How to positively encourage safe behaviour

With health and safety interventions we tend to assume that information alone creates sustainable behavioural change. While this may make sense on an intellectual level, individuals need a more integrated approach: one that considers the complexities of deeply ingrained patterns. 

Providing knowledge and guidance is vital. But motivation for behaviour change requires much more than providing tools for carrying out the behaviours. To ensure sustained behaviour change, programs need to engage with participants in ways that elicit their own goals, interests, and plans so that they can develop their own value for and interest in their own health and safety. When individuals feel deeply connected to the behaviours they are attempting to change, they may be more likely to push through tough times and sustain the behaviours in the long run.

A supportive environment is crucial. Changing behaviours can at times feel threatening to others, or it can shake up the rhythms of how a person interacts with family, friends, co-workers, and other important relationships. Renegotiating change also takes time and some diplomacy. Building strong alliances of support and being able to address those who create roadblocks goes a long way to ensuring sustainable change. 

Psychological research has shown us time and time again that positive reinforcement is the single most powerful tool in our arsenal for eliciting and maintaining desired behaviour. Strategic use of positive reinforcement is effective and highly cost-efficient.

Positive reinforcement is defined as any action that follows a behaviour and makes it more likely that the behaviour will occur again. An easy way to understand this is to think of something pleasant being added to a situation. In the workplace, acknowledging employees for adhering to safe practices is an easy and powerful form of positive reinforcement. A simple sincere “I saw how you assisted your colleague to use the ladder safely – Thank you”, will go a long way to encourage health and safe working behaviours. Someone else’s silent gratitude is not worth much to us. As human beings, we crave and respond to positive feedback.

To monitor risk, we must have awareness of how people are performing with respect to many discrete and routine tasks. Staying safe depends on doing the right thing all day every day, even when nobody is looking. Staying focused on the “little things” requires frequent reminders and reinforcements. In the absence of such feedback, human beings naturally drift away from safe practices and use of error prevention tools. To stay safe, we need others to notice and reinforce proper adherence to safety expectations.

Remember, genuine praise has tremendous value for employees: A national survey of over 2,000 people once documented that more than two-thirds of the workers said that praise and recognition from their bosses was more motivating than money. This Gallup Poll indicated that 80 percent reported that praise and recognition motivated them to do a better job.

Make It Matter

 Praising people haphazardly does not work. In fact, false praise can be discouraging. People know when others are shining them on and wonder what is wrong with them to warrant disingenuous acts. As the proverbial saying goes, “False praise stinketh.” In contrast, positive reinforcement builds confidence when it is:

• Tied to observation and fact.
• Occurs close in time to the act.
• Spells out what was observed and why the action is worthy of praise.

People take notice when a senior leader walks the shop floor and makes a comment like, “I appreciate you wearing your safety goggles because we’re trying to reduce eye injuries by 50 percent by the end of the year.” Or “I heard you ask for clarification about what is on your job card. If more people demonstrated a questioning attitude like yours, we could reduce the rate of rework. That would provide more money for year-end bonuses.”

In proper measure, praise generates openness to change. Noticing and praising safe behaviour does not just happen. It does not even come naturally. As human beings, we are conditioned to scan the environment for things that are wrong or out-of-place. Our natural tendency is to criticize or punish. We are prone to give negative or corrective feedback. There is a time and place for both positive reinforcement and corrective feedback. However, it is important to understand that:

• Positive reinforcement is more powerful than punishment for influencing or shaping behaviour.
• Corrective feedback is most effective when there is a history of ample positive reinforcement.
• The necessary ratio involves at least five positive interactions for every corrective one (5:1).

Positive reinforcement builds a relationship of respect and trust between supervisors and supervisees. It affects co-workers in the same way. The trust that builds is like money in the bank because it enables people to receive corrective feedback more effectively. People are more willing to believe and respond favourably to corrective feedback that is delivered by people who have a history of noticing what they do well.

Working through Initial Resistance

 Regardless of the industry – public education, day care, healthcare, manufacturing, construction, or motor repair – supervisors invariably resist the use of positive reinforcement. It is common to hear comments like, “I shouldn’t have to reinforce employees for doing their job.”

It is helpful to have real-world evidence to make the case. For example, groups respond positively to learning that compared to their peers, teachers who use positive reinforcement in proper measure have students who exhibit fewer disruptive behaviours and achieve higher on standardised test scores.

It also is important to be prepared for the reality that managers face when they initiate systematic use of positive reinforcement. Most managers will find the process to be more challenging than expected. Initially, they will uncover a host of behaviours that need to be corrected. The process of looking for the positive also is likely to reveal that some employees are unfamiliar with the company’s safety standards, haven’t had sufficient training to appreciate their importance or don’t have the resources to perform as expected. Having a plan of action is critical.

A Plan to Build and Sustain a Culture of Safety

 Companies with great safety records follow a defined process for building and sustaining a culture of safety. They:

• Set expectations – Tell people what you want to see.
• Educate – Give people the information and tools they need to be successful.
• Build accountability – Prepare managers and leaders to incorporate a proper measure of positive reinforcement into daily safety rounds.

Following this process is markedly different from holding people accountable. The latter is an approach that rests on constant supervision and punishment of undesirable behaviour. It is a losing proposition that involves daily grind that is not easy or rewarding. In contrast, building and sustaining a culture of safety includes a purposeful focus on the positive that is a daily priority. Over time, it becomes easy and fun.

Relentless use of the 5:1 positive reinforcement rule maintains widespread attention on safe and desirable actions. It may be your company’s key to getting employees to mindfully do the right thing, even when nobody is watching. As the chief nursing executive of a large healthcare system once said about building accountability, “It’s not about leaders being seen, but about what leaders are seen doing.”

Sources:

https://foodsafetytech.com/feature_article/four-steps-for-utilizing-behavioral-science-to-control-exposure-to-covid-19/ 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0884-z

https://www.ehstoday.com/safety/article/21915815/the-science-of-behavioral-safety-101-a-little-praise-goes-a-long-way

https://www.omadahealth.com/news/why-knowledge-alone-doesnt-create-behavior-change#:~:text=Human%20behavior%20is%20complex.,in%20which%20these%20changes%20occur.

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