Association for Behavior Analysis International

Built on the foundation of behavior analysis, behavioral safety aims to prevent harm and reduce human suffering by targeting risk and intervening upon environmental factors related to safe behaviors. Yet, behavioral safety programs are only as effective as their implementation. This symposium will report on recent advances in behavioral safety data analyses and methodologies used to document current front-line supervisors’ safety practices and conversations with their workers in the chemical, petroleum, and manufacturing industries. Specifically, the first presentation investigated the impact of individual observations on near term injury probability by analyzing 3-years of data gathered in a chemical organization. The second presentation will showcase a data-based case study of a methodology used to document the day in the life of a front-line supervisor and how that information was used to create white space in their day to allow them to interact and have safety conversations with their workers. The final presentation will present a data-based case study conducted to investigate the components of front-line supervisor’s and their worker’s quality of safety conversations in a manufacturing setting.

The target audience for our symposium is anyone who is interested in learning more about behavioral safety, OBM, the impact that conversations has on the supervisor-supervisee relationship, and methodologies to understand a workers day and interactions. Although the topic is being presented via a safety lens, the contents can be generalized to anyone who has a supervisor-supervisee relationship or are interested in learning more about data analysis. All attendees can benefit from this presentation, but introductory knowledge to behavior-based safety would lead to a deeper comprehension of the content presented.

Behavioral safety programs have been efficacious in reducing injury outcomes (Ludwig & Laske, 2023). The present study attempts to investigate the impact of individual observations on near term injury probability. Rolling sum time-series logistic regression analysis was performed on 3-years of behavioral safety observations and incident data (injuries and near misses) across two divisions of a chemical organization (manufacturing & maintenance). Each additional safety observation performed by an employee decreased the likelihood of an incident occurring over the next three days by 17% (manufacturing) - 23% (maintenance). At current rates of behavioral safety observations in these divisions were related to the avoidance of 7 (manufacturing) - 44 (maintenance) incidents per year.

We will present a data-based case study that we conducted in a refinery to document the day in the life of a front-line supervisor (FLS). Through our assessment we were able to identify several opportunities to streamline or eliminate tasks in order to create white space in their day for them to be able to interact with and have more meaningful safety conversations with their workers. The need for this case study arose based on the exigency of FLS to allocate more of their time on the field interacting, training, and supporting their team, to ultimately improve production and decrease injuries. Throughout this presentation we will explain the methodology we used to gather data, highlight the benefits and the limitations of using this methodology, and we will finish by explaining how we used the information to make positive changes in the refinery.