Making Behaviour Change Happen in Health and Safety Dr Jennifer Lunt, Health and Safety Laboratory The Health and Safety Summit 2013 : 3 rd December 2013 www.hsl.gov.uk www.hsl.gov.uk An An Agency Agency of the of Health the Health and Safety and Executive Safety Executive Objectives Why do people take risks at work? What is behaviour change? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety?: traditional approaches How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: contemporary approaches? Ways forward? Objectives Why do people take risks at work? What is behaviour change? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: traditional approaches? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: contemporary approaches? Ways forward?
Types of human failure Human failures Errors Violations Skill-based Mistakes Routine Situational Exceptional Lapses of memory Slips of action Rule-based Knowledge-based Adapted from HSG48 Why slips and lapses occur? Familiarity JH1 Time pressure Poor design Tiredness Poor planning Overly complicated task Distraction / interruption Why mistakes occur? Too many things at once Poor management decision Don t understand situation Lack knowledge Can t concentrate No time to think it through
Slide 5 JH1 James - throughout all these followins slides of influences we will flag up the improtance of the role of everyone e.g. Designers, Planners etc Jane Hopkinson, 17/04/2013
Violations: why they occur? Time pressure Productivity over safety Staff shortage Lack of equipment Attitude Don t understand risks Low morale I know better The accident plateau Frequency Causes Unsafe conditions Unsafe acts time Objectives Why do people take risks at work? What is behaviour change? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: traditional approaches? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: contemporary approaches? Ways forward?
Definitions: behaviour Behaviour = actions or reactions, usually in relation to the environment. Behaviour = observable action of a person (Stranks, 2007). Dual system (Kahneman, 2012) Automatic Reflective Variety of influencing factors - individual and organisational. What is behaviour change? Contributors Behaviour Consequences (Intervene) (Intervene) People change their behaviour based on changes around them or their understanding of themselves and the world which make a new behaviour seem: More advantageous More me More prevalent More do-able But, behaviour change takes time! Decision making: Two Systems System 1: Sub-conscious Automatic Quick Effortless Skill Associative mental short cuts, shot guns Emotional/Intuitive Infers, assumes and invents, jumps to conclusions Influences human error System 2: Aware Deliberated Slow(er) Effortful/ lazy Rule following Deductive (problem solving) Rationale Considers/scrutinises Influences violations
Objectives Why do people take risks at work? What is behaviour change? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: traditional approaches? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: contemporary approaches? Ways forward? In essence Bmod involves. B Mod Define safe & unsafe behaviours Observing behaviour Feedback / reinforcement of behaviours Caveat 1: Fallacy of mono-causality Event Severity Big, business risk accidents Frequency / probability..but behaviour mod programmes almost always aimed here
Caveat 2: Blaming Mechanism High Trust Time out for safety. Employees empowered. Issues addressed locally as first option i.e. Assumption that procedure is wrong Low Trust Observation by supervisor. Employees not trusted. Management decide solutions i.e. Assumption is that rule is right, employee wrong Objectives Why do people take risks at work? What is behaviour change? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: traditional approaches? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: contemporary approaches? Ways forward? HSL s Make it Happen Model
HSL s approach to changing behaviour 2. Issue identification (WHAT & WHO) 5. Monitor and maintain (CHECK & REINFORCE) 1. Preparation (HOW) 3. Root cause analysis (WHY) 4. Taking action (DO) Can happen: Physical support Consider the organisation s processes and procedures JH4 Policy/procedure review with staff Accident/incident investigation Health surveillance Risk assessment Sufficient staff Task and objecti Root cause analysis Training (task analysis) Can happen: Physical support Consider the job environment Available, accessible, maintained, comfortable Design for errors Logical design/layout Prompts/reminders Salience of danger Reporting/ recording systems standardisation
Slide 20 JH4 James - as before for all the interventions we will keep flagging up the need for everyones involvement. Jane Hopkinson, 17/04/2013
Can happen: Social support Leader role modelling Board champion Give and receive feedback Using credible educators Recruiting respected peers Can to happen: leadership competencies JH5 Demonstrate commitment through personal involvement. Communicate safety management concepts. Manage safety performance proactively. Care about all of the people that work in or are affected by our operations. Lead learning and improvement programmes Ensure sufficient competent resources are available to manage health and safety Can Safety happen: culture maturity Worker model involvement Joins/Delegates Consults Tests/ Suggests Sells Tells
Slide 23 JH5 These are the leaders positive culture statements in your Zero Harm booklet. Sorry but I cannot see clearly to read the last 2 as the text is blurry. Can you add them in the slide? Jane Hopkinson, 17/04/2013
Able to happen: Knowledge Must know it is a risk! Why it is a risk. How it can harm. Able to happen: skill Technical skills H&S skills Interpersonal skills Self-efficacy Want to happen: Think it through Planning Beliefs/attitudes/ decisions
Personal susceptibility It could be me (or my workmates or family) Ask yourself Is it worth it?! What would I regret? Want to happen: sub-conscious drivers Nudges Mindfulness Think aloud
Prospect Theory * Choice based on perceived likelihood & importance STOP OR NOT? value Safety (uncertain gain) T losses Productivity (certain loss) gain Tversky and Kahneman (1974) Prospect Theory * Choice based on predictability & loss aversion STOP OR NOT? value Safety (uncertain gain) T losses Productivity (certain loss) gain Tversky and Kahneman (1974) Origins Nudge (Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein, 2008*): - Offers an alternative to mandatory approaches for encouraging preferable behaviour. - Is not new. It s packaging and positioning as an alternative to mandatory approaches (legislation/regulation) is. Thaler, R and Sunstein, C. (2008): Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness, Boston, Yale University Press
Through Engineering and designing out unsafe options Raising situational awareness/vigilance Risk education & communication Incentivising and motivation Defaults Making the safe and/or healthy way the only way. Health and Safety Relevance? Dead mans switch Safety Interlocks Mandatory health screening, pre-placement health checks Hierarchy of control principles Through Engineering and designing out unsafe options Raising situational awareness/vigilance Risk education & communication Incentivising and motivation
Cues/Prompts Use of reminders to raise situational awareness How? Signage On the spot risk assessments (e.g STOP/SLAM) Using colour coding to prompt awareness Optimism/over confidence Assuming risk immunity (e.g.i ve got away with it so far ) (fundamental attribution error) How? Complacency (e.g. in older workers) Denial of risk (e.g. if uncontrollable) Being mindful about health and safety Through Engineering and designing out unsafe options Raising situational awareness/vigilance Risk education & communication Incentivising and motivation
Anchoring (Heuristic) Assuming that if X is close to Y then X must be related to Y. How? Timing of H&S news or campaigns Using advent of a new director to introduce change. Negotiating H&S targets Availability (Heuristic) Assuming that if X is easy to remember, then X is likely to happen or more important. N.B. Don t shock without explaining how to avoid harm How? Vivid campaigns: e.g. HSE s shattered lives. Reminding of high profile incidents Repetition: Repeat Training. Boss breaking the bad news. Representativeness (Heuristic) Assuming that if situation X seems like situation Y, then situation X must be treated in the same way as Y. How? Learning transfer to novel situations (e.g. air traffic disasters). High fidelity training simulators. Design. Mobile Elevated Work Platform (MEWP): Control Panel
Framing Framing messages either positively or negatively to modify impact (positive or negative). How? 1 in 5 staff have been involved in an accident versus 80% are accident free Behavioural safety programme failed to achieve its zero tolerance target vs achieving a 95% reduction in accidents Discounting Underestimating current risks that may harm in the future. Health and Safety Relevance? Long latency occupational diseases Biomarkers early warning indicators Real time feedback of exposure Evocative risk communication (e.g. impact on family) Through Engineering and designing out unsafe options Raising situational awareness/vigilance Risk education & communication Incentivising and motivation
Loss Aversion Disliking a loss more than the same amount of gain is liked. E.g. a fine of 100 is felt more deeply than a reward of 100. How? Loss need not just be financial, can be reputation, perceived fairness etc Framing risk communication as adverse consequences of poor practice rather than as gains from good practice. Fairness Do the right thing by an employee and they will do the right thing in their job (ie work safely) How? Provide a safe work environment Psychological contract Rewards Health & Safety Climate Social norms ( Herd Mentality ) Behaving safely because everyone else does; or because it s the right thing to do How? Leadership walking the talk Use trusted role models in training Recruit informal peer leaders Benchmarking Making H&S trendy H&S Forums
Commitment & Involvement Being committed by being involved in a cause (ie health and safety) How? Pledges (e.g. Make a Promise. Come Home Safe) Build H&S into contracts Worker involvement Benefits Directly relevant to subconsciously driven human error that can get overlooked by behavioural safety (e.g. peer observation) Potentially boosts situational awareness Contemporary challenges: Transient workforce; supply chain management Low cost, practical solutions Intuitive Possible Drawbacks Short-lived effect Discrete, one-off vs complex behaviour Context dependent Violations Mutually exclusive?? Habituation Capability building/learning
Objectives Why do people take risks at work? What is behaviour change? How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety?: traditional approaches How can behaviour be changed in Health and Safety: contemporary approaches? Ways forward? Make it Happen Model Further information HSE s website at www.hse.gov.uk HSL training courses Safety Climate Tool: http://www.hsl.gov.uk/health-andsafety-products/safety-climate-tool.aspx Learning Legacy: http://learninglegacy.london2012.com/index.php LWI toolkit: www.hse.gov.uk/construction/lwit http://www.hsl.gov.uk/health-and-safety-products/safetyclimate-tool.aspx HSL s own leadership and worker involvement toolkit coming soon.
Thank you for listening! Jennifer.lunt@hsl.gsi. gov.uk