Participatory approaches to workplace safety management: bridging the gap between behavioral safety and participatory ergonomics.

Many researchers and practitioners argue the importance of end-user involvement in workplace safety management, but the research literature and practices remain fractured across orientations. The primary aim of this article is to bridge the gap between two major participatory safety management approaches: behavioral safety and participatory ergonomics. First, an overview and brief history of participative management is presented to provide context for its application to workplace safety. Next, behavioral safety and participatory ergonomics are separately examined in terms of their origins and core elements. Finally, based on this examination, unifying elements between behavioral safety and participatory ergonomics will be presented to provide a comprehensive account of participatory safety management.

The Effects of Monetary Incentives on Planned and Unplanned Absences in Adolescent Part-Time Employees: a Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.

Few attendance interventions have (a) addressed the issue of absenteeism as it applies to part-time adolescent employees, (b) distinguished between planned and unplanned absences, and (c) presented a cost-effectiveness analysis of the intervention. This study employed an A-B-A reversal design, including a small monetary bonus for attendance by part-time adolescent employees. Results indicate a 60% reduction in average group absences during the monetary contingency phase as compared to both baseline phases. The organization spent a total of $264 on monetary incentives during the intervention phase and reduced time spent on hiring and training substitute personnel by approximately 60%. Supervisors reported that a better staff-child ratio helped decrease chaos in the classroom and promoted an overall improvement in the quality of the youth groups.

Experimental analysis of using examples and non-examples in safety training.

INTRODUCTION: The effects of training content consisting of examples and/or non-examples was studied on the acquisition of safety-related skills. METHOD: Participants (N=160) were randomly assigned to first receive computer-based training on office ergonomics that included either no examples of safe or at-risk postures, safe examples only, at-risk examples only, or both safe and at-risk examples. Participants then attempted to classify as safe or at-risk various postures depicted in short video clips and demonstrate with their own posture the range of safe postures. RESULTS: Groups that were trained with both safe and at-risk examples showed greater classification accuracy and less error in their demonstration of safe postures. Training with only safe or at-risk examples resulted in a moderate amount of error and a consistent underestimation of risk. CONCLUSION: Training content consisting of both examples and non-examples improved acquisition of safety-related skills. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The strategic selection of training content may improve identification of risks and safe work practices.

Effects of the relative values of alternatives on preference for free-choice in humans.

Organisms often prefer conditions that allow selection among alternatives (free-choice) to conditions that do not (forced-choice), particularly when response alternatives in free-choice produce equal or greater reinforcer magnitudes than those available under forced-choice. We present data on free-choice preference for human participants who gained or lost points by selecting images of cards on a computer screen under a concurrent-chains schedule. Responding during the initial link gained access to a terminal link offering a single-card set (forced-choice) or a three-card set (free-choice). The alternatives in free-choice produced reinforcer magnitudes (points) that were: (a) equal to forced-choice; (b) equal to and greater than forced-choice; and (c) equal to and less than forced-choice. Participants showed reliable preference for free-choice under some conditions; however, preference decreased as reinforcer magnitude for some alternatives in free-choice was reduced. This occurred even though it was possible to obtain the same number of points across free- and forced-choice. Although preference for free-choice was clearly demonstrated, the effect of points available in the terminal link suggests that this phenomenon is subject to modulation by other processes, such as reinforcement or punishment by obtained outcomes in the terminal link. Context (reinforcer-gain or -loss) was not a reliable predictor of preference.

The safety observer effect: the effects of conducting safety observations.

INTRODUCTION: Some research suggests that conducting safety observations of another's safety performance may serve as an effective tool in increasing the safety performance of the observer. The primary purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of conducting safety observations on the postural safety performance of observers engaging in an assembly task for short time periods. The secondary objectives of the study were: (a) to measure productivity, and (b) to measure the accuracy of participant safety observations. METHOD: An ABC (A: baseline, B: information, C: observation) multiple-baseline design counterbalanced across postural behaviors (back, shoulder, and feet position) was implemented with six participants. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Substantial improvements in postural safety occurred after participants conducted safety observations, and these improvements did not appear to negatively affect productivity. Results also suggest that there is no relation between the accuracy of an observer's safety observation and their subsequent safety performance. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: This research provides evidence that a safety observation process can function to increase safe postural behavior of observers. Thus, the implementation of such a process may contribute to the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders and related costs in the workplace.

An implementation of protocol analysis and the silent dog method in the area of behavioral safety.

Recent research has demonstrated that conducting safety observations increases the safety performance of the observer. The purpose of this study was to help determine whether observers make self-verbalizations regarding their own safety performance and whether these reports are functionally related to safety performance. In order to answer these questions two experiments were conducted using both protocol analysis and the silent dog method. The objective of Experiment 1 was (a) to determine whether safety performance with continuous, concurrent talk-aloud procedures is functionally equivalent to safety performance without talk-aloud reports, and (b) to determine whether that safety performance is altered when participants are presented with a distracter task. The goal of Experiment 2 was to determine whether the safety-related verbalizations made by Experiment 1 participants were task-relevant and functionally related to safety performance. The results from both Experiments 1 and 2 provide support for the existence of a functional relationship between safety-related verbalizations and increases in safety performance.

The effects of conducting behavioral observations on the behavior of the observer.

Behavior-analytic approaches to occupational safety are often effective for improving safety in organizations, and have been successful in a wide variety of settings. The effects of these safety processes are thought to arise primarily from the behavioral observation process and the delivery of feedback. Typically, supervisors or employee observers involved in behavioral safety implementations conduct observations. The present study was an attempt to assess the effects of conducting observations on an observer's safety performance. An ABC multiple baseline counterbalanced across two sets of behaviors was conducted in a simulated office. The target behaviors involved knee and back positions during lifts; back, shoulder, and feet positions while sitting; neck and wrist positions while typing; and neck position during phone use. Substantial improvements in safety performance occurred after participants conducted observations on a videotape of a confederate's performance. The possible behavioral functions responsible for this change, and the implications of these findings for applied settings, are discussed.