros and Cons of Behavioural Based Safety Programmes. This is for an interview so I want to make sure I smash it! 

Any tips and advice would be really appreciated on content and the actual presentation - I have never been a fan of presentations! EEEKKK!

Thanks in advance!!

Edited by user 03 December 2021 13:05:14(UTC)  | Reason: Spell check!

Kate  
#2 Posted : 03 December 2021 12:53:54(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Kate

I seem to remember the TUC once published a scathing critique of this which would supply some good cons.

The sellers of such programmes of course will supply the pros.

My presentation tips would be

Don't put many words on each slide

Make it visual (some kind of images) and uncluttered 

Don't read the slides out - talk around them from a rehearsed script

thanks 4 users thanked Kate for this useful post.
A Kurdziel on 03/12/2021(UTC), Hayley_777 on 03/12/2021(UTC), peter gotch on 03/12/2021(UTC), MikeKelly on 04/12/2021(UTC)
A Kurdziel  
#3 Posted : 03 December 2021 13:20:47(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

 Kate’s presentation tips are very good and probably what I would say.

I would like to ask a few questions though:

  • As you don’t like doing presentations, why are doing this one especially as I get the feeling that you are not convinced of the content
  • If you have been told to do it by someone, why aren’t they doing it?
  • What do you mean by Behavioural Based Safety Programme “. My take is that all safety etc is based around behaviours and to be safe an organisation needs to ensure that everybody takes  part in safe behaviours from the CEO down.  What the TUC was complaining about was the sort of programme which many big company’s support based on the idea that it is the small behaviours by the front line workers that need to be managed. So that  staff must use the handrail and if they don’t disciplinary action is taken against them or if they don’t wear particular pieces of PPE, they are escorted off the site. Meanwhile senior management are allowed to get away with poorly worked out process and procedures and cost cutting measures. So on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig a tight rein was kept on staff but management were happy enough to run a rig which was described in a report following the accident as a ” fatally flawed well design”.

Edited by user 03 December 2021 13:21:48(UTC)  | Reason: words and thgings

thanks 1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
MikeKelly on 04/12/2021(UTC)
Hayley_777  
#4 Posted : 03 December 2021 14:17:11(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Hayley_777

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel Go to Quoted Post

 Kate’s presentation tips are very good and probably what I would say.

I would like to ask a few questions though:

  • As you don’t like doing presentations, why are doing this one especially as I get the feeling that you are not convinced of the content
  • If you have been told to do it by someone, why aren’t they doing it?
  • What do you mean by Behavioural Based Safety Programme “. My take is that all safety etc is based around behaviours and to be safe an organisation needs to ensure that everybody takes  part in safe behaviours from the CEO down.  What the TUC was complaining about was the sort of programme which many big company’s support based on the idea that it is the small behaviours by the front line workers that need to be managed. So that  staff must use the handrail and if they don’t disciplinary action is taken against them or if they don’t wear particular pieces of PPE, they are escorted off the site. Meanwhile senior management are allowed to get away with poorly worked out process and procedures and cost cutting measures. So on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig a tight rein was kept on staff but management were happy enough to run a rig which was described in a report following the accident as a ” fatally flawed well design”.

Hiya, 

Thanks for the reponse 

I am not a fan of presentations however I cannot let that define a job I really want, I won't change direction because Im not a fan of something, in this instance I will work hard to ensure I am fully prepared so it isnt an issue for me personally. I am actually really on board with the behavioural based safety programmes as this is what I am used to working along side.

I just wanted some tips and guidance for this presentation. I like to get other peoples perspectives

Edited by user 03 December 2021 14:18:04(UTC)  | Reason: Spell check!

RVThompson  
#5 Posted : 03 December 2021 14:43:05(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
RVThompson

Hi Hayley,

as the STAR method seems to be popular in interviews now, perhaps you could base your presentation around some examples you have encounted, both good and bad?

S.T.A.R. stands for Situation + Task + Action + Result

peter gotch  
#6 Posted : 03 December 2021 16:42:28(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
peter gotch

Hi Hayley.

How long is your presentation supposed to take?

Do you have a feel for how committed the interviewers are or are NOT to behavioural safety?

Kate's tips are good and I am largely in the TUC camp, though I can see some benefit in a BBS programme if done in the right environment, where there is serious focus on tackling unsafe CONDITIONS as the priority before unsafe ACTIONS.

Most of these programmes emanate from some variant of what Heinrich wrote in 1931 - he concluded that the most "proximate" cause of accidents was 88% unsafe behaviours, 9% unsafe conditions, with 3% being accidents with no obvious, practical way of stopping them.

Others have upped that 88%.

But most practitioners work on the assumption that most accidents are multi-causal.

Two successive large scale studies in the US in the 1960s each concluded that over 90% of accidents were down to unsafe behaviours AND that over 90% were down to unsafe conditions.

But it takes much more effort to deal with the unsafe conditions when the alternative is to dish out yellow and red cards to workers who are not doing what they are told (often without bothering them ask them why they are not following the rules).

...and often these programmes are all about numbers management. Counting the number of days/working hours since the last accident (of whatever definition) - that often results in fiddling of the figures - change the outcome from e.g. reportable injury into something else, say that it is for someone else to count or whatever. Happened at Deepwater and many other well documented incidents.

...and rarely does anyone bother to count the occupational illness - a far bigger problem but usually in the future. Ditto environmental impacts. In each case large organisations have shown that they are also prepared to lawyer up and put off the consequences for years or decades.

So, as example you could download the 2017 Sustainability Report for Vale (a Brazilian multinational). In it you will find a graph showing a general downward trend in recordable injuries.

...however if you look elsewhere in that report there is commentary on the financial impacts arising from the Brumadinho dam collapse (which killed 19 - a relatively small number when put into the context of overall recordable injuries).

What that report could not reasonably comment on would be what then happened at Brumadinho with nearly 300 deaths.

I have a long standing dislike of that board at the site entrance saying X days since last incident. It is particularly depressing when you turn up after a fatality - something usually difficult to hide, such that the board has been reset to NIL.

...and organisations can be and have been lulled in a false sense of security by such boards.

thanks 2 users thanked peter gotch for this useful post.
Hayley_777 on 03/12/2021(UTC), MikeKelly on 04/12/2021(UTC)
Hayley_777  
#7 Posted : 03 December 2021 20:55:35(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Hayley_777

Originally Posted by: peter gotch Go to Quoted Post

Hi Hayley.

How long is your presentation supposed to take?

Do you have a feel for how committed the interviewers are or are NOT to behavioural safety?

It is meant to be a 15 min presentation, and I believe they would be more for the system than against it, however I would like to think that as long as my facts are right and my presentation is smooth, it shouldnt actually matter what the outcome is as long as it is founded.

Its a funny one for me, because the more I read up on it, the more I see cons, however I have worked in these environments where they have successful implemented this type of programme and I have to admit, I always felt safe and everyone looked out for eachother. Accident of course did happen but everyone worked together to put measures in place and the communication for anything safety related was always at the forefront of everyones conversations and meetings

Kate  
#8 Posted : 04 December 2021 11:04:25(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Kate

In that case a useful tack to take might be to say here are the cons, this doesn't mean don't do it, but they are pitfalls to be aware of and here are some ways to avoid these pitfalls so that you get the pros and avoid the cons.

thanks 2 users thanked Kate for this useful post.
MikeKelly on 04/12/2021(UTC), Hayley_777 on 05/12/2021(UTC)
MikeKelly  
#9 Posted : 04 December 2021 15:13:18(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
MikeKelly

Hi Kayley & folks,

Andrew  and Peter hit the nail on the head. Assessment of management * behaviour/decisions etc is usually completely missing when it comes to observations/comments and queries and they are responsible for well over 75% of accidents with their hidden away failures [see Herald of Free Enterprise and more recently Fujitsu and their huge numbers of 'work related' suicides {home base Japan} and their behaviour in the Post Office debacle which gave rise to hundreds of sub-post masters convictions and massive stress for the failures of the Fujitsu Horizon system and the PO cover up]

So, be careful which organisations are used in your presentations.

Regards

Mike

* Great paper by Hopkins.A. -'What to make of safe behaviour programs;

thanks 1 user thanked MikeKelly for this useful post.
Hayley_777 on 05/12/2021(UTC)
peter gotch  
#10 Posted : 04 December 2021 15:40:06(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
peter gotch

Hi Hayley - Kate's advice is sound again.

15 minutes is not very long but I half expected you to say 10!!

So perhaps you design a presentation based on 10 minutes for the cons and how to deal with them, then ending up with 5 minutes on the pros, of which the strongest is workforce engagement at every level in the organisation.

It might be very obvious but practice several times.

Aim for 12 minutes, not least as there may some joker who decides to interrupt you as you go along (EVEN if you start off by asking for QQ at the end, and even if the Chair of the panel has asked for you to be given a free run until the end).

There is actually merit in that joker interrupting and sometimes interrupting early and often - it tests your ability under pressure. So be prepared to be firm and say "please can I take ALL questions at the end". The second time you need to say this, you have the rest of the panel rooting for you (and probably the joker too).

Keep the number of lines and words on each bullet down, so that the words on each slide are mainly there to prompt YOU.

NOTHING is worse than a slide with a paragraph of your speech on it!!! [and it still happens, in SOOOOO many presentations]

Even if you haven't been asked, provide handouts in Notes page format. So they have your slides and can scribble beside the words on them and/or underneath. Preferably double sided so that you are saving paper and the planet. 

If you want to be cheeky and include QQ for your audience, don't give them the answers on your handout as it defeats the point of asking the QQ!!

Finally, remember that almost everyone is nervous doing presentations even if they have done many before and even if they are repeating the same presentation they have done umpteen times before.....and it doesn't really matter whether it is a 10 minute presentation or running a 2 day course.

Practice the "power minute" - so you sit outside and breathe deeply for a minute for heading in for the interview.

Good luck, Peter

thanks 2 users thanked peter gotch for this useful post.
Hayley_777 on 05/12/2021(UTC), A Kurdziel on 07/12/2021(UTC)
Hayley_777  
#11 Posted : 07 December 2021 13:32:51(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Hayley_777

Hi

I just want to say a big thank you for all the help and advise given. Presentation went really well, along with the interview and just have to cross my fingers now!

thanks again all!

thanks 3 users thanked Hayley_777 for this useful post.
A Kurdziel on 07/12/2021(UTC), CptBeaky on 07/12/2021(UTC), peter gotch on 07/12/2021(UTC)
peter gotch  
#12 Posted : 07 December 2021 15:05:44(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
peter gotch

Hi Hayley - well done and good luck. P

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