At Risk Behavior
December 31, 2018
Since becoming a S&H professional, I have always wondered how accidents develop. While we may read about unfortunate events in the newspaper or hear about them on the radio, often the specifics are not explained. Was someone not paying attention or was there a disregard of a traffic regulation? Anyone who drives in a big city understands the frustration of “stop and go” traffic on the freeways. These roads are designed for drivers to cruise at high speeds (safely) and arrive at a destination in such a time frame that would astonish the pioneers of old that suffered through months of various hardships, traveling between 10 – 20 miles in a day. Unfortunately for us, sometimes we feel like we are moving as slow as our pioneer ancestors. And many times, the reason why we feel that we are in a parking lot (instead of clipping along at 65+ mph) is due to a car accident. And as we pass the accident scene we often ask, “how in the world could that have happened?” It might have involved speeding or someone making an unsafe lane change. The percentages say that vehicular incidents are rarely the result of mechanical failure (although this does happen), and are more likely, due to operator (driver) error.
It is said that all accidents are preventable. So why do we have so many of them on our roads?
The term “behavior” often has a negative connotation because of how it is used in discussions that focus on performance and consequences. Behavior simply refers to an observable act which can be examined in the words we use and our voice inflection as well as body language and facial and hand expressions.
While organizations can establish various control measures such as policies and procedures to address human behavior, such methods can only have limited effectiveness, as it is ultimately up to the persons performing their tasks to work within those controls. How people work within a procedure is often described as “Conduct-of-Operations.”
An illustration that describes “conduct-of-operations” is through a scenario I witnessed years ago. It involved a team of 3 workers that were changing a light bulb that was hard wired, directly outside and overhead at a building entrance/exit. There were double doors that swung outward. The crew set up a ladder so that one person could reach the overhead light while the other two workers assisted. The ladder had a proper inspection sticker and was appropriate for the assigned work task. However, the ladder was placed directly in the path of the exit doors that were designed to swing outward. Should a person have exited the building, he/she would not have been aware of the ladder (placed directly outside), and upon swinging the double doors open, a substantial accident could have occurred. Fortunately, this incident never happened as I was able to recognize the potential outcome, thereby requested that a barrier be set inside the building at the door exit and thus, informing persons not to use this doorway. Proper conduct-of-operations would have required the team to perform a quick surveillance of the area to identify this potential hazard, thereby establishing the appropriate controls. As a further example of conduct-of-operations, what would have happened if someone (who was existing the building) ignored the warning and decided to breach the barrier and exit through the door regardless of the warning? The point is, while specific hazard controls can be implemented, their effectiveness is only as good as how people work within these controls.
At-Risk behaviors do not necessarily mean that an accident is inevitable. Only that by performing an at-risk behavior we are increasing the chance of an accident. Such is the case of driving at a high rate of speed while taking your eyes off the road for 30 seconds. Of course, it would be hard to argue that the likelihood of an unfortunate event is extremely high given this type of behavior. But the behavior, in itself, does not necessarily mean that an accident will definitely occur.
The challenge is how to address at-risk behaviors so that team members accept the validity of this concept; thus, making a cognitive effort to recognize such behaviors and a willingness to adjust behavior patterns. Experts in the field of human performance preach that “at-risk behaviors” should be addressed through coaching, changing perceptions, overcoming the influences that encourage risky behavior and creating new habits. Meanwhile safe behaviors should be positively reinforced immediately and as many times as possible to perpetuate new or existing safe habits. Many organizations have safety incentive programs; however, as many experts have noted, work crews may focus on the incentive rather than on the ultimate purpose of maintaining a safe work environment.
Many years ago, there was a television program called “The Twilight Zone.” There was this one episode (called “Four O’clock”) where the actor/folk singer, Theodore Bikel (the captain of the Russian Submarine in the comedic movie, “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming”), played a bitter person who decided to expose all the evil people in the world by making them shrink to 2-feet tall. Throughout the story he rants and raves in an accusatory fashion about how he is going to get his delight in the suffering for which he is going to inflict on all the evil people of the world. In the end he enables his scientific machine and soon he begins his countdown, while displaying an increasing madness with each number that descends to ZERO. Ultimately, as his machine is activated, he lets out a horrific scream, for it is he, and only he, that has miniaturized.
The point of the story is obvious. That is, when it comes to observing others, there is a tendency to be judgmental – especially when the topic is human behavior and how we perceive “at-risk behaviors” in others. At times, it can be a delicate balance for an observer to note an at-risk behavior without coming across as Theodore Bikel in that Twilight Zone episode. Yet by using prudent efforts to recognize workplace hazards – which include accident precursors such as at-risk behaviors – we are indeed, empowered to prevent a fellow worker and friend from being hurt by simply speaking up.
No heirloom of humankind captures the past as do art and language
Theodore Bikel