Men behaving badly
October 31st 2008

OK so it's not only men who neglect to observe good safety practices but there is a tendency to have more risk when the environment is predominately male. Tim McManan-Smith attended Nick Wharton's seminar at Health & Safety 08 and looks at how a behavioural approach to safety could lead to a greater understanding of how to improve the execution of good health & safety throughout an organisation

Behaviour is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes. This Emily Dickinson quote gets to the heart of what behavioural safety wants to achieve. It is about what people do rather than what they think they should do in the cold light of day. Nick Wharton, operational director at JOMC, spoke at the Health & Safety 08 event in Bolton about 'Engaging people with a cultural and behavioural approach to health & safety'. He said that we have to find the cause of unsafe behaviour but that "one reason we can be fairly sure of is that it is not because they want to get hurt or to see other people get hurt". So if people don't think, feel or believe that bad practice is desirable, why do they do it? Speaking to a training co-ordinator at the Bolton event he emphasised the fact that many production environments are male. There is a certain amount of bravado along with the attitude that the danger 'won't affect me'. Also, lower level management often has allegiances to the machine operators, which is where they often came from before being management. The twin pressures of not wanting to tell tales on a colleague to whom you owe loyalty and upper management's requirement for increased production means that many cultures engender, if not a total flouting of the rules, then at least an implicit permission to cut corners when busy. This point was reiterated by other visitors who agreed that output is given more importance than health and safety.

'Health and safety goes by the wayside when production is busy' and 'it can be ignored while no one was looking'.

Although many organisations tick the appropriate health and safety boxes by having an understanding of the relevant legislation and the right equipment in place to comply, they still have too many workplace accidents.

Accident rates can be reduced hugely by a cultural and behavioural change across a company; easier said than done though. There are examples of cultural changes to health & safety such as the seat belt being worn when driving a car. The graph to the right shows how approaches over time vary. Starting with legislation and specifying equipment to cope with the regulations. Then management-led systems that address how to do things safely and finally people-led behavioural changes which is the hardest to achieve but will lower accident rates immensely.

Wharton says that it comes down to the need to "prompt people to think for themselves." By systematically observing and measuring both accidents and near misses, useful information can be gathered. Near misses are more frequent and provide a large amount of data about how people are behaving, yet unless someone is hurt most of the is missed. Everybody's behaviour is important. The supervisor who ignores the non-glove wearer is condoning that action which could later lead to health issues for the non-wearer.

Concentrate on behaviours:

• Identify the critical behaviours

• Observe and measure behaviours

Prompt people to think about their own behaviour and all the consequences

Develop a supportive culture

• Positive reinforcement for safe behaviour

• Find the causes of unsafe behaviour Wharton also stressed the importance of health and safety professionals talking to people in the wrong way.

Both by not emphasising the positive actions that were being done by individuals within the firm and by telling people what to do in a negative way. "If we tell somebody, we do the thinking for them." We do not want people to just react as they do when criticised, we want them to reflect on what they do. "There is a need for someone who will engage appropriately and accordingly to prompt the person to think about the potential consequences of the task," says Wharton.

Two-way feedback is needed to show staff that you are listening and act on what you are told. Wharton believes that the health & safety professional has to view themselves as a salesman.

We have a product: Not always seen as the most exciting product on offer Not always seen as offering good value We have customers: They might not realise they could benefit from our product They might be reluctant to "buy" We have competitors: The market place is full of other tempting offers – comfort, saving time, peer pressure, looking good.

A shared culture of responsibility has to develop where people engage with each other and with management.

People will often not engage for a variety of reasons: Someone else saw it and they'll deal with it I don't know what to say I'm too busy It's not my problem What will they say? The only way to overcome this is to be more open and understanding and to encourage an atmosphere where it is not you, the manager with health & safety responsibility, simply telling others what they are doing wrong. If people are not purposefully thinking that they will do things that endanger themselves and their colleagues then it is a matter of getting these good thoughts into actions. Nina Wrightson, chairman of the British Safety Council commented to HSM at the show that there is a real need to communicate the health & safety message to "production managers, facility managers, works managers and the like; people who actually do". Practitioners of health & safety are often the enablers of getting the message to the doers. Naturally this will only be received well from the 'doers' if they feel that they have an environment where they are praised for what they do correctly and not scolded but asked to consider the risks.

By picturing themselves or their colleagues in the risky situation that they have created it maintains involvement in the process and inspires responsibility for themselves and others.

Sometimes it is not only the workers that are the 'men' behaving badly it is the safety manager who cannot effectively communicate their important message across to the people who have a multitude of other pressures to think about that compete with the health & safety message. You cannot make the organisation safe without the support of the people within it and not just the board but across the board. Getting people to stop behaving badly is no easy task but with open two-way communication, it can be done.