the PeoPle - OPERC - Off-highway Plant and Equipment Research ...

SPECIAL REPORT
a focus on behavioural safety
at risk behaviour
The use of mobile plant and equipment
throughout industry sadly continues to
pose a major threat to the health, safety
and welfare of workers. Each year
many unnecessary fatalities and injuries
occur that could be prevented. Even
if an incident does not result in fatality
or injury, it may damage equipment,
materials or completed work, thereby
causing unnecessary financial loss and
damage to a company’s reputation.
human factors that influence behaviour
There are various characteristics or
‘performance influencing factors’ that
can affect an operator’s behaviour
and subsequent health and safety
performance and these can be divided
into three human factor groups relating
to the task, the individual and the
organisation. One easy way to view
these interacting and interrelated factors
figure 1 The interaction
of human factors upon
behavioural safety
performance
16
April 2011
Poor work planning
Lack of safety systems
Inadequate response to previous incidents
Inadequate health and safety management
Poor health and safety culture
One-way communication by management
It has been said that the majority of
incidents are triggered by unsafe or
‘at-risk’ behaviour, whether this be due
to ignorance of the correct procedures
that should be undertaken (most likely
through inadequate training), or a lapse
/ error occurring despite the worker
being trained and highly competent
– both of which can be viewed as
unintentional actions – or whether due
to deliberate, but rarely malicious,
is as an incident causal supply chain.
It is wrong to place the emphasis
solely upon operators to manage
the risk of operating plant and
machinery on site or blame them
alone when things go wrong – their
actions are all too often the symptom
of something far more ingrained
INDIVIDUAL
Low skill and competence levels
Tiredness and / or stress
Boredom or demotivation
Medical problems
ORGANISATION /
MANAGEMENT
BEHAVIOURAL
HEALTH
& SAFETY
PERFORMANCE
JOB / WORKPLACE
actions such as taking short-cuts or not
complying with procedures with the
misguided aim of ‘getting the job done’.
Reducing the occurrence of incidents
caused by unsafe behaviour will potentially
need different actions to be taken
depending on which of these reasons is
the root cause. It is also beneficial to take
a closer look at the factors which can
affect behavioural performance.
within the culture of industry or the
organisation that they are working for.
By addressing the human factors
that can affect operator behaviour,
the likelihood of incidents occurring
can be reduced. Figure 1, whilst not
exhaustive, provides some examples of
these performance influencing factors.
Illogical equipment design
Disturbances / interruptions
Missing or unclear instructions
Poorly maintained equipment
High workload
Noisy / unpleasant working conditions