Safety Observation

Safety Observation Process

Pathway to an Injury Free Career

If we can predict it: we can prevent it!

Safety Observation

What Is a Safety Observation?

• Tool to raise safety awareness in a non-threatening way

• Allows for directed / guided observation teams

• Tool to build trust

• Feedback loop mechanism

• ↑ increase safety awareness

• ↓ decrease anxiety or threat of reporting errors

• Goal is to fix things quickly and effectively

Safety Observation

Characteristics of effective safety performance:

Measurable. Focuses on positive activities. Direct impact on outcomes. Opportunity for two-way feedback and positive

reinforcement. Opportunity for goal setting based on performance data.

Effective Safety Management

Safety Observation

Observations identify job site hazards, controls,conditions, manage exposure to risks, reduce exposure, and thereby reduce injury.

Apply a strategic approach:

Anticipate and prevent active error at the job site.

Reduce total number of “at-risk” critical behaviors and/or conditions.

Identify and eliminate the related barriers/latent organizational weaknesses.

Change other factors to encourage safe behaviors.

Safety Observation

Safety Observation—Objectives

• Provide positive reinforcement / feedback for safe behaviors observed.

• Identify error-likely conditions for corrective actions.

• Gather meaningful data for analysis that identifies institutional weaknesses in work management systems.

Do Work Safely

Safety Observation

Fix the Person or the System?

Is the Person Clumsy?

Or Is the Problem . . .

The Step???

Safety Observation

II. Human Performance & Integrated Safety Management

Safety Observation

Five Basic Principles

Human Performance Improvement

1. People are fallible, and even the best make mistakes.

2. Error-likely situations are predictable, manageable, and preventable.

3. Individual behavior is influenced by organizational processes and values.

4. People achieve high levels of performance based largely on the encouragement and reinforcement received from leaders, peers,

and subordinates.

5. Events can be avoided by understanding the reasons mistakes occur and applying the lessons learned from past events.

Safety Observation

Industry Statistics onCauses of Events

10%90%

30%

70%

Human Error

Unexpected Error

Equipment Failures

Human Error

Operational Upset

System Induced Error(organizational weakness)

Safety Observation

When Things Go Wrong

How It Is Now…

Human error is the cause of accidents:

You are highly trained

and

If you did as trained, you would not make mistakes

so

You weren’t careful enough

so

You should be PUNISHED!

How It Should Be…

Human error is a symptom of trouble deeper inside a system.

You are human

and

Humans make mistakes

so

Let’s also explore why the system allowed, or failed to accommodate your mistake

Let’s IMPROVE THE SYSTEM!

Safety Observation

When Things Go Wrong

Safety Observation

Where we are coming from:

I keep entering this in the system but something needs to be done. The majority of the traffic going down and up Pecos drive is speeding. and a lot of the traffic is Gov. vehicles. Speed humps need to be put in place. Someone is going to get hit.

There should be Speed humps installed on Pecos Road because of the excess speeding going on while people are walking to there buildings in the morning and also during lunch. Gov. vehicles and personal vehicles driving very fast up and down the road. NEED SPEED HUMPS!!!!

As I was walking from the guard gate into PF-1, I observed a craft trucking speeding from the south to the north in a 10 MPH posted area. I was about to step into the crosswalk when they saw me and stopped suddenly. I motioned to the driver to slow down. They just laughed.

Safety Observation

Vehicle Operator Observation1.0 Pre Trip Inspection

• Observed multiple cars in TA-55 parking lot and discovered that several of their tires were either under inflated or over inflated. with weather conditions becoming a factor proper tier pressure is important to check before driving.

• Frost on windshield caused potential visibility problem. On discussing the issue it was decided to be late for a meeting and take the necessary time to completely clean the frost from the window before travelling.

• During inspection of my motorcycle prior to leaving home for work, I found the brake light to be non-operational. The tail light was working, but not the brake light. I installed a spare bulb and that fixed the problem.

• Observed LANL semi driver leaving yard pulling trailer, he did not do a pull test on trailer to make sure it was secure to tractor, stopped driver helped with pull test.

Where we are headed:

Safety Observation

Vehicle Operator Observation 2.0 Stopping• Driver initially stopped with about 1/2 car length distance between our vehicle and the vehicle in front of us, but increased

this to a full car length after discussion.

• Driver did a rolling stop at the stop sign. Pointed out the "California" stop in a nice way and driver agreed that full stop would have been safer.

• Driver in government vehicle did not fully stop at stop sign when leaving parking lot. I noted who the driver was (someone I knew) and spoke/teased them about it later. They agreed that they should have fully stopped.

• Driver often yields at stop signs rather than stops. A discussion was held concerning the behavior and the drive admitted to fault and stated that through awareness, the drive will be comply to stop signs and making a complete stop. In addition, a discussion was held concerning crashes that could be prevented if the drivers stopped completely as required by law.

Vehicle Operator Observation 3.0 Parking• Several cars were noted in the parking lot as having parked outside of designated spaces.

I spoke with one driver, who didn't really care that they might get a ticket. They did not want to have to walk from TA-50 parking lot stating that it was more dangerous to walk and possibly slip on the ice than park in an unmarked spot.

• The driver did forget the turn the wheels while parking on a hill. This behavior was identified and will be corrected for future vehicle operations.

Safety Observation

Vehicle Operator Observation4.0 Backing

• Airports could be designed so that airplanes would never have to back up.

• Driver and Observer do not understand this question. Is this asking if the passenger backed up the vehicle before the driver did?

• Driver failed to check rear of vehicle for any possible hazards before backing up. Spotter was needed and used after being notified.

• The driver was not aware that it is a good driving practice to sound the horn prior to, and if possible, during the backing up process. He concurred that this signals pedestrians behind the vehicle to clear the area and committed to begin using this practice.

• The driver did not sound the horn while backing up. This was a safety concern that both the observer and the observee learned by performing the ATOMICS observation.

• Driver and Observer do not understand this question. Is this asking if the driver backs up the vehicle by turning the wheels 90 degrees and moving the vehicle side ways?

Safety Observation

Safety Observer Roles and Responsibilities

Observer rules for observing performance:

Judge the behavior of the worker being observed with thesame criteria you would use for yourself.

We judge ourselves with external factors.

We judge others with internal factors.

Safety Observation

Fundamental Tenets of Safety Observations

Focuses on behaviors and conditions

No name, no blame process

Process is for people, it involves everybody

Gives positive reinforcement for safe behaviors.

Pro-active; uses leading indicators

Statistically driven.

Unlike TRC/DART provides process numbers workers control.

Safety Observation

4 Essential Elements

ATOMICS Safety Process

Identify the critical behaviors and conditions

Collect data

Provide feedback

Use data to reduce/remove latent organizational weaknesses.

Safety Observation

Focus Shifts

From: crisis reaction To: process improvement

Safety Stand downs

Re-read procedures

Safety Meetings

Retraining

Stop

Think

Act

Review

Safety Observation

Focus Shifts

From: tracking accidents To: preventing accidents

Total Recordable (TRC)

Days Away Restricted Time (DART)

First Aid cases

Fix the problembefore it injures the worker.

Identification of error likely situations.

Strengthen defenses.

Safety Observation

Focus Shifts

From: downstream factors To: upstream factors

Lagging indicators

Non diagnostic

Crisis Reactions

Stand downs

TRC/DART

Lessons learned

Leading indicators

Process improvement

Accident prevention

Near miss reporting

Develop defense in depth

Error tolerance

Just work environment

Safety Observation

Observations manage exposure to risks, reduce exposure, and reduce injury.

Apply a strategic approach:

Anticipate and prevent active error at the job site.

Reduce total number of “at-risk” critical behaviors.

Identify and eliminate the related barriers/latent organizational weaknesses.

Change other factors to encourage safe behaviors.

Safety Observation

Traditional methods to improve safety performance:

How do we change behavior?

Progressive Discipline

Administrative Policies

Visions, Goals, Plans

Core Value Statements

Safety Training

New Safety Initiatives

Committees

Focus Groups

Additional Defense Layers

Contests & Awards

Safety meetings

Motivational speakers

Safety Observation

Traditional safety response:

Injury: employee finished cleaning toilet inside stall turned tight and hit head on coat hanger…Response: retrain employee on being more aware of surroundings and potential hazards.

Injury: walking to truck, slipped on iceResponse: employee reminded to check walking area before proceeding to vehicle for slippery conditions

Injury: employee walking around vehicle-slipped on ice and almost fellResponse: retrain employee on slips, trips, and falls safety.

Injury: employee missed dip in sidewalk, slipped and fellResponse: be conscious of where you are walking

Injury: employee sneezed acute internal pain in lower left rib cage areaResponse: encourage employee to stabilize body alignment before sneezing

Injury: disposing metal piece, cut edge caught employees glove cutting through and cutting fingerResponse: need to describe to workers conditions that make up “line of fire” and self control of natural reflexes.

How do we change behavior?

Safety Observation

• If we can predict it: we can prevent it!

Safety Observation

Observations identify job site hazards, controls, conditions, manage exposure to risks, reduce

exposure, and thereby reduce injury.

Safety Observation

Are you from OSHA?

Safety Observation

At-risk behavior is usually a trigger, NOT a Cause

Imperfect Memories

Habit

Peer Pressure

Lack of Accountability

Time Pressure

Poor Communication

Poor Ergonomic Job Design

Confusing Procedures

Inadequate Training

No Supervision

Safety Observation

Understanding Behavior

WithABC Analysis

Activator

Police Car Flashing Red Lights

Radiation Work Practices

Phone rings

Consequence

Citation/nothing

Contamination Y/N

Talk with caller

Behavior

Slow down/speed up

Turbo-Frisking

Answer phone

Safety Observation

Influencing Long-term Behavior

Consequences control behavior!

Safety Observation

Factors that Affect the Power of Consequences

The most powerful consequences are:Soon

CertainPositive

Timing: SoonerLater

Consistency: CertainUncertain

Significance: PositiveNegative

Safety Observation

Feedback

Feedback is a powerful way to influence behavior

Feedback is a consequence.

To be effective it must be:

soon,

certain,

and positive

Safety Observation

Organizational Responsibilities

Reducing Errors (observations)

It is naïve (foolish) to think that positive reinforcement is the single mechanism for safety observations success.

Managing Defenses (data analysis)

The organizational change initiative, identification of system, facility, and equipment issues identified are at least as likely to be primary improvement mechanisms as positive reinforcement.

Safety Observation

Before the observation:

Let people know you are observing them Answer any questions about the process Mention that there will be feedback/discussion after

After the observation:

Observer reinforces safe behaviors, and, if needed, discusses observed at-risk actions and options to avoid future occurrence,

Interaction Technique

Safety Observation

Discuss “at-risks and explore barriers to working “safely”

Separate discussion of “at-risk” behaviors from positive feedback.

Ask open-ended questions(Ex: What’s the worst accident that can happen? How could you be hurt doing this task. Why are you doing it this way?)

Ask for suggestions/ideas, draw out the corrective action that may be required from the person.

Record comments. Seek a personal commitment from that the individual will carry out the action and thank them for participating.

Giving Feedback

Safety Observation

The goal of the behavioral observation is to improve (influence) the performance (behavior) of the workers observed.

It is critical for workers to understand the types of behaviors and conditions that either increase exposure (at-risk

behaviors) or reduce the risk of exposure (identified safe behaviors).

Giving Feedback

Safety Observation

A Safety Observation

Is a sampling procedure

Is the cornerstone of the safety process

Is systematic and standardized

Samples behaviors and conditions, not individuals

Safety Observation

A Safety Observation

Shares expertise:

From January 2010 to May 2010 the Vehicle Operator Observation sheet was utilized by the ASM-MM group 24 times and by all other organizations 314 times.

From January 2010 to May 2010 the Lifting Observation sheet was utilized by ASM-MM 62 times and by all other organizations 268 times.