Put Some Energy Back into Your BBS Process through Employee Initiated – “Lean” Observations

I’m not advocating that you discard the 30 minute observational audits you have come to know and love. Of course you need a thorough assessment of the work setting to encourage a thorough assessment of risk, but everyone knows that after a few years – even months – these things get pretty routine and uninspiring.

I’m continuing to advocate putting some sizzle back into your behavior-based safety process by encouraging employees to carry observation cards in their back pocket and to perform spontaneous, brief observations of their peers – when their peers ask for the observation.

The key point here is the observation checklist; let’s think “lean” for a moment. But maybe you can’t – you can’t change your observation process because you paid a consulting company $MM dollars for a process and if you change it they will sue you. Bet you think I’m joking; check your contract. Some of the big consulting houses claim that a particular way of applying a BBS process is their proprietary property – they own it – and they may own your process and you can’t change it.

Hopefully you are not one of those companies in bondage to a BBS process that is running you, not you running it. But if you have some latitude – if you can be creative – try the idea of focusing on a few behaviors that are relevant to specific jobs and work groups. I said a few “behaviors,” not categories like “lifting ergonomically correctly.” More like “feet pointed toward the object being lifted or moved.”

Behaviors are very specific muscular movements; they can be observed as they are stated: “Places safety glasses on your face before walking into the door of the plant.” Instead of, “Is wearing proper protective equipment.” Verbal behavior is extremely important in the workplace. We are humans (most of us), with the ability to communicate fairly precisely through language.

For instance: “Joe, this box is too heavy for me to lift alone; would you give me a hand?” That is a verbal behavior; it can be observed and counted and reinforced. On Joe’s observation card – because there has been a recent rash of sprains and strains or because of changes in through-put or the work process has increased the need for lifting behavior – we include this behavior: “Ask a co-worker for assistance when an object exceeds the specified safe weight.”

Instead of going to committee on this, the employees are encouraged to place behavior on their “Lean Observation Card,” that they are concerned about or that have recently surfaced as risks. They are in control of the risks they encounter and they can solicit help from their peers or supervisors.

They pull the very short, personalized card out of their back pocket, walk up to a co-worker in their work group and say, “Hey Jim, would you check me out on for a second? I’m trying to break a couple of unsafe habits; I’m always twisting when I lift and I can’t seem to remember to align my feet with the object. If I don’t align properly, scream at me like my wife does (just kidding), let me know. I’m keeping a personal graph on my safe behavior to make some changes.”

Uh Oh, you say; “That’s not gonna work.” No employee is going to keep a graph on their own behavior. They can’t self-manage the way a manager or supervisor can.” (J, another blog topic). Frontline employees can do anything that they think is reasonable and puts control into their own hands. You provide the organizational template – orient them to the process, give them the right…the paper and the place and they will do the job.

One of the problems with BBS is that it assumes the best way to change behavior is by providing positive feedback to an employee for working safely, and that will “reinforce the right behavior.” Well, there is nothing wrong with that, but what’s wrong with allowing, preparing, advocating and training people to self-manage through the use of checklists and co-worker engagement? Acknowledging that employees can take charge of their own behavior will, in and of itself, encourage behavior change.

Let’s summarize:

• Employee self-management
• Short, in the pocket behavioral checklist
• Employee can change for relevance and impact
• Employee keeps their own measurement
• Employee asks co-worker to “Check me out”

Benefits:

• Augments existing lengthy observational process
• Creates increased level of employee empowerment
• Increases the “look out for each other” factor
• Decreases the stigma about being watched
• Behavioral samples more valid

I’m sure you can think of other benefits. Talk to your employees about this process; see if they think self-management and peer engagement is a good idea.

Overcoming Objections to Behavior-Based Safety: Let Employees Initiate the Observation

When I wrote my last blog about this, I expected a rush of responses about how this idea would transform the ethos surrounding BBS – that the idea would create insights and epiphanies. I expected corporate safety managers and BBS facilitators to gush about the empowering possibilities it released.

Maybe I did not make myself clear: Employees initiate safety observations with their peers; the idea of protecting your coworkers is taken to a new level. You hand your personal safety card to a coworker, supervisor, or BBS observer and say, “Hey…check me out.”

I’m amazed how literal the marketplace is; “Oh no, so and so wrote in his book that you have to do observations this way or that way.” Folks, BBS is not rocket-science – it’s work sampling. Do random samples of people working, and let them know when they are behaving safely or not. Identify anything in the environment that prevents them from behaving safely, or anything that could make it a safer place to work and expedite the solutions and opportunities.

What about pencil-whipping; how can we trust employees to be honest about what they see or do? Well for one thing, why would you ask someone to watch you work to help ensure you don’t have any bad habits and then want them to lie about what they saw? They are not going to use your name; there is no discipline attached. It’s about self-protection and peer protection.

Yes it is important to keep the data accurately, particularly to record any issues that might impede an employee from performing their work safely. Many companies go wrong because they don’t understand that it is important to use this process positively. You want to reinforce employees for helping the company remove hazards and reduce risk.

It reminds me of the old days; years ago employees were punished for making mistakes - which of course had a direct influence on mistake-hiding and dishonesty. Suddenly, there was a big “aha,” an epiphany; isn’t it really better if employees report their mistakes – that they come to management with problems that could result in unplanned problems or injuries.

Instead of shooting the messenger, it became clear that even though a supervisor is not happy to hear someone confess about a mistake or a problem, the response they have to rehearse is, “Thanks for bringing that to my attention; what do you think we should do to fix it?”

The quality improvement movement in America caused most organizations to rethink the ways they related to frontline employees. The epiphany is really a behavioral one: “Decide what behavior you want to reinforce – consciously decide. Don’t let spontaneity determine whether you thank and employee for bringing a problem to your attention.

My mantra is to increase empowerment for frontline employee in safety. The more they do to protect themselves and each other, the safer the work place will become. Employee willingness to help each has to be somewhat formalized; left to their own devices, people are reluctant to nose into other peoples’ business. “If the fool wants to do it that way; let him. It’s his funeral.”

Those days are over and if you get employees together and train them briefly about the value of behavioral self-awareness and the role their peers can play in facilitating safety self-management – it can happen.

My recommendation is to do a pilot. Take a portion of you workforce – a workgroup or department and try my approach. Do an orientation, ask them to discuss how, when, what, and who. Let them design the details of the process. Allow employees to whip out an observation card and ask a coworker to check them out.

The reason this seems impractical to many organizations is that their observation checklist are 3 pages long and they require 30 minutes to perform. Employees can each have a checklist that will fit on a 3” by 5.” The behaviors on the card should be essential to that person – their circumstances and risks. The precision and focus of this type card accelerates the reduction of at-risk behavior.

Keep it anonymous and positive. Let the employees themselves make a commitment to give each other feedback and keep them safe. I naturally look out for others. I’ve saved a lot of people from getting hurt because I stopped them from walking out in traffic without looking or made them wear their seat belts.

I think this kind of thing is infectious. If you allow an employee to feel good about helping a coworker, that good feeling spreads and becomes an epidemic of thoughtful behavior.

Behavior-Based Safety Evolution: Employee Controlled Observations

Thousands of companies around the world are performing employee observations – the same way. You design an observations system, you create an observations checklist then you perform an observation and record the data.

One big problem is that many people don’t like being the object of an observation or the company culture does not favor people watching each other and giving feedback – even if it is positive.

The solution is to put control of the observations into the hands of the employees; when an employee is ready for an observation, he takes an observation form (or card hopefully) and approaches an observer with whom he is comfortable. Instead of being observed, he requests an observation.

It sounds like a small change, but I think it has big implications. For one thing, why shouldn’t I be able to have some input to my safety observation card? What’s wrong with training employees to play an active role in their own safety – as well as look out for their coworkers?

I might have an unsafe habit I want to break; maybe I am concerned about a specific aspect of my job where it is good to have some help – an observer who is my safety angel; someone to watch over me. Sound too “soft?”

There are a lot of people who do dangerous jobs in America; and, a lot of jobs have very dangerous tasks that have to be performed routinely or intermittently. Why not allow an employee to take his or her safety card to a “safety facilitator” (I like that better than observer) and say, “Hey Jim, how about giving me a look while I’m up here. I want to make sure I put all the safety steps in.”

Lets make observations employee controlled and “on demand.” An “On - Demand” observation is discretionary. An employee can get the oversight they want from a peer; he or she can help themselves build safe job habits by asking someone to make sure they put in all the steps and procedures.

So, let’s take the observation process to the next level:

• Let’s allow employees to initiate an observation when they want one
• Allow employees to add behaviors, conditions, or practices to their observation list that they want on there.
• Allow employees to move to the next level of safety management – “self-management.”
• Let’s move to a new level of comfort with the behavior-based safety process – employee controlled observations.

I think this is just the kind of redesign that will put new energy into your foundering, struggling, strangling, suffocating….am I going too far?

How to Know When to Use a Freelance Behavior-Based Safety Consultant

In a Webinar I did on April 30^th entitled, "BBS on Life Support: What to do when a BBS program sputters,” I recommended that companies whose BBS processes need oxygen should find a good freelance consultant to come in and help them identify strengths and weaknesses – barriers and opportunities. In other words, get an objective, third-party to do the diagnostics on your process.

This is the most economical way to solve the problem, and in today’s tight times, the people who write the checks will appreciate a frugal solution. But, you need an economic solution – not a cheap one. Safety is important and you don’t want to risk employees losing faith in the BBS process or thinking that you don’t care enough to do the right things to reinvigorate your BBS process.

Most of the time (big generalization here) leadership support is the problem, and much of the time the problem is not them – leaders may want to be supportive, they may think they are being supportive – but no one has told them specifically what they need “to do” (behavior) on a daily basis to ensure the BBS process succeeds. The core problem is that in-house staff is usually not enfranchised to lead the leaders.

When an outside consultant comes in – a good one with the right credentials and bed-side manner – he or she can candidly give the feedback to leadership; the good, the bad, and the ugly feedback about their behavior. She can tell the President or plant manager or department manager what they need to be doing and saying to support the observers and the steering committee; how they need to sell the process and change the culture.

I’ve seen large organizations and small business sites that are each equally uncomfortable finding, selecting, and managing consulting advice. It is not easy to screen prospective consultants; some of them are good salesmen and poor technologists; some are geeky and strange but they are great problem solvers and have very creative solutions. One thing they all require is likeability to be successful. I’ve recruited, hired, and managed dozens of consultants in my consulting career; one common trait that is essential to their success, is likeability – the friendliness and warmth that allows them to bond quickly with employees and earn their trust.

“Why not just go to one of the big consulting companies and have one of their consultants come in to help?” Several reasons; one is that they are probably just going to tell you what they told you before – only harder. They will tell you that the reason your BBS process is not working is because you did not do what they told you to do. They said that you had to do it a specific way and you modified it a bit to make it fit your business or operations exigencies. It’s a no-win situation for you.

Or, they try to sell you more training, books, DVDs, workshops, certifications, or surveys. The reason your BBS process is not working is because you have not spent enough money with them. Also, it is not a good idea to go out and select a new consulting company to install another process over the old one; that is not a good solution. That’s throwing good money after bad. The reason that BBS processes don’t work is not because one consulting company has a better or worse process than another. As Shakespeare said, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."

Going out and hiring a consulting company that walks in the door with a sales agenda and a canned methodology a robot could deliver is not the answer to sluggish BBS processes. A good, clean, objective diagnosis is the answer. Nine times out of 10 you have problems because the Steering Committee is ineffectual and that’s because leadership is not supporting them properly.

Soon, I will have my new website www.bbsfoundations.com up and running. You will be able to trade BBS success stories and failures with other companies. In addition to a forum section on information sharing, there will be a section to share feedback on consultants – to talk about the BBS consulting companies, training events, workshops, conferences – to get the real scoop on what’s worth your time and money and what’s not.

I will also have a section where you can review a list of freelance consultants – men and women with BBS experience in your business and your region - who have the experience and credentials to give you intelligent, economical advice; people who are willing to help you for a day or a week; experienced consultants who will help you without breaking you. I will screen them and check their credentials before they go on the site, and you can be sure that they are the kind of people you want to work with - on your terms.

My experience tells me that there are hundreds of companies around the world that are about to give up on their BBS processes – because they can’t identify their problem and implement a simple solution. I hope www.bbsfoundations.com can help.

Maintaining a Healthy BBS Process

In a recent Webinar, I attempted to address some of the issues that are facing the thousands of companies implementing behavior-based safety around the world. Anyone reading this knows that there are a multitude of problems, but if you look closely, and objectively, you can identify them fairly rapidly.

In my Webinar, I tried to identify with clients and prospective clients; I tried to present a perspective that served the listeners interests not a particular consulting companies interests. Yes, I am a broker for BBS services for more than one BBS consulting firm. I’ve worked with many others, so I am not completely without bias, but I also have seen enough approaches to know that there is no one best way to implement and sustain a healthy BBS process.

If you read my blog, you will see that my 40 years of working inside business and industry has given me a view point that does not always align with any of the companies for whom I design methodologies or sell services. So if I see something being done that is not in the best interest of the client, I say so. The people who work with me tolerate me for some unknown reason.

There is no “one way” to implement behavior-based safety, and using a large consulting company or a college professor does not guarantee that you are getting the best advice. In the questions that I saw from the Webinar there were some central themes that reappeared and I will address one later in the blog.

Within a week, I am will have a website operational at www.bbsfoundations.com. On this website, anyone can register and enter a question about the BBS process. If you have a home grown process and people have lost interest - you can ask about it. If your company is downsizing and people have become too distracted to participate, then ask “We have lain off half our employees; how do I keep them interested in observations when they are afraid of losing their jobs?”

On this website, people from around the world can provide you with an answer – their answer. Some may be off base, but I bet there are thousands of companies in the same boat. Maybe you will get a solution; maybe just empathy – but the answers you get from other concerned BBS implementers are bound to be helpful. I am trying to create an international BBS user’s group – a learning laboratory that will allow you to accelerate your learning without the bias of a consulting company’s self-interest.

I would guess that BBS consulting service providers will be join in to answer questions. That’s OK; you will get some free expert advice and you will just have to sort through the self-interest to get to the wisdom. BBS is about the wisdom of the group – the value of using front-line employee experience and intelligence - the value of implementing a system that enables employees to help each other.

One question that I expect to see often on the www.bbsfoundations.com website will be about lone workers. Many businesses and industries have employees that work alone, and now that we are in an economic crisis many more employees will be working alone.

Everyone knows that pilots use checklists to ensure that they do everything they are supposed to do; they have a lot of responsibility and they can’t afford a mistake. Before the space shuttle takes off, the astronauts go through a long checklist to ensure that nothing if overlooked.

For many years, I have been advising clients to enable all employees to create and apply behavioral checklists – to include behaviors that are critical to performance and/or safety. If employees are allowed to work together to identify critical behaviors, then those behaviors can be self-tracked. These types of checklists are powerful tools to help employees do things everyone thinks is important.

In a BBS process a lone workers checklist should be shorter than the typical peer-to-peer safety observation checklist. Make them short and sweet – just prompt the employee to self-observe for the behaviors that historical data and situational factors tell you are essential.

Usually the self-observation is prompted by a call on the cell from someone or they are beeped by the dispatcher. If the employee is driving, you can used a visual cue to prompt them to do a self-inventory of their driving behavior – like, when you see a Starbucks sign check your speed or the distance to the car in front of you.

Make sure you use the data positively. Reinforce employees for doing their checklists. If you punish them when they record an omission or an unsafe behavior, then they will pencil-whip the card next time. Reinforce them for doing the self-observations and you will see that they will self-manage the at-risk behavior.

Intermittently, you can have someone “ride along” or pop in on someone working alone to do a safety observation. But the real emphasis should be on developing a checklist that includes the behaviors that put them at risk or the equipment or practices that will keep them safe. I’m sure if your reading this you have your own opinion or experience with “lone-workers,” and we will be able to hear them when www.bbsfoundations.com