If you have been following our work at COVE, you know that we are all about the importance of Seeing the Whole PICTURE® so that we can be more effective in our safety processes. It is by Learning to See that we can improve our ability to interpret the environment around us and the things that we are doing so that we can identify hazards and understand risk.

In the last decade or so many organizations have been placing more of a focus on Serious Injury and Fatality prevention (SIF). The theory behind the traditional “Safety Pyramid” (or Heinrich Safety Triangle) says if we reduce incidents at the “base” of the pyramid, it follows we will reduce incidents at the top of the pyramid at an approximately proportional rate. 

A behavior-based safety (BBS) process's focus is on employee behavior during tasks or in reaction to surrounding environmental events- equipment failures, process breakdowns, poor lighting or other work conditions.

During the late 1970s, Judy Komaki and her behavioral psychologist colleagues used their methodology in a food manufacturing facility to improve the safety performance by focusing on reinforcing safe behaviors (Komaki, Barwick, & Scott, 1978). This was the birth of behavior-based safety (BBS).