What Is Behaviour-Based Safety (BBS)?

What is behaviour-based safety?

Imagine you see an operator on an assembly line lift a guard cover and pull out a jammed part by hand. The first reaction is usually "they broke the rule". Behaviour-based safety looks at the same scene with a different question: Why did this worker do it this way, and would someone else in the same situation have done the same? Also known by its English abbreviation BBS (behavior-based safety), this approach is a programme that regularly records observable behaviours at work, turns each observation immediately into a feedback conversation and uses the accumulated data to find root causes.

BBS is not three things:

• It is not a disciplinary tool. No names are written on the observation card, and the card is not turned into a disciplinary record.
• It does not replace technical measures. Expecting correct behaviour on a machine with a missing guard is putting the problem on the worker. Art. 5 of Law No. 6331 requires risks to be tackled at source and collective protection measures to take priority over personal measures.
• It is not a campaign. It rests not on a period of posters and slogans but on a regular cycle of observation and improvement lasting years.

Art. 18 of the Law requires the employer to consult workers and ensure their participation in OHS matters; Art. 19 requires workers not to endanger themselves or their colleagues. A well-designed safe behaviour programme is the day-to-day form of these two articles.

The system behind behaviour: the ABC model

At the heart of behaviour-based safety is a simple model. Every behaviour has an antecedent before it that triggers it, and a consequence after it that reinforces it:

Look at the consequences in the table: for the worker, the payoff of unsafe behaviour is immediate and certain, while the harm is uncertain and distant. In this balance, simply saying "be careful" does not change behaviour. To change behaviour, you need to change the antecedent (the cause of the jam, the cover interlock, a helper tool) and the consequence (not penalising stopping the line, recognising safe behaviour). We covered the machine side of a disabled cover interlock in our article on machine guards.

An unsafe behaviour observation programme step by step

The soundest approach is to start the programme in a small pilot department and roll it out once it has settled in.

1. Draw up the critical behaviour list. Based on recent years' workplace accident, near miss and first aid records, and high-risk jobs in the risk assessment, choose 8–12 observable behaviours, such as "LOTO lock fitted", "back not bent while carrying a load", "pedestrian walkway used in the forklift area".
2. Choose and train observers. Observers are chosen from among volunteer workers, foremen and employee representatives. The training focuses less on filling in the card than on how to hold the feedback conversation.
3. Set the observation frequency. One or two short observations a week per observer is realistic. An observation does not exceed 10–15 minutes.
4. Observe openly. The observer introduces themselves and says what they will observe. Covert observation destroys trust.
5. Give feedback immediately. As soon as the observation ends, a short conversation is held with the worker.
6. Collect and review the data. Cards are summarised monthly; the causes behind recurring unsafe behaviours are investigated by a team.
7. Report back on actions. When an obstacle raised by workers is removed, announce it on site. The programme's credibility depends on this step.

It is important to separate behaviour observation from the general OHS tour; we described the tour that looks at equipment and environmental conditions in our article on the OHS site tour checklist.

How should a behaviour observation card be designed?

A behaviour observation card should not exceed one page and should be completable in a minute. The sections of a sample card might be:

A simple ratio can be used to summarise the data. For example, if in 40 observations made in a month the "use of pedestrian walkway" behaviour was found safe 32 times, the safe behaviour rate is 80 per cent. This rate has no value on its own; what really matters is under what conditions the 8 at-risk observations occurred.

The no-blame feedback conversation

The most valuable part of the observation is not the card itself but the two-minute conversation that follows. The conversation follows this order:

1. Start with what was safe. "Keeping the load close to your body while carrying it was very good."
2. State the at-risk behaviour as an observation. "When lowering the pallet, your foot went under the fork." Do not use judgements or adjectives.
3. Discuss the possible consequence together. The question "What would have happened if the fork had come down?" sticks better than a lecture.
4. Ask why. "Is there a reason for doing this job this way?" The answer is often about the system: "The pallet comes in crooked; there's no other way to straighten it."
5. Agree on a solution and say thank you. The solution proposed by the worker is written on the card.

Seeing the system causes of unsafe behaviour

If, in the monthly review of the cards, the same behaviour is seen in several workers and on several shifts, the problem is usually not the person but the system. Common system causes are:

• No correct tool or equipment: A rod to clear jams without opening the cover, a platform instead of a ladder, gloves of the right size.
• The procedure cannot be applied on site: The instruction does not match the real workflow; the worker does the job not "as written" but "as possible".
• Time and target pressure: Stopping the line is seen as a loss of performance.
• Uncomfortable PPE: Goggles fog up, gloves get in the way of precise work.
• Housekeeping and layout: The pedestrian walkway is roundabout, and the shortcut passes through the forklift area.
• Training stayed in the classroom: The worker has never seen the correct method practised.

For each of these causes, a root cause analysis is carried out and the resulting task is entered in the corrective and preventive action list with an owner and date. In this way, BBS becomes a channel carrying information from workers into the risk assessment. Together with near miss reporting, this source of information is one of the strongest leading indicators.

Measuring the programme and common mistakes

Measuring the success of BBS by the number of accidents is misleading; because accidents are rare, they show nothing in the short term. Instead, track these indicators: number of observations made, the proportion of observations followed by a feedback conversation, the number of actions arising from cards and their close-out time, and the trend in the safe rate for critical behaviours. For the distinction between indicators, see our article on OHS performance indicators.

Common mistakes are: setting quotas for observers and making the number of cards a target, piling cards up in a folder nobody reads, recording only at-risk behaviour and ignoring safe behaviour, and applying the programme only to production workers while leaving managers out. A programme in which managers are observed too shows workers that this is not an inspection but a joint effort.

At Bursa Sistemer OSGB, through our OHS specialist services, we draw up the critical behaviour list together from your business's accident and near miss records and deliver observer training on site. For the general framework of culture, our article on how to build an OHS culture is a good starting point; you can add observation and review meetings to the OHS calendar tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is BBS, and is it related to ISO 45001?

BBS is a practical programme based on behaviour observation and feedback; it is not a management system standard. It can be used in systems such as ISO 45001 for worker participation and leading indicators, but it is not a certification requirement on its own.

Is the worker's name written on the observation card?

No. Anonymity is a precondition for workers trusting the observer and for real behaviour to be seen. The card shows only the department, shift and observed behaviour.

Who can be an observer?

Any trained worker can be an observer. Starting the programme with volunteer workers, foremen and employee representatives prevents it from being perceived as "management inspection".

Does behaviour-based safety replace technical measures?

No. The Law requires risks to be tackled at source and collective protection measures to take priority. BBS is a complementary tool that shows how technical measures work on site and reveals their shortcomings.