THE BEHAVIOR-BASED APPROACH TO SAFETY - A CLEAR PICTURE, AN EFFECTIVE PLAN

Managers in the paper and pulp industry have a pretty clear idea of how to meet the challenges arising from competitive pressures, but the solutions to problems in safety performance are more elusive. Killimet suggests that the best approach to safety in a constantly changing work-place is a system that produces continuous improvement in safety performance. Managers tend to treat safety reactively, relying on methods that do not really address the problem-unsafe behavior. In 85-95% of all safety incidents, human behavior is the common cause. Traditional responses to safety performance problems such as disciplinary action, accident investigations, and meetings assume that once an immediate safety problem is dealt with, it no longer requires attention. The behavior-based approach emphasizes safety as a continuous, long-term process that involves the workforce and provides an avenue for problem solving. Killimet's paper outlines the steps for developing and implementing the behavior-based safety process.