Part 3:
Barriers to engagement
The reality can be more like the second maze, where the preferred procedure is harder to follow, and has short-term negative consequences, whilst the “dangerous” option is reinforced – until an accident occurs.
It turns out, even rats think about the problem in a more complex way than the behaviourists believed.
In one study rats were given a lever which, as well as providing them with food, caused another rat to receive a shock.
The rats stopped pressing the lever – sacrificing their own reward for the sake of the other rat; other rats learnt to press a lever just to help another rat in a water trap.
If a lab rat can do more than behave, and can think about a problem, why would we treat people as though they were just a box that responds to inputs?
Not only does BBS ignore the organisational problems, it can have the opposite effect on behaviour to the one intended.
It can drive reporting underground, meaning that the very information you need to make the workplace safer is hidden from sight.
Or imagine for a moment that it works – that you could train people to behave as obedient lab rats at all times, regardless of other social or practical factors.
What would happen when flexibility of thinking was needed, to solve an unusual problem, or to avert disaster?
Do we want workers who follow instructions, to the letter, or do we want a workforce which can adapt as situations change?
The workers need to see what the maze looks like from above. You want people to do the right thing when you’re not watching, and to feel able to explain without fear of punishment when they can’t do the right thing.
You want them to use their own knowledge and experience to make suggestions when they believe they know a better way of doing something.
If you want the right things to happen, you need the right Safety Culture
“Beware Behavioural Safety: Fix the hazard don’t blame the workers.”
“Everyone is at some time careless, complacent, overconfident, and stubborn...
Because all these traits are fundamental, the equipment, machines and systems that we construct have to be made to accommodate the way we are.”
“The tendency is to focus on individuals and fail to address management behaviour thus excluding activities that have a significant impact on safety performance.”