Professional Safety - January 2019

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ASSP.ORG JANUARY 2019







































BEST PRACTICES

BEHAVIORAL SAFETY 4.0

By Judy Agnew

The application of behavioral science has contributed greatly to improvements in safety. From behavior-
based safety to safety leadership to developing a positive safety culture, the science of behavior has helped
thousands of organizations improve safety performance.

Many organizations implement reporting, which fades over time despite driving behaviors and improvements in
safety programs using elements of the constant reminders from leaders to con- those behaviors, in addition to providing
science such as behavioral observations, tinually look for and report hazards. feedback on at-risk driving behavior. The
feedback and the reinforcement of safe balance of consequences should heavily
behavior, but these only scratch the sur- •Senior leaders shift from lagging favor the positive. Any technology that
face of how the science can help. Rather indicators to a dashboard of leading in- leads to more positive reinforcement will
than limiting behavioral science to spe- dicators to monitor safety performance, be welcomed, not resisted.
cific safety processes, organizations can then discover that many leading indica-
reap the full benefit of the science by ap- tor metrics are being pencil-whipped or Computer Monitoring
plying these principles whenever making inaccurately skewed to the positive. Monitoring computers is often boring
decisions that affect safety. Behavioral
science provides evidence-based strat- What many organizations fail to real- work. When everything is running well
egies for optimizing any and all safety ize is that these outcomes can be under- (i.e., highly reliable) there are rarely is-
systems that involve human behavior. stood, predicted and, most importantly, sues to see and respond to. It is perfectly
avoided by the application of behavioral predictable that attention will drift. The
Today’s workplaces are in a constant science. Following are behavioral expla- technical term for this is extinction.
state of change. New technologies, nations for each of these scenarios and There is nothing to reinforce the behav-
changing markets and improvements in recommendations for how to maximize ior of looking when everything is always
safety practice all require changes in be- their desired impact. working as it should be. If organizations
havior, at every level of the organization. need people to be diligent about moni-
Applying the science of behavior ensures New technologies, chang- toring, they must find ways to build in
rapid and sustained behavior change, yet reinforcement. Aubrey Daniels (ADI,
often organizations do not use these tools ing markets and improve- 2018) suggests occasionally building in
and principles to make these necessary false positives. Rotating tasks that re-
changes. Following are examples of new ments in safety practice quire high attention levels with standard
technologies and practices that should monitoring tasks is another option. As
have improved safety, but wound up all require changes in Daniels (2018) says, “If you design jobs
being less than effective because organi- that require employees to constantly
zations did not apply behavioral science behavior, at every level of monitor systems that rarely fail, you are
when implementing them. designing jobs that will put people to
the organization. sleep. To then punish people for falling
•Transportation companies install asleep is unjust.”
cameras in vehicles to monitor driver Sensors in Vehicles
behavior and reduce collisions, then Sensors can provide moment-by-mo- Process Safety Behaviors
find camera lenses tampered with (e.g., Many process safety behaviors are
covered in petroleum jelly, cords cut or ment data on position and speed of
disabled in some way). vehicles, braking and other indictors of similar to the monitoring behaviors not-
driving performance. On the surface this ed; they are designed to check and make
•Dangerous jobs previously performed technology seems like a godsend in that sure nothing is wrong. Therefore, they
by humans are now performed by robots it allows organizations to know how op- are also susceptible to extinction. Other
and other computer-controlled devices, erators are driving when they are out of process safety behaviors such as commu-
leaving humans to simply monitor the sight of supervision and provide feedback nicating vital information and diligently
computers. Organizations repeatedly find to improve safe driving behaviors. Un- following procedures are all designed to
those who should be monitoring the pro- fortunately, the natural tendency in most prevent low-probability events, making
cess are asleep on the job, even going so organizations is to set up systems that it all too easy for workers to skip them in
far as to build hidden beds for themselves. alert management to driving exceptions, favor of seemingly more pressing work
the things drivers do wrong. This leads to (“It will be okay to skip this check just
•Process safety is introduced with training the use of more frequent negative feed- this once. I’ll do it tomorrow.”).
and fanfare, but over time the process checks back and discipline to manage behav-
and procedures are completed inconsistently, iors. Not surprisingly, drivers view this Again, this is perfectly predictable
resulting in dangerous exposure. technology as “big brother” and resist its once you understand that the more
use, even disable the technology to avoid immediate and certain consequences
•Organizations strongly encourage negative consequences. are, the more powerful they are. More
near-hit reporting for the purpose of orga- pressing work is work with immediate
nizational learning but find that only a few Those who understand behavior scien- and certain consequences, and, thus, will
minor incidents are reported, and little tifically know that anything that leads to always be done before work with future,
organizational learning is accomplished. more negative consequences will be resist- uncertain consequences. The solution lies
ed. To make such technology effective, it
•Hazard identification training re- should be used to positively reinforce safe
sults in a temporary increase in hazard

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 19

BEST PRACTICES

THEERAPONG28/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS

in using this knowledge to build in more hazard remediation processes do little to agers accountable for having good num-
immediate and certain consequences positively reinforce reporting. bers, senior leaders should hold them
for the process safety behaviors so they accountable for careful analysis of what
do not succumb to procrastination, thus Too often, employees state that report- the numbers say about the current state
leaving sites vulnerable. ed hazards go into a black hole. Those re- of incident prevention, and for following
porting do not get feedback on what they through on corrective actions.
Near-Hit Reporting have reported, and sometimes the haz-
Despite communicating the desire ards are not fixed for weeks or months, Conclusion
if ever. It doesn’t take many experiences As these examples demonstrate, behav-
for employees to report near-hits, most like this for extinction to set in. People
organizations inadvertently discourage think, “Why bother?” and stop reporting. ior change is an inevitable requirement of
reporting by how they react when a near- safety improvement, whether necessitated
hit is reported. In obvious cases, the use of While the best reinforcer for reporting by technology, safety culture goals or a
discipline or termination sends a chilling a hazard is to have that hazard remedi- more sophisticated understanding of risk.
message through an organization, reduc- ated, employees understand that is not The most cutting-edge technology will not
ing the tendency to report. Less obviously, always immediately possible. Commu- help save lives if people do not use it prop-
time-consuming paperwork, uncomfort- nication serves as a bridging reinforcer erly. Now more than ever, an even deeper
able interviews by managers and public until the hazard can be taken care of. As understanding of behavior is required to
sharing of the near-hit events all often long as people know why there is a delay improve safety performance. Organiza-
serve to discourage people from reporting. (e.g., waiting on parts, necessary budget tions that learn how to apply the science
review) and are updated regularly, they to identify and analyze required behavior
Remember, reporting a near-hit, even will be willing to continue to look for changes will be able to anticipate the in-
without these kinds of consequences, and report hazards. evitable behavioral challenges that new
is unpleasant for most people because technology brings, and take steps to align
it often requires admitting to having Managing With Leading Indicators organizational systems to accelerate and
made a mistake. To increase reporting of Managing safety with leading indica- sustain those desired and needed behavior
meaningful near-hits, reporting must be changes. PSJ
positively reinforced and negative con- tors is a huge step toward true preventive
sequences minimized. This may mean safety management. However, how those References
building in anonymity or other com- metrics are used matters. If manag-
promises (e.g., reduced paperwork) that ers know that bad numbers will lead Aubrey Daniels International (ADI). (2018).
make learning from the near-hits easier to negative consequences from senior Safe by accident? Eliminating the rare error [vid-
or more likely. The bottom line: If people leadership, they will do what they can to eo]. Retrieved from www.aubreydaniels.com/
don’t report, no learning can take place. avoid bad numbers. Senior leaders must video/safe-accident-eliminating-rare-error
learn to embrace and celebrate less-than-
Hazard Reporting perfect numbers in safety because those Daniels, A. (2018, Dec. 14). Eliminating rare er-
Many organizations have an increased numbers provide insight into what to do rors: Sleeping air traffic controllers are just the tip
to improve. Rather than holding man- of the iceberg. ADI blog. Retrieved from www
focus on hazard identification and reme- .aubreydaniels.com/eliminating-rare-errors
diation because it is clear that the more
hazards that get reported and eliminated, Judy Agnew, Ph.D., is senior vice president of safety solutions at Aubrey Daniels International
the safer the workplace. Again, report- (www.aubreydaniels.com/safety-solutions.com). For nearly 30 years, she has worked with clients from
ing a hazard is a behavior that must be various industries to create behavioral interventions that ensure that organizations are safe by design.
positively reinforced to be strengthened. Agnew has presented at major safety conferences and key corporate events, and has authored three
Unfortunately, many organizations’ highly regarded safety books including Safe By Accident? Agnew is a professional member of ASSP’s
Sacramento Chapter.

20 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

LEADING THOUGHTS

SURE-FOOTED LEADERSHIP

By Robert Pater

I’m sure you’ve heard the definition of insanity as continually doing the same thing but
expecting different results. Or, in a similar vein, perhaps you are familiar with Will Rogers’s
advice on the secret of success: “When you’re in a hole, quit digging.”

I think these pithy sayings are all too true, ac- They often ignore slips and falls, he adds, choosing Robert Pater
curately and unfortunately reflecting many leaders to “focus efforts on what they think they can do
who get stuck repeating the same old strategies and something about.” This goes to the heart of a limited Robert Pater, M.A., is
actions while magically hoping for breakthrough assumption in too many leaders noted by Di Pilla, managing director and
changes. These leaders don’t recognize that they may “Only equipment, tools and environment are readily founder of MoveSMART
need to totally change their approach in order to changeable, people really aren’t.” (www.movesmart
step up improvements. .com). Clients include
Also adding to leadership complacency is that, Amtrak, ArcelorMittal,
So, what happens after failing to move up and while pervasive, STFs affect/hamper people of all BHP Billiton, BMW,
beyond the same old disappointing results? Typi- ages in every business sector and outside of work Borgwarner, BP,
cally, some leaders’ thoughts then slide into crip- as well, but they rarely result in fatalities. Does this Cummins, Domtar,
pling frustrations, slip into mea culpas or even fall result in STFs being below some leaders’ threshold Honda, Marathon
into lashing out to lacerate the innocent. In safety of what’s considered a serious safety issue? Also, Oil, Nissan, ONE Gas,
leadership, I’ve especially seen this pattern stuck in bear in mind that, in addition to the likely small Rio Tinto, United
a loop when it comes to trying to actually reduce percentage of actual falls reported, this doesn’t in- Airlines, U.S. Steel
ongoing/nagging/frustrating/destructive same-level clude the even fewer reported numbers of slips, trips and WestRock. Pater
slips, trips and falls (STFs). There are good reasons and stumbles. has presented at ASSP
why these STF injuries are so difficult to prevent. conferences and deliv-
For a first step toward actually making significant Then there’s leadership arrogance (but without ered 32 ASSP webinars.
reductions in these injuries, I suggest truly seeing high-level results to back this). I remember how, His book, Leading
and understanding actual, and often not obvious, after presenting on preventing STFs at an ASSP Pro- From Within, has been
contributors to the problem. This makes it easier to fessional Development Conference several years ago, published in five lan-
then strategically and effectively address what’s real- a delegate asked, “You the one who just talked about guages. Pater is a pro-
ly going on. preventing STFs?” After I admitted this, he assumed fessional member of
a wide stiffened stance and challenged, “Well, there’s ASSP’s Columbia-Wil-
The Stumbling Seven: Why Are So nothing I could learn from you that’s any different.” lamette Chapter.
Many STFs So Difficult to Reduce? I took in his self-satisfied expression and responded,
1) Pervasive Injuries “You’re probably right.” He signaled he already knew
everything there was to know about STFs. I could
STF injuries are pervasive to everyone every- almost certainly tell him things he didn’t know but
where, not just in slippery environments. This is would he actually learn anything? Seemed to me
probably because there are so many exposures. STFs that his mind was as tightly locked as his knees.
can occur whenever someone walks, runs, steps up
or down, or generally moves. The only people (on 3) Limited Leadership Mind-Set
their feet) not at risk are those who just stand still, Too many assume that STFs are mostly seasonal,
never taking a step. And even then, merely reaching
out just a few millimeters too far shifts body weight when it’s wet or cold. But STFs occur even in trop-
forward, which leads to leaning, then in turn can ical climates and summery conditions. This goes
cascade into a balance disruption or loss. In con- back to, if you don’t believe or see there’s a problem,
trast, most people doing physical work might risk it’s unlikely that you’ll try to fix it.
a soft-tissue injury by lifting, pushing, pulling or
using tools many times a day. But when it comes to Or leaders who mostly react short term to a rash
STFs, multiply these risks by at least 10. According of STFs. Such as waiting until the first snowfall or
to Di Pilla (2009), “Each person takes an average ice storm of the year leads to a report of a fall before
of 5,000 to 7,000 steps each day. This represents a beginning to look for training or other prevention
tremendous exposure.” For reference, many who use methods. Training takes best when people aren’t un-
fitness trackers target at least 10,000 steps a day. In der immediate pressure and have time to try out and
my experience, what this boils down to is that most improve their technique before they actually need it
people take so many steps that they can’t accurately in an emergency situation.
count them, not aware of every one, although each
has an STF risk. Be wary of the bad combination of having both
too-high a plateau of STFs and being overly self-sat-
2) STF Complacency isfied with these results. In my mind, leaders who
Di Pilla (2009) corroborates what I’ve seen among think they really know should at least be able to
demonstrate high performance. Better to accept
many leaders at numerous companies: “People think that they don’t really have a handle on how to pre-
slips and falls are not preventable, they just happen.” vent STFs past a certain level. Of course, the most
effective leaders aren’t arrogant, realizing that even
past successes don’t guarantee future ones, that ev-

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 21

LEADING THOUGHTS

erything can and will change and that they should strategies. This is applied even where and when such
focus on monitoring and adjusting rather than control is not possible. Emphasis then is to get peo-
risking a fall themselves from not seeing changing ple to take actions they see as impractical, that don’t
terrain while walking around with their noses up make sense to them or that they think will look fun-
in the air. And, most important, that they certainly ny or slow them down too much.
don’t know everything there is to know about STFs
or anything else. You may well know the typical solutions for pre-
venting STFs:
4) Continuously Changing Contributors
STFs are among the most complex of all injuries •measuring and adjusting surfaces’ coefficient of
friction;
because they have continuously changing contrib-
utors. After all, people rarely lose balance when •promoting better housekeeping to keep surfaces
standing still. Balance changes in every movement, clean, dry and uncluttered;
no matter how small—every step, arm swing or
head turn. Roger Sperry said, “Better than 90% of •footwear that overcomes slippery conditions
the brain’s output is directed toward maintaining (unfortunately, I don’t know of any shoes that deal
your body in its gravitational field” (Evoke Spinal with obstacles on the ground, nor any that work well
Care, 2016). He further elaborated that only the 10% when crossing a variety of changing surfaces);
remaining is dedicated to thinking, metabolism and
healing. Balance requires continually readjusting to •removing obstacles, covering cords and cracks
slight movement shifts, down to just reaching out when feasible or practical;
empty-handed.
•simplistic (and not often effective) awareness
5) STFs Are Emotional campaigns, verbal reminders or slogans: “Notice
Falling is likely the first fear every human has. your surroundings,” “Slow down,” “Walk like a
duck”;
Dread of falling seemingly pervades many people’s
dreams. The initial moment when balance, and •signs (“Slippery when wet” and even “Pay atten-
you, are compromised is often accompanied by a tion to the ‘slippery when wet signs’”);
panicky adrenaline rush. In fact, fear of falling has
been correlated with a greater likelihood of actually •improving lighting in more STF-prone condi-
becoming injured, as many react instinctively by tions where feasible (many companies actually re-
stiffening up, which invariably lessens balance. It’s duce lighting to save energy costs);
sadly ironic that most people’s default reaction to
not get hurt actually can backfire, making injury •PPE such as nonskid mats (which can actually
more likely. For example, fear of falling often leads result in even more changes of surface friction);
to walking and moving stiffly with a higher center
of gravity, and greater overall tension in the limbs •writing it off; basically giving up, not wasting
and torso, making it more difficult to recover from time and energy on what appear to be uncontrolla-
a momentary misstep. Also, unpreventable falls lead ble, inevitable safety problems or, at the very least,
to more-severe-than-otherwise injury. relegating these to the “oh yeah, and don’t fall” back
burner of training or meetings.
STFs can be embarrassing; those who fall jump
back up as quickly as possible, hoping no one saw. What can they do when these predominantly
For the longest time, pratfalls were a staple in many environmental controls are less available or not
film, stage and TV comedies. This may be one rea- cost-effective, in the parking lot, in large and older
son, combined with their prevalence, why STFs plants, on client’s turf, at home? Give up? Broadcast
may be significantly underreported (according to more reminders?
numerous safety professionals with whom I’ve spo-
ken off the record). And because so many people fall 7) Fall Prevention Fatigue
so many times in their lives and often feel embar- After some ongoing frustration and feelings of
rassed, popping up from the ground, so many STFs
go unreported (even though they may spur immedi- powerlessness when trying to prevent STFs (by
ate or lingering damage). So, do you actually know doing minor variations of the same old approaches
how many STF incidents are occurring? that may have been effective to a certain point),
I’ve noticed many leaders become half-hearted and
6) Reflexively Defaulting complacent, not really believing that these injuries
to the Same Old Solutions can be considerably reduced. And when the leader
doesn’t really believe it him/herself, everyone else
When they don’t know what else they can do, will adopt this attitude; leadership complacency
leaders may resort to repeating the same old ap- leads to worker complacency. This often transforms
proaches they are aware of, many of which have into placing STF prevention on the back burner, a
ingrained limitations. “have to, probably should go over once again” pro-
gram that’s not driven with much alive attention,
The default for STF prevention predominantly focus or enthusiasm.
focuses on outside-in, control-the-environment
Now the Good News
Yes, numerous leaders have found that STFs are

challenging to prevent. But we’ve seen companies
achieve significant reductions in these ordinarily
pervasive injuries. U.S. Steel Corp. Gary Works
has been able to reduce STFs among its older adult
workforce by up to 45%. Some Amtrak divisions

22 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

implementing the four-step strategy described in
the next section saw a reduction in its incident
rate of more than 50% in 1 year. Even in high-
risk environments, a major global oil company
achieved a 42% drop in incidents in its offshore
exploration operations within 1 year after imple-
menting this approach.

As Stevie Wonder sings, “Problems have solu-
tions.” Experience has repeatedly shown that it’s
possible to achieve significant STF improvements
by balancing a traditional environmental control/
modification approach while transmitting those
practical skills workers need and can actually use to
stay upright and safe.

Four-Step Strategy For Preventing STFs
Wish to realize similar breakthrough results as

some other organizations? Consider this four-step
approach.

1) Identify & Reduce Hidden Exposures Individual/personal contributors to STFs you It’s sadly
The bottom line is to be sure you have opera- might consider: 1) Why is it that the person fell ironic
now when s/he has crossed that exact same ground
tional integrity and that you’re taking care of the thousands of times before? 2) If there are two peo- that most
basics (actually doing all the typical or traditional ple working in similar environments doing similar people’s
STF-prevention mostly-engineering-control ap- tasks, why does one frequently slip or trip and the default
proaches noted). Then determine, ideally with a other doesn’t? reaction to
cross-sectional team of workers, managers and other not get hurt
professionals, which STF contributing factors you 2) Build STF Mind-Set, actually can
can and can’t directly and cost-effectively control Mindfulness & Expectations backfire,
(some are noted in the “Stumbling Seven” section). making
Interest, desire and belief are critical precursors injury more
For the former, go beyond the standards; look to practicing and making individual improvements
for common STF risks that are taken for granted in STF-prevention skills. This entails stimulating likely.
such as staircase railings that don’t extend around a desire to deepen balance and a belief that this
JAMES WOODSON/DIGITALVISION/GETTY IMAGES landings or end before the lowest step (this pre- is actually possible, and it is. I know from more
vents use of the last step and sends a false visual than 3 decades of work across many industries
signal that stairs have ended and the person is on that just about anyone can learn relatively quickly
level ground). Watch for transition areas (I also call to become more STF-aware to avoid hidden risks,
these border areas) where surface friction suddenly and also to heighten mental and physical skill sets
changes. Sometimes laying down nonskid mats that prevent these incidents and reduce injuries.
in an island of lower coefficient of friction (i.e., The former includes alerting or messaging that it’s
slipperier) ground can actually work against STF not just slippery conditions that cause STFs, that
prevention, as this requires more back-and-forth balance is complex, but trainable, and then proving
adaption/adjustment of gait/momentum to not trip this to them.
on the first step onto the mat and not slip on the
first step off of it. Worn down or curled up mats Setting the right expectations is critical to making
can also become STF hazards. improvements. Leaders can and should send clear
and consistent messages, along with congruent
Check to see that lighting is raised and adequate, modifications and training. Leaders can message
even for older workers who may need more illumi- that no matter how “safe” the surface is, it’s still
nation to see with the same clarity as younger ones possible to lose balance when moving, that they
do. Watch for lighting on the entrances and exits of encourage medical checkups to detect potential
stairs and ramps. Factors in the physical environ- physiological fall contributors. Leaders should also
ment can definitely contribute to but don’t by them- emphasize that each person can learn to become
selves cause STFs. more sure-footed, more balanced in a wide range of
conditions and that STFs are definitely preventable
There are also individual contributors to these at work and at home.
injuries such as physical and medical condition,
previous injuries that impair movement, flexibility,
balance, corrected or uncorrected vision, restrictive
clothing, aging effects, mind-set, level of physical
and mental tension, medications (side effects), ill-
ness that affects balance, habits (reaching/leaning),
rushing, and leg and core strength. Identify which of
these and others might apply in your company.

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 23

LEADING THOUGHTS

3) Transfer Critical Injury and further practice of new mental and physical
Prevention & Reduction Skill Sets skill sets. Elicit and disseminate any stories or
anecdotes of STF avoidance, successful use of
These include noting STF risks, making best techniques, skills or early recovery, both at work
practical decisions to avoid risks, maintaining bal- and at home (definitely convey these are portable
ance when moving (e.g., with empty hands, when skills that can be used everywhere). Involve su-
carrying, changing surfaces and step-ups/downs), pervisors and everyone else from bottom to top.
recovering balance when initially compromised or Remember that STFs can affect everyone. Even
wavering so as to not fall, and learning how to mini- CEOs and their families fall, too.
mize damage from unpreventable balance loss.
Have you heard anyone contend that STFs are
As noted, balance is complex. Ultimately im- impossible to actually prevent, that they’re bound
proving balance entails heightening the internal to happen and there’s little you can do? Have you
skill sets of self-monitoring and adjusting to had this thought yourself? Don’t fall for it. As Stevie
maintain vertical alignment while moving with Wonder sings, “Problems have solutions.” The same
minimal tension (i.e., balance is a state of low ten- is true for STFs by going beyond doing the same old
sion/potential energy), and transfering skills and things, by balancing external/environmental con-
practice in first elevating stationary balance (on trols where possible with internalizing STF through
both one and two feet), increasing leg strength (to transmitting those practical mental and physical
maximize support), to maintain vertical alignment skills to help everyone become more in control of
when moving, to cross challenging surfaces as safe- his/her own safety. Doing so can not only prevent
ly as possible (e.g., uneven, dark, slippery, in/out these potentially severe injuries, it can also reduce
vehicles, ramps). related ones (e.g., soft-tissue, hand), raise credibility
for safety within your company and elevate safety
Mental skills include self-monitoring (“Am I culture overall. PSJ
actually leaning even a bit now?” “Am I walking
with my shoulders toward my ears, raising my References
center of gravity?” “Is there excess tension in my
upper torso?” “Do my feet make good contact/feel Di Pilla, S. (2009, July). Slip, trip and fall prevention: A
the ground so I’m not mini-stumbling as I move?” practical handbook (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
“Which part(s) of my foot does my weight fall over
when I’m standing in place and when walking?”). Evoke Spinal Care. (2016). Dr. Roger Sperry. Retrieved
Other mental skills include practicing attention from www.evokespinalcare.com/2016/02/06/dr-roger
changing (there are many learnable skills here), vi- -sperry
sually leading movement with the eyes (in a similar
vein, car skid control experts teach to first “stare” Pater, R. & Bowles, R. (2007, Apr. 30). 9 keys for direct-
into a turn rather than “steering” into it). The prac- ing attention to safety. EHS Today. Retrieved from http://
tical term for this should be eye-hand coordination, ehstoday.com/safety/ehs_imp_66375
not the other way around.
Pater, R. (1985, October). Fallsafe: An innovative safety
Physical STF prevention skills (in addition to program. Professional Safety, 30(10), 15-18.
balance strengthening) can include coordinating/
syncing breath and movement to increase range of Pater, R. (1985, December). Don’t fall for it! Nation’s
motion and to reduce excess tension, best maintain- Business.
ing the “alignment nine” (ankles; knees; hips; spine;
neck; shoulders; elbows; wrists; fingers) that affect Pater, R. (2001, January). Attention control for safety
balance, boosting smooth and connected move- and productivity. Professional Safety, 46(1), 53.
ment, and enlisting bracing scientifically rather than
over-leaning. Pater, R. (2009, July). Stepping beyond organizational
tripups. Occupational Health & Safety. Retrieved from
While I can’t transmit methods for recovering https://ohsonline.com/articles/2009/07/01/break
balance or fall reduction in writing, rest assured through-strategies.aspx
that many of these are relatively simple and can be
quickly learned and applied. Pater, R. (2015, March). Attentionally avoiding traps—
and trips. Occupational Health & Safety. Retrieved from
4) Culturally Reinforce STF Safety http://ohsonline.com/articles/2015/03/01/avoiding-traps
Changing lifelong stepping and moving hab- -and-trips.aspx?admgarea=magazine

its is unlikely to happen with one message or Pater, R. (Producer). (2015). Fusing organizational strat-
exposure. These improvements are doable but egies and individuals’ skills for actually preventing slips,
require multiple mental and physical reviews and trips and falls [webinar].
practice. Remind employees of the personal ben-
efits of improving balance (e.g., greater strength, Pater, R. (2015). Preventing older worker slip-ups.
better results in their favorite sports and hob- Occupational Health & Safety. Retrieved from https://
bies, less fatigue). Surface and respond positive- movesmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Prevent
ly to skepticism (“Right. You’re going to teach ing-Older-Worker-Slip-ups-Occupational-Health-Safety
me how to walk different?”). Transmit positive .pdf
expectations of change. Allow time for review
Pater, R. (2017, Dec. 1). The “surprising” realities of
slips, trips and falls: What it takes to actually make sig-
nificant improvements. Occupational Health & Safety. Re-
trieved from https://ohsonline.com/Articles/2017/12/01/
Surprising-Realities.aspx

Young, W.R. & Williams, A.M. (2014, Sept. 22). How
fear of falling can increase fall-risk in older adults: Apply-
ing psychological theory to practical observations. Gait &
Posture, 41(1), 7-12. Retrieved from www.sciencedirect
.com/science/article/pii/S096663621400705X

24 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

CHECKPOINTS

PROXIMITY WARNING SYSTEMS

for Enhanced Safety Practices

By Amber Richards

Proximity warning systems are autonomous detection systems that can help address struck-by and caught-
between injuries, which are a concern for work sites where pedestrians and mobile equipment coexist. Safety
managers should evaluate whether such technologies can provide additional protection for their workforce.

MNBB/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS Struck-by and caught-between These systems improve pedestrian awareness Total cost of ownership is an important
injuries are two of OSHA’s “Fatal Four” and participation in safety management to factor when evaluating a proximity warn-
leading causes of workplace fatalities. In reduce incidents in and around hazardous ing system. Whether the system requires
2016, 93 struck-by-object fatalities and work zones by providing alerts only to the hardware only, hardware and software, or
72 caught-in/between fatalities occurred individual(s) currently in the hazard zone. hardware, software and additional wireless
in construction (BLS, 2017). For any in- In congested, low visibility or noisy work infrastructure could greatly impact the total
dustry or work site with a combination of areas where mandatory hearing protection is cost of the solution. Factors in the total cost of
pedestrians and mobile equipment, robust required, these systems can monitor multiple ownership include the initial cost of the hard-
policies, procedures and safe work prac- individual threats autonomously and provide ware, software, installation and configuration,
tices are required to promote pedestrian discrete warnings such as vibrations to the data analytics, and ongoing operations and
safety and collision avoidance. individual to cut through the clutter of multi- maintenance. Implementing a hardware-only
ple audible and visual warnings at busy sites. solution can reduce the total cost of owner-
Even with the most diligent workforce, ship by eliminating software costs, addressing
incidents and injuries can occur based Considerations for Evaluating privacy concerns, and minimizing ongoing
on many factors, including poor visibil- Proximity Warning Systems operations and maintenance costs.
ity, environmental conditions and noisy,
congested areas. To address these factors, Proximity warning systems use wireless Finally, consider factors such as reli-
sensor-based technologies are an effective technology to communicate between the ability, scalability and sustainability for
complement to standard safety practices. host (transmitter) and receiver. In general, the implemented solution.
wireless technologies use radio waves to es-
Proximity warning systems are autono- tablish this communications channel. Dif- Conclusion
mous detection systems that use wireless ferent wireless technologies use different The number of workplace injuries and
technology to communicate between equip- frequencies. It is important to understand
ment and pedestrians via wearables designed the frequencies of equipment currently fatalities remain unacceptably high. Prox-
to discretely and directly alert the individual operating in the work site (e.g., radios, imity warning systems can enhance the
of nearby hazards in their work zone without control systems) to limit the potential of effectiveness of holistic safety programs
requiring line-of-sight. These systems can interference or cross band noise that could and help reduce the risk of struck-by and
provide 360º surveillance, including blind affect existing equipment or the effective- caught-in/between incidents by improving
spots, around corners, and through some ness of the proximity warning system. awareness and promoting collective partic-
walls and fencing. Additionally, proximity Proximity warning systems that use very ipation in safety management. While prox-
warning systems can be used to create virtual low frequency wireless technology, which imity warning systems are an aid to safety
exclusion zones for static hazards that affect fall below the frequency range of most ra- management, these systems should be
both pedestrians and mobile equipment. dio emitting devices found on a work site, used in addition to established on-site safe
can minimize the risk of radio interference. working practices. Safety managers should
Proximity Warning Systems continue to implement best practices and
in Holistic Safety Programs Most proximity warning systems provide evaluate whether technologies such as prox-
variable coverage zones based on the wire- imity warning systems can provide addi-
Backing vehicles and moving equip- less configuration. To select the most appro- tional protection for their workforce. PSJ
ment are common causes of struck-by priate coverage zone, the work site should
injuries and can lead to caught-between be evaluated to determine how quickly References
injuries by pinning a pedestrian against the alert should be triggered. Factors for
an object. According to NIOSH (2014), consideration include the size, number and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). (2017, Dec.
these types of incidents can occur for sev- speed of the mobile equipment; available 19). National census of fatal occupational inju-
eral reasons, including: mounting locations for transmitters; the ries in 2016. Retrieved from www.bls.gov/news
number of pedestrians in the active zone; .release/pdf/cfoi.pdf
•Operators may not be able to see a environmental constraints such as high
pedestrian in a blind spot. electromagnetic zones; and whether the NIOSH. (2014, June). Preventing pedestrian inju-
application is indoors or outdoors. ries and deaths from backing construction vehicles and
•Pedestrians may not hear alarms for equipment at roadway construction work sites (Pub-
moving vehicles and equipment due to lication No. 2014-125). Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/
other work site noises or malfunctions. niosh/docs/wp-solutions/2014-125/pdfs/2014-125.pdf

•Spotters may not see another truck or Amber Richards, PMP, is CEO of MyZone US LLC (www.myzone-us.com), North American distributor
moving equipment behind them. of the MyZone worker alert system. Richards is a technologist specializing in sensor-based and automatic
identification solutions for government, industrial and infrastructure projects. Her certifications include RFID
•Operators may assume that the area is Professional Institute Associate Certificate (RPIAC), RFID Professional Institute Professional Certificate (RPIPC)
clear and not look in the direction of travel. and CompTIA RFID+. Richards holds an M.P.S. in Technology Management from Georgetown University, an
International M.B.A. from University of South Carolina and a B.A. in Political Science from Converse College.
Proximity warning systems are an integral
component of a holistic safety program.

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 25

SAFETY TRAINING
Peer-Reviewed

ONLINE VS.
CONVENTIONAL

Safety Training
Approaches

By H.E. “Trey” Greene and Cheryl L. (Cheri) Marcham

AAS ACCESS TO HIGH-SPEED INTERNET HAS BECOME UBIQUITOUS 2013; Teague & Riley, 2006), and industrial safety and health
and the possibilities presented by rapid advancement in the de- training for a relatively small, multinational company (Rozar,
velopment of interactive, game-based courseware increase, even Ibrahim & Razik, 2011).
the most traditionally minded safety managers are considering
including online safety training, or e-learning, in their OSH Currently, however, the preponderance of evidence from
programs. As part of that consideration, safety managers may which to draw a comparison between online and instructor-led
question whether taking safety training online is a valid alter- training is based on academic classroom settings (e.g., algebra,
native to their instructor-led efforts or if it is simply a cheaper, philosophy, history classes), but the authors see safety training
check-the-box option with less than favorable results. as quite different from a high school history class or similar
To begin the analysis of whether online safety training is application. Exploring and understanding these differences,
a valid alternative to in-person training, a typical literature as well as understanding the benefits and limitations of online
search reveals many comparative analyses on the merits or learning, can facilitate discernment on whether and when to
weaknesses of e-learning versus conventional learning ap- incorporate online safety training.
proaches. In fact, a meta-analysis of multiple studies comparing
classroom lessons with electronic distance learning lessons Safety Training: Different From Other Instruction Types
reported that no major differences exist in learning between the Employee safety training is a fundamental component of
two styles of presentation (Bernard, Abrami, Lou, et al., 2004).
However, most of the literature comparing online e-learning to any corporate compliance program. If the regulation, policy or
conventional instructor-led classroom training focuses on aca- standard does not explicitly require employee safety training,
demic education settings, although some isolated comparisons almost invariably, the corrective or preventive action resulting
of online training versus in-person training have been reported from root-cause analyses of incident investigations, ISO 14001
in specialized corporate situations (Esch, 2003; Jordan, 2016; audits or job safety analyses results in recognition that part of
Schmeeckle, 2000), online CPR training (Braun, 2002; Rogers, the solution is some nature of employee training. But safety
training is different from other types of instruction in terms of
KEY TAKEAWAYS the instructor’s role, learner motivation, verification of compe-
tency and measuring effectiveness.
•While ample published research establishes that online educa-
Differences in the Role of the Provider
tion courses can be effective, the intended purpose and expected In contrast with higher education, for example, the provider
outcomes of safety training are different than for academic edu-
cational courses. role is altogether different in safety training. A college pro-
fessor sets out his/her curriculum and lesson plans, delivers
•With safety training, it is not enough to simply provide the em- lectures, assigns reading, and administers mid-term and final
exams. If the student pays attention in class, completes the
ployee with training; the employer must also show that employees assignments and studies, s/he should earn a passing grade.
can demonstrate competency by transferring the knowledge and If graded on a scale, the student is in competition with other
skills acquired in training and performing the job safely. students. The greater the aptitude and effort, the better the
grade. The professor has a limited implied responsibility for
•In many cases, online safety courses can be more efficient, consis- how well the student fares in the course. An A grade indicates
that the student achieved a high level of competency with
tent and cost effective. However, OSH professionals should selec-
tively apply e-learning and understand when face-to-face training
provides a better option.

26 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

LAURENCE DUTTON/E+/GETTY IMAGES the material; a D grade indicates that the student displayed achieve their educational goals. Presumably, there lies some
limited competency. Further, if a student earns a D grade or passion for the subject matter, and while they may not be en-
fails a course, the professor has no follow-on responsibility to tirely convinced that this class is critical to their education,
continue providing instruction until the student is competent they may see it as a means to an end. In contrast, employees
in the material. If a student fails while others do well, it is gen- typically dislike safety training. Most OSH training assigned
erally perceived as the student’s fault. to employees (e.g., safe lifting, stormwater compliance, work-
place violence) is perceived as a bureaucratic requirement that
In contrast, an instructor hired by an employer to deliver a they are required to sit through.
hazard communication course to a group of employees has an
entirely different job. The instructor has been hired to train em- Lim, Lee and Nam (2007) report that motivation, or “the de-
ployees on their rights and responsibilities under the standard, gree to which the learner is willing to make efforts to improve
the hazards to which they are potentially exposed and how they his or her performance of training and work” (Robinson, 1985),
can mitigate those hazards so that they can work safely. In this directly affects online learning performance. Mathieu, Tannen-
type of instruction, the instructor bears more relative responsi- baum and Salas (1992) report that trainees react more positively
bility in ensuring that the learner learns. With little exception, and score higher on post-test results if participation in work-
simply failing an employee because s/he did not pay attention place training is self-selected rather than assigned. While some
during lectures is not an option. In the authors’ experience companies allow employees to selectively complete supplemen-
providing safety and environmental training to a range of au- tal, non-regulatory-based training, most safety training courses
diences, it is not uncommon to have delivered a safety course are assigned, mandatory courses. This motivation and attitude,
in which not all the students have achieved competency in the where the employee comes to the training event potentially
subject matter by the end of the scheduled course. Invariably, “checked out” and with little motivation, adds burden to the
we find ourselves spending time with those who did not pass a trainer. To be effective, special attention must be paid to course
test to discuss concepts they had clearly not grasped during the design, development and delivery to convince the learner that
course and confirm that they ultimately do before we sign off the training is valuable and relevant.
on their certificates and leave the facility.
Differences in Verifying Employee Competence
What are the alternatives? Suggest that the employer termi- With safety training, it is not enough to simply provide
nate the employee? Send the employee off to work knowing that
s/he has not achieved competency? Of course not. Everyone training to the employee; the employer must also show that
must pass, and the employee knows this. The fact that the em- employees can demonstrate competency by transferring the
ployee “cannot fail” perpetuates a passive, less-engaged atti- knowledge and skills acquired in training and performing
tude, putting even more of the burden on the instructor. the job safely (OSHA, 2018). A typical history exam might
indicate that a student remembered that the Magna Carta
Differences in Learner Motivation was signed in 1215 or that John Wilkes Booth was an ac-
This article does not argue that a student is more excited to tor. Correctly answering these questions confirms that the
student listened to the lectures, took notes and studied the
go to an English literature lecture than is an employee going textbooks. It rarely confirms that the student achieved the
to a HazCom course, but there are subtle differences in the wisdom and world perspective that knowing the history
way these individuals perceive the event. College students should provide.
have chosen their school and selected the classes they need to

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 27

In contrast, an effective OSH training program must es- Most online safety training is delivered asynchronously and
tablish direct associations between identified hazards and is self-paced. Training can range from highly interactive with
impacts, with both the employee competencies required to text, voice narration and animation, to a simple PowerPoint
mitigate them and the training designed to deliver those slide deck with a multiple-choice or true/false quiz at the end.
competencies. Companies should identify these hazards and Well-developed and thoughtful online training designed to en-
impacts through comprehensive job hazard or environmental courage processing and application of the information present-
impact analysis, establish their relative significance and deter- ed, as well as intentional interaction with the delivery system,
mine what competencies are required to mitigate these risks can effectively promote learning (Clark, 2010).
(ANSI/ASSP, 2017). Once the competencies are defined, they
should be linked with what training is delivered to meet them. For example, training that incorporates multiple inter-
This approach should be an ongoing process on a continual activity components, such a new graphical element, high-
improvement cycle (ANSI/ASSP, 2017). lighted graphical element or some other visual illustration
of a concept being conveyed throughout the training helps
Differences in Measuring Outcomes to hold the learner’s interest. In addition, periodic highly
In general, the connection between an educational degree engaging and interactive assessments such as drag and drop,
image sorting and other complex exercises designed to pro-
and the desired outcomes of that accomplishment are murky voke and test the learner’s critical thinking throughout the
at best. In fact, many recent news stories report that college course, rather than just at the end, can help to ensure that
degrees may not have a positive return on investment in life- content is conveyed. Complex scenarios can be used to en-
time earnings. In contrast, an effective safety training program gage the learner in decision-making with branching results
maintains a direct link between safety metrics and the training in which the learner is presented with varying levels of out-
being delivered. Workers’ compensation claims, OSHA-re- comes based on his/her decisions.
portable injuries, near-hit and incident investigation data are
analyzed for root causes, the solutions to which typically affect Given the technology available today,
a company’s training program. Safety training is different and,
therefore, any research comparing generic online education to it makes sense to explore online
conventional approaches is not relevant when evaluating the
comparative strengths and weakness of online safety training safety training as a tool to meet both
with conventional safety training approaches.
compliance and employee competency
Comparing Online Safety Training
to Conventional Approaches objectives. The trick is to determine

Now that the authors have argued that existing studies which mode of training is the best choice
may not be relevant to whether online safety training is as
effective as conventional approaches, let’s compare the two. for each safety training requirement and
Conventionally delivered or instructor-led safety training can
take many forms. At its best, it involves a knowledgeable, pas- employ the optimal modality.
sionate instructor with direct experience in the subject matter
delivering accurate, vetted, standardized, relevant learning Conversely, online training that relies on merely reading
content to a small group of motivated learners in an environ- a PowerPoint and answering all the questions correctly on a
ment conducive to learning, and involves testing the learners quiz provided immediately after training cannot be relied on
on the course’s terminal learning objectives. These events to ensure that the employee will be able to apply those required
can be multiday courses or 10-minute tailgate briefings. Such skills later (Clark, 2010). Content covered is not always content
courses can be delivered in a classroom or at the work site. learned (Clark, 2010); so, for this discussion, let’s presume that
They can include visual displays, individual and group prob- the online safety courses to be employed are relevant, engaging
lem-solving and hands-on exercises to assist the instructor and well-constructed.
in meeting the training objectives. At its worst, conventional
training involves dry presentations read by the instructor or Clearly, one benefit of employing e-learning is that it can
long, boring videos with content that has little relevance to be less expensive in comparison to instructor-led training,
workers’ actual on-the-job hazards. principally by eliminating direct costs related to travel time,
facilities and in-house or contract human instructors, espe-
E-learning can also take on different forms. Some of the cially for geographically dispersed organizations (Becker,
e-learning provided in higher education is considered syn- Fleming & Keijsers, 2011). In fact, avoiding these costs is
chronous e-learning. Classes are held at specific times where likely the single most compelling reason that companies
an instructor may deliver lectures via a web-conferencing plat- have adopted the technology.
form. Some classes may be asynchronous, in which students
are provided with uploaded videos or reading assignments, but An additional benefit is that e-learning is available 24 hours
students have access to an instructor for questions and partici- a day, every day, making this method advantageous for imme-
pate in online forum discussions. Students can download their diately training newly hired employees, rather than waiting for
assignments and upload homework and tests to the platform the next scheduled in-person course. For example, the authors
to be either automatically graded or graded manually by the worked with an insurance company that insured small grocery
instructor, with results posted in the platform. Asynchronous stores to switch from conventional safety training performed
educational classes can be self-paced or can have assignment by a consultant to online training. In 1 year, the company re-
due dates like synchronous learning. ported a 55% reduction in workers’ compensation claims from
clients. The reason for this astounding impact was not that the

28 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

online safety training itself was necessarily more effective than FIGURE 1
the conventional approach, rather that most grocery employees
were not actually receiving the conventional safety training. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
The grocery industry is known for its attrition. Another factor PDCA MODEL & USE OF TRAINING
was that most stores run multiple shifts, so the consultant was
only training one shift, once per year and was only able to reach PLAN
some of the stores. Moving the training online allowed the Identify methods of
insurer to require nearly complete compliance with training evalution such as an
requirements. The employees took the training as part of the audit and JSA/JHA
onboarding process and could take it anytime, from anywhere.
They all received the training and achieved the competencies, ACT Leadership DO
resulting in a reduction in injuries and illnesses. Make changes Implement training
necessary to improve on the mitigation
Online training can also be significantly more efficient in performance, which procedures identified
terms of employee time. The authors were tasked with con- can include training in audit or JSA/JHA
verting a traditional 32-hour course delivered conventionally
for many years to an online course. Although the online CHECK
course contained all of the lectures, exercises and test ques- Monitor and measure
tions of the conventional version, learners were completing the effectiveness of
the online version in 9 to 13 hours. How could the online
version take only 9 hours to complete, while the conventional these procedures
version requires 32? The authors combed through the online
version for anything that might be missing yet found that it Note. Adapted from Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001-
was identical to the classroom version. So, what was swallow- 2015), by International Organization for Standardization (p. vii), 2015.
ing up so much time in the classroom? Geneva, Switzerland: Author.

One time-consuming issue was several breaks during the Another factor with conventional learning is that because a
day to allow learners to use the restroom. This halted training broad range of aptitudes and experiences exists, and because
for 20 minutes at least four times during the day. Another trainers must get all learners through the material at the same
time-consuming factor was stopping for questions. Instruc- time, the course must be designed to allow enough time to
tors typically love questions because they indicate that the train those with the least experience or understanding of the
class is engaged and interested in the subject. Questions may material. Some may have previous experience with the sub-
also indicate where the information was not successfully ject, while others may be unfamiliar with the material alto-
relayed, and elaboration might be needed for learners who gether. The self-paced nature of online training means that no
missed a salient point. learner is waiting for others to catch up. While some will take
longer to complete an online course than others, the cumu-
However, after really paying attention to what was going on lative time spent on training is inherently less than that of its
in class, the authors were surprised by how few actual ques- conventional counterpart.
tions were being asked. In fact, we observed that most potential
questions were not actually questions at all, but rather learners These breaks, questions and tangents exist to a varying
demonstrating their own mastery of the subject to classmates degree in most conventionally delivered safety training.
(e.g., “Excuse me, isn’t it true that vapor pressure and atmo- Along with the disparity in aptitudes, this can, as noted,
spheric pressure are linked?”). In actuality, after keeping a log, significantly increase the time a learner must be involved in
the authors discovered that as many as four out of five asked training with little additional benefit. The additional time
and answered events were not relevant to the defined learning can come at a cost. When deploying both a conventional
objectives and did nothing to advance the learning process. and an analogous online version, in the authors’ experience,
the online training is at least 50% more efficient. This ef-
Another time-consuming component of conventional train- ficiency can save companies significant costs. Suppose an
ing are the stories told. People who choose training as a career organization employs 500 workers with an average hourly
typically like to talk. Trainers know and enjoy the subjects rate (including benefits, FICA, etc.) of $35. Also, suppose
they elect to teach and like to talk about their experiences as the organization requires that each employee complete a
they relate, albeit loosely, to the subject. Stories can be mem- 1-hour instructor-led safety course each month. Calculating
orable and, when used carefully, relevant stories can promote 6,000 hours at $35 means the company spends $210,000 in
the instructional goal and improve learning by engaging the labor costs for safety training alone. Additionally, the com-
audience’s attention (Clark, 2010). However, in many cases, the pany loses an hour of productivity for each employee once a
use of stories for the sake of stories does not always advance month, which is another 6,000 hours and $210,000 in costs,
the learning progression and rarely directly supports the target totaling $420,000. If the company chose to take the program
objectives. Telling stories tends to eat up time and, while some online, where employee time spent on the training is cut in
learners may enjoy these musings, invariably some learners half, it would equate to $210,000 in avoided costs.
do not appreciate the distraction and want to get back to the
lecture. In fact, there is evidence that anecdotal stories unre-
lated to the learning objective, while interesting, may interfere
with the student’s ability to retain the important information
intended to be conveyed in the training (Clark, 2010). In other
words, the student will remember the stories but not the infor-
mation needed to safely perform a job or task.

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 29

BLENDED LEARNING tiple courses. No matter how hard one works to get everyone
aligned, invariably the instructors would at least tweak their
For some training scenarios, a blended approach using a presentations. This is likely because different instructors have
combination of web-based and face-to-face training may had different experiences and have developed their own opin-
be an efficient means of providing training. In a blended ions on the relative importance of various learning objectives
learning situation, an e-learning component can provide and the best way to convey them. Also, the authors have ob-
a general overview of a topic, including fundamental con- served that trainers generally tend to focus on what they know
cepts, regulatory information, and employer and employee best and have the most experience with, and gloss over subject
responsibilities. Once the basics are conveyed, the employer matter they are less comfortable with.
can provide hands-on application of that information as to
how it applies to the specific work site using the employer’s Consistency in training content delivery is important be-
specific equipment. cause any effective OSH management system has continual
improvement as a fundamental component. The plan-do-
For example, forklift operations, asbestos repair and main- check-act model requires continuous identification and eval-
tenance, confined space entry, and lockout/tagout training uation of occupational hazards and environmental impacts
are all examples in which the fundamental and regulatory (plan), as well as implementing effective procedures to mit-
information could be conveyed to the worker in an online igate them (do) (ISO, 2015). Planning can include methods
format, but a hands-on component, such as demonstrating of evaluation such as auditing or job safety/hazard analyses
how to operate the forklift or repair damaged insulation, per- (JSA/JHAs) and doing often involves training on mitigation
forming a simulated confined space entry, or applying a lock procedures identified in the JSA/JHA. Following implemen-
and following the lockout procedure, completes the training. tation, the organization must also monitor and measure the
This in-person component is often necessary for the learner to effectiveness of these procedures (check) and make necessary
be considered adequately trained not only according to OSHA changes to improve performance (act) (ISO, 2015). Companies
standards, but also by many employer policies. often expend considerable effort through JSA/JHAs or inci-
dent investigation to identify opportunities for improvement,
One of the benefits of an online safety training program is and often address improvement through employee training
consistency. Everyone in the organization receives the same (Figure 1, p. 29). If the training is not deployed consistently
training all the time. In contrast, the authors were once hired across the organization, it makes any qualified or quantified
by the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command to provide six data in terms of evaluating the outcome meaningless.
different 2-hour lecture-based courses at its annual sympo-
sium. The courses were in advanced subjects such as environ- Which Is Better?
mental toxicology and chemical agent detection. They were So, which is better: face-to-face, in-person, instructor-led
delivered as many as four times a day over a 5-day period to
groups of about 30 at a time. Because of the workload, five training or online training?
highly qualified instructors were assigned to the project, each Of course, the answer is that it depends on the circumstances.
competent in all six course subjects. While the instructors all
worked for the same firm, it was rare to all be in one place at The authors believe that in some cases conventional, instruc-
the same time. So, while there, a comparison was made be- tor-led training is superior to its e-learning counterpart. In fact,
tween how three instructors presented the same information certain training courses should never be delivered online. For ex-
for a toxicology course. ample, while some of the basic components of powered industrial
truck training can be managed through online training, teaching
The slide decks and instructor notes were developed by in- someone how to drive a forklift should be performed in-person,
structional designers in the home office. The presentations went with hands-on training for the operator, manipulating the same
through a quality-control process and were vetted before they equipment the employee is expected to use safely every day. Oth-
became available to the instructors. All three instructors were er examples of where hands-on training should occur include
given the same presentation. Yet at some point between board- learning how to properly don and work in protective clothing
ing the plane and standing at the podium, the instructors had and respiratory protection. Often, working within this gear can
substantively changed their presentations and the narrative. be hot and confining. Some people experience extreme anxiety
The simple fact is that using multiple instructors results in mul- and having a real-world experience is an important part of the
training that must be experienced in person prior to entering the
actual exposure environment. Demonstrating competency with
direct-reading instruments or other sampling devices is anoth-
er area where in-person training is most effective. In general,
when performance-based or hands-on skills must be taught and
assessed, in-person training is likely a better solution than an
online alternative.

Scenario-based training such as for emergency response or
for participation in an incident command system is critical to
being able to respond quickly in an emergency setting. Scenar-
ios that require employees to respond intuitively, instinctively
or instantly require training platforms that transfer knowledge
and skills into long-term memory so it can be recalled when
needed (Clark, 2010). In many cases, in-person immersive
learning environments are the best choice when effective and
automatic response is needed (Clark, 2010).

30 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

For some applications, a blended approach (see “Blended Jordan, C.L. (2016). An archival research comparing learning effec-
Learning” sidebar) using a combination of web-based and tiveness and training transfer perceptions between classroom technical
face-to-face training may be the most efficient by providing training and synchronous online technical training (Doctoral disser-
fundamental information through online training, supple- tation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.
mented by hands-on application of course material. Mirroring (UMI No. 10124773)
the forklift training example, other safety training such as
confined space entry, asbestos operations and maintenance, Lim, H., Lee, S. & Nam, K. (2007). Validating e-learning factors
and lockout/tagout training are additional examples in affecting training effectiveness. International Journal of Information
which the fundamental and regulatory information could be Management, 27(1), 22-35. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2006.08.002
conveyed to the worker in an online format, but a hands-on
component, such as actually performing a simulated confined Mathieu, J.E., Tannenbaum, S.I. & Salas, E. (1992). Influences of
space entry, repairing damaged asbestos-containing material, individual and situational characteristics on measures of training
or applying a lock and properly following the lockout proce- effectiveness. The Academy of Management Journal, 35(4), 828-847.
dure, completes the training and “allows the employee to fully doi:10.2307/256317
participate in the training process and to practice their skill
or knowledge” (OSHA, 2015, p. 156). OSHA. (2015). Training requirements in OSHA standards. Re-
trieved from www.osha.gov/Publications/osha2254.pdf
Conclusion
Whether online safety training should be used instead of OSHA. (2018). Draft model training program for hazard communi-
cation. Retrieved from www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/MTP101703.html
in-person training is not an either/or question. The use of on-
line safety training can clearly provide significant efficiencies Robinson, K.R. (1985). A handbook of training management. Lon-
with time, money and consistent course information in an don, England: Kogan Page.
on-demand environment. Online courses that incorporate
decision-making and problem-solving skills are particularly Rogers, L. (2013). A study in the effectiveness of online CPR recertifi-
useful when there is a need to document that the employee can cation training for rural and remote nurses in Canada (Doctoral disser-
identify hazards and apply appropriate safe work practices. tation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.
Demonstrating competency in performance skills such as how (UMI No. 3558819)
to operate equipment, however, may not be best assessed in an
online environment. Rozar, N.B.M., Ibrahim, A.B. & Razik, M.A.B. (2011). Comparing
effectiveness of e-learning training and traditional training in indus-
Given the technology available today, it makes sense to ex- trial safety and health. International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(3),
plore online safety training as a tool to meet both compliance 46-61. doi:10.4018/ijom.2011070105
and employee competency objectives. The trick is to determine
which mode of training is the best choice for each safety train- Schmeeckle, J.M. (2000). Online training: An evaluation of the effec-
ing requirement and employ the optimal modality. Because tiveness and efficiency of training law enforcement personnel over the
of the widespread diversity of knowledge, skills, abilities and internet (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Disserta-
comprehension levels required to be conveyed in the vast range tions and Theses database. (UMI No. 9962066).
of safety training programs, OSH professionals should carefully
evaluate and identify the specific hazards for which training is Teague, G. & Riley, R. (2006). Online resuscitation training: Does
needed and determine what competencies are required to mit- it improve high school students’ ability to perform cardiopulmonary
igate these risks. When these competencies are defined, OSH resuscitation in a simulated environment? Resuscitation, 71(3), 52-357.
professionals can then evaluate the appropriate form of training
that can be used to meet these competencies. PSJ H.E. “Trey” Greene has more than 30 years’ experience overseeing
the design, development and deployment of targeted, need-specific
References environmental, health and safety training for public- and private-sector
organizations. In the 80s, as a consulting engineer, he performed health
ANSI/ASSP. (2017). Occupational health and safety management and safety planning, training and certification services for field workers at
systems [ANSI/ASSP Z10-2012 (R2017)]. Des Plaines, IL: Author. many uncontrolled hazardous waste sites in the U.S. In the 90s, as a faculty
director of the Institute for Environmental Management at University of
Becker, K., Fleming, J. & Keijsers, W. (2011). E-learning: Aging Oklahoma, he was instrumental to the design and delivery of EHS training
workforce versus technology-savvy generation. Education + Training, continuums in various fields. As managing partner for GBK Partnership,
54(5), 385-400. doi:10.1108/00400911211244687 Greene oversaw the deployment of more than 500 federal EHS training
contracts, ranging from $10,000 to $3 million, delivered in 18 countries
Bernard, R.M., Abrami, P.C., Lou, Y., et al. (2004). How does distance and eight languages. In 2007, Greene and his wife Jill founded SafetySkills.
education compare with classroom instruction? A meta-analysis of the com, a provider of e-learning solutions for EHS training to thousands of
empirical literature. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 379-439. employers worldwide.

Braun, O. (2002). Maximizing skills retention: Current educational theory Cheryl L. (Cheri) Marcham, Ph.D., CSP, CIH, CHMM, FAIHA,
supports online CPR training. Occupational Health & Safety, 71(12), 40-44. is an assistant professor and program chair for the M.S. in Occupational
Safety Management in the College of Aeronautics Worldwide Online Cam-
Clark, R.C. (2010). Evidence-based training methods: A guide for pus for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Prior to this, she was the en-
training professionals. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training vironmental health and safety officer for a major university for more than
and Development. 26 years. Marcham holds a B.S. in Biology from Arizona State University,
and an M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Esch, T.J. (2003). E-learning effectiveness: An examination of online Department of Occupational and Environmental Health. She has served on
training methods for training end-users of new technology systems the board of directors of AIHA and BCSP, and has served on the ASSP Edu-
(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and cational Standards Committee. Marcham is a professional member of the
Theses database. (UMI No. 3095420) Oklahoma City Chapter.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO). (2015). Envi-
ronmental management systems (ISO 14001-2015). Geneva, Switzer-
land: Author.

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 31

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Peer-Reviewed

The Role of Leading &
Lagging Indicators in

EVALUATING OSH
PROFESSIONALS’
PERFORMANCE

By Wanda D. Minnick and Jan K. Wachter

CCONSIDERING THE MULTITASKING, boundary-spanning and cross- as opposed to what they know, regarding how their performance
functional nature of the safety profession, OSH professionals’ roles is being assessed. It is often difficult to know with certainty on
are often complicated and blurred, and can leave one wondering, on what criteria our performance/worth is being measured (especial-
what basis is individual performance measured? One could imme- ly if clear and precise performance criteria are not present in per-
diately jump to the perhaps unfair conclusion that if incident rates formance evaluation documents) without overtly asking our many
(lagging indicators) climb, the overall perception of the safety pro- stakeholders their opinions, which may or may not be forthright.
However, we can be informed by the perception trends existing
fessional’s performance dips. However, with the growing popularity among other like safety professionals.

of using leading indicators to measure organizational performance, This study surveyed ASSP members from manufacturing, con-
struction, and oil and gas industries, representing a subset of OSH
some safety professionals are using them as personal markers of suc- professionals both in sector and association membership. The survey
also had a limited response rate, resulting in a sample size of about
cess when discussing their individual performance with their man- 300. Thus, results of this study should be interpreted with caution.
Nonetheless, based on respondents’ demographics, it appears that
agers. Although many organizations are using a balanced scorecard responses reflect almost equal representation from the three targeted
sectors, and it is reasonable to imagine that their responses could
approach to assessing safety performance (e.g., using both leading mirror those of safety professionals working in similar industrial en-
vironments or associated with similar safety organizations.
and lagging indicators), it is not certain that individual safety profes-
The research results can be used as a basis for safety professionals
sional performance is being similarly measured. A broader question to promote to their stakeholders and formal evaluators additional
considerations for evaluation, especially when establishing/nego-
to answer may be, what do safety tiating written performance evaluation criteria based on leading
indicators (if these had not been traditionally included in the mix of
KEY TAKEAWAYS professionals currently believe criteria). At the least, the results will show the perceived areas that
they are being assessed on in this safety professionals in general are being evaluated on so that indi-
•OSH professionals perceive potentially changing evaluation vidual safety professionals can gauge their own perceptions against
the general responses and reflect on whether their perceptions are
their performance is measured in line. If not in line, perhaps this will act as food for thought for the
individual safety professional to ponder, “Why is my situation or
by five overarching categories: environment? perceptions different?” and “Should I be proactive in educating or
helping my stakeholders understand the range of evaluation options
job expectations, lagging indi- Thus, the aim of this study is to that could or should be considered in evaluating me?”

cators, soft skills, leading indica- examine trends in safety profes- Leading & Lagging Indicators
Leading and lagging indicators are often used to assess organiza-
tors and values. sionals’ perceptions on how their
workplace performance is mea- tional safety performance. Lagging or trailing safety indicators are
•The perception of how safety
professionals’ performance is sured. There is little or no literature

measured is consistent across on the topic of performance mea-

industry sectors. sures currently used to evaluate
the individual safety professional.
•Evidence suggests that OSH It is important to consider whether

professionals’ performance is

primarily measured on job expec- safety professionals repeatedly list

tations, not lagging indicators. certain traits, skills or other assets
as impacting their individual per-
•Lagging indicators, soft skills formance assessment.

and leading indicators are

equally perceived as the second This study is limited in that

most important factor in which the researchers asked ASSP

safety professionals’ perfor- member safety professionals to

mance is measured. comment on what they believe,

32 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

KENTOH/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS after-the-fact indicators, measuring events or consequences that have in terms of showing where organizations’ safety and health per-
already happened. These events or consequences are often associated formance may be headed. Moreover, when organizations review
with unwanted events, such as injuries, illnesses, workers’ compen- trailing indicators infrequently (e.g., annually), opportunities for
sation costs, hospital visits, notices of violation, regulatory fines and nearer term corrective and preventive actions and interventions
litigation costs. These types of indicators are also reactive, since these may be unnecessarily delayed (Wachter & Bird, 2011).
indicators measure performance over past periods and are essentially
reacting to previous conditions and circumstances. Organizational The problem with these trailing indicators is that they do not
responses often occur in reaction to these measurements. Similarly, necessarily act as forcing functions for implementing appropriate pre-
these indicators are also termed incident-based indicators, since or- ventive actions that could improve OSH performance in the future.
ganizations tend to react to the occurrence of these specific unwanted In addition, individual workers may not be as empowered to take
incidents, such as fatalities or lost workday cases. control of their safety and health responsibilities and to contribute
to improving the organization’s safety and health culture if trailing
Many OSHA-based measures are trailing indicators. OSHA-based indicators are exclusively used to assess OSH performance at the cor-
measures still appear among the most common types of safety and porate level. This is because these measures tend to be high-level or-
health performance metrics being collected and used by organizations. ganizational measures that are beyond the control of employees and
In particular, the OSHA total recordable case rate (TRC rate) is the most safety professionals to achieve individually (Wachter, 2012).
prevalent OSHA-based measure (Coffey, 2009). Another OSHA-based
trailing indicator commonly used is the days away, restricted or transfer There is also a problem of rewarding or recognizing organi-
(DART) case rate, which describes the number of recordable injuries zational, group and individual (e.g., safety professional) perfor-
and illnesses per 200,000 hours worked (i.e., 100 full-time employees) mance based on trailing indicator results. Fear and pressure could
that results in days away from work, restricted work activity or job be placed on employees and safety professionals to not report
transfer that a company has experienced in a given period. injuries, near-hits or other incidents so as to keep their records
intact and receive rewards and recognition or avoid punishment.
In recent years, organizations have been increasingly using Failure to report incidents and near-hits defeats the purpose of
proactive leading indicators to measure organizational safety per- implementing performance indicator programs, the goal of which
formance. The intent of leading indicators is to actively drive safety is to generate as much information as possible on trends so that
and health performance, not to simply react to it. Leading indica- steps can be taken to control future problems through preventive
tors typically measure actions, behaviors and processes (things that actions. In short, if incident feedback is not forthcoming from
people and safety professionals actually do to eliminate, reduce or workers or safety professionals due to the underreporting or inac-
counteract risk) that will make injuries and illnesses less likely to curate reporting of trailing indicator information, managers have
occur in the future (Blair & O’Toole, 2010). Success in implement- little information on what is wrong to base future safety and health
ing these activities, initiatives and programs should theoretically directives and initiatives (Wachter, 2012).
improve and drive safety performance (Wachter & Bird, 2011).
Using Trailing Indicators to Measure
A key question this study addresses is whether the use of organization- Safety Professionals’ Performance
al leading safety indicators to assess performance is influencing or being
adapted for use at the individual safety professional evaluation level. If trailing indicators are commonly used for measuring orga-
nizational safety performance, they are also being used for mea-
Using Trailing Indicators to Measure suring safety professionals’ individual performance. This reality
Organizational Safety Performance poses some issues.

Organizations that use trailing indicators to measure organi- First, OSH professionals rarely control organizational and
zational safety performance are essentially measuring the con- worker performance. Thus, they should not be held responsible
sequences of not having effective safety and health programs in for lagging indicator performance, especially if unsafe acts of em-
place (Coffey, 2009). In addition, trailing indicators provide little ployees are implicated. In addition, the need for OSH profession-
or no information on the effectiveness of proactive and preven- als to continually justify their profession, their worth and value,
tive activities being implemented now, since trailing indicators their programs and their expenditures in some organizations can
may be insensitive or take time to reflect the impact of current lead to less-than-ethical approaches and behavior (Wachter, 2011)
activities. Thus, trailing indicators have little predictive power when managing these lagging performance indicators.

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 33

TABLE 1 TABLE 2

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS BY INDUSTRY
FOR RESPONSES

Category Frequency (N ) Percent (%)

Descriptive statistics for responses to the statement: “List the top five Construction 47
ways your direct manager judges or measures your performance. List 15
the ones on which you feel most emphasis is placed.” Job expectations 199 14
17
Lagging indicators 65 7
100
Category Frequency (N ) Percent (%) Soft skills 58
49
! Leading indicators 74 17




" 14
Values 28 15



5
Total 424 100
"
Manufacturing 51
14
Job expectations 116 17
12
Lagging indicators 40 6
100
Soft skills 34

Leading indicators 34

Values 11

FIGURE 1 Total 235

PERCENTAGE OF RESPONSES IN Oil, gas and power generation
EACH OF THE FIVE CATEGORIES
Job expectations 160
Percentage of responses in five overarching categories on which safety
professionals perceive their performance is being measured. Lagging indicators 44

6% Soft skills 55

Leading indicators 38

Values 18

Total 315

15% 49% Job expectations seek to understand the relative importance of lagging versus
15% Lagging indicators leading indicators in these performance assessments.
Soft skills
15% Leading indicators More specifically, the intent of this study is to identify specific
Values categories and subcategories of primary performance measures on
which practicing safety professionals perceive they are assessed.
In the OSH profession, recordkeeping of lagging indicators is a ma- Secondly, the information collected is to be the basis for eventually
jor area that colleagues identify as particularly susceptible to unethical developing a valid survey tool that requires participants to rank
behavior, since organizations often use incident statistics (recordkeep- the perceived importance of each performance category.
ing) to judge safety professionals’ performance. For some OSH profes-
sionals, their organizational and professional worth is determined by ASSP members across the construction, manufacturing, and
their organization’s or department’s low incident rates and the achieve- oil and gas industries completed a Qualtrics survey to help de-
ment of the common organizational desire to have ever-increasingly termine answers to several questions:
lower rates over time to reach the mythical goal of zero incidents.
There is pressure also to make safety professionals’ organizations, •Is safety professionals’ performance (still) primarily judged
managers and themselves look good through the unethical analysis on lagging indicators?
and reporting of incident data, especially since many managers do not
want to look bad to upper management due to poor safety statistics. •Is safety professionals’ performance primarily judged on
Further, organizations also tend to tie management or employee bo- leading indicators and, if so, what type?
nuses and celebrations to performance of lagging safety measures.
•Is safety professionals’ performance primarily judged on
As a result, OSH professionals may have ethical lapses and something other than leading or lagging indicators?
fail to record or properly classify incident events to show low-
er-than-actual incident rates, thereby increasing their perceived Other variables requested of participants included industry
organizational worth as well as making their managers more con- type, gender and who they report to in the organization.
tent. In a book on ethics for the OSH profession, approximately
30% of the presented case studies deal with the ethical pressures In this qualitative survey consisting of answering an
placed on OSH professionals due to their performance/worth open-ended statement, participants were specifically asked to
being judged using lagging indicators, leading to possible ethical write their responses to the following:
lapses in recording or classifying incident events (Wachter, 2014).
List the top five ways your direct manager judges or
Study Purpose & Design measures your performance. List the ones on which
The major purpose of this study is to determine what mea- you feel most emphasis is placed.

sures or factors safety professionals believe are used to assess The goal is to collect information on what OSH professionals per-
their performance in organizations. In particular, the researchers ceive are their personal performance measurement factors and present
it in a descriptive format that highlights most common frequencies in
each measurement category. Also, analysis of these data helps inform
both current and future OSH professionals, designers of college curric-
ula and those who manage safety professionals as to how safety profes-
sionals are currently being measured, whether rightly or wrongly.

Approximately 302 safety professionals from construction, man-
ufacturing, and oil and gas industries participated in the survey.
Those included in the survey included full-time safety professionals
not employed as consultants or trainers. Due to the voluntary na-
ture of the survey, it is assumed that those who randomly respond-
ed to the survey were representative of professionals in their sector.
Participants generated 1,292 entries on how their performance was
being measured and 974 responses were deemed usable.

34 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

The responses to the open-ended statement were copied from results were relatively consistent among industrial sectors, with construc-
Qualtrics into an Excel spreadsheet. Responses were sorted into tion listing this aspect more often (N = 28, 7%), followed by oil, gas and
the best, focused categories as determined by the investigators. power generation (N = 18, 6%), and manufacturing (N = 11, 5%). Promi-
Five overarching categories of performance measures emerged. nent subcategories included: 1) professionalism including timeliness (e.g.,
completing projects on time; being on time for meetings) being listed
Results most often (N = 33, 58%); 2) attitude (N = 5, 9%); 3) display of corporate
The five overarching categories of perceived performance measure- values (N = 5, 9%); 4) integrity (N = 3, 5%); and 5) ethics (N = 2, 4%).

ment areas among active OSH professionals are job expectations; lag- Discussion
ging indicators; soft skills; leading indicators; and values. The descriptive This study generated several interesting findings. First, the
statistics for each category are described in the following sections with
the overall percentage explained first (Table 1, Figure 1) followed by the researchers found it relatively easy to distribute all of the partici-
corresponding percentage within each industry group (Table 2). pants’ responses related to their perceptions as to how they were
being evaluated among five major categories (job expectations,
Job Expectations lagging indicators, leading indicators, soft skills and values). Sec-
Nearly half of the participants among all industries (N = 475, 48%) ond, the percent distribution of responses among these five major
categories was relatively stable across the three industrial sectors
listed performance measures that would be categorized as “job expec- (construction, manufacturing, oil, gas and power generation) for
tations.” Responses were relatively consistent across sectors, with oil, gas all five categories. Overall this indicates that how safety profes-
and power generation (N = 160, 51%) listing this aspect most, followed sionals perceive they are being evaluated is not sector-specific.
by manufacturing (N = 116, 49%) and construction (N = 199, 47%). The
prominent subcategories among all industries under “job expectations” By far the most common category of safety professionals’ per-
included: 1) feedback from others, specifically internal customers and formance evaluation responses was in the area of job expectations,
peers (N = 91, 19%); 2) the ability to manage staff, projects and change which includes subcategories such as feedback from others; the
(N = 42, 9%); 3) the ability to reach goals and complete objectives (N = ability to manage staff, projects and change; the ability to reach
38, 8%); 4) technical proficiency/knowledge (N = 37, 8%); and 5) the goals and complete objectives; being technically proficient and hav-
ability to lead (e.g., demonstration of leadership skills) (N = 28, 6%). ing knowledge; and the ability to lead and demonstrate leadership
skills. It is somewhat comforting that the top performance evalua-
Lagging Indicators tion category is directly related to activities that safety professionals
Participants among all industries provided performance mea- have under their direct control or reflect a customer/peer feedback
relationship. This finding supports the need for OSH professionals
surement responses that could be categorized as “lagging indica- to have clarity concerning their organizational role, their goals and
tors” (N = 149, 15%). Within each industry group, manufacturing objectives, and knowing the specific tangible expectations that will
(N = 40, 17%) listed this aspect most, followed by construction (N be measured by their customers, peers and managers.
= 65, 15%) and oil, gas and power generation (N = 44, 14%). Sub-
categories among all industries included: 1) incident rates (N = 91, Refreshingly and perhaps surprisingly (and to a lesser extent
57%); 2) workers’ compensation costs or experience modification than the perceived importance of job expectations), safety pro-
ratings (N = 28, 18%); 3) citations or compliance status (N = 24, fessionals perceive that their performance is measured based on
15%); and 4) lagging indicators (N = 6, 4%) as a descriptor itself. soft skills and leading indicators as much as they are measured
based on lagging indicators. The lagging indicators cited by
Soft Skills participants in this study were the expected ones: incident rates,
Participants’ responses were categorized as “soft skills” (N = 147, workers’ compensation costs, experience modification rates and
citations. Incident rates were the most cited lagging indicator
15%) about as often as lagging indicators were cited. Responses var- being utilized, which was not an unexpected result due to the
ied slightly within each industry group with oil, gas and power gen- ubiquitous use of OSHA-based lagging indicators in industry.
eration (N = 55, 17%) listing this aspect higher than manufacturing
(N = 34, 14%) and construction (N = 58, 14%). The prominent sub- The finding that lagging indicators are not the most important
categories among all industries included: 1) the ability to interact measure to evaluate safety professionals’ performance is import-
with and work well with others (N = 53, 33%); 2) communication ant since lagging indicators are rarely under the control of safety
skills (N = 52, 32%); 3) teamwork skills (N = 14, 9%); 4) creativity professionals and, thus, should not be used as the primary per-
and innovation (N = 9, 6%); and 5) participation (N = 6, 4%). formance measure for safety professionals. This finding some-
what allays the fears from other investigations that indicated
Leading Indicators that ethical lapses on the part of safety professionals were being
Similar in percentages to the subcategories of “lagging indicators” fueled by the use of lagging indicators for evaluations of safety
professionals (Wachter, 2014).
and “soft skills,” participants among all industries listed “leading indica-
tors” (N = 146, 15%) as an aspect in which they perceive personal per- It is encouraging that the use of leading indicators is now as com-
formance is measured. Some slight differences among industrial sectors mon as the use of lagging indicators for assessing safety performance.
seemed to exist. Construction listed this aspect most often (N = 74, This is significant progress from the 1970s, when, for example, “OSHA
17%), followed by manufacturing (N = 34, 14%) and lastly oil, gas and evaluated its inspectors on the basis of the number of citations issued”
power generation (N = 38, 12%). Prominent subcategories among all (Shapiro & Rabinowitz, 1997, p. 738). However, of the leading indica-
industries included: 1) training delivered (N = 65, 45%); 2) audits com- tors being utilized, training was cited most often. Training tends to be
pleted (N = 37, 26%); 3) safety culture implementation or progress (N = a rather weak leading indicator since it is somewhat difficult to link the
18, 13%); and 4) leading indicators (N = 4, 5%) as a descriptor itself. offering of training with risk reduction. On the other hand, conducting
audits, which is a more powerful leading indicator since it can be more
Values intimately connected with a reduction in risk, was cited as the second
A lower number of participants from all industries listed responses most common leading indicator being utilized.

that would be considered “values” (N = 57, 6%). Within this category,

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 35

The finding that soft skills are equally as important as leading how achieving these goals and implementing these action plans can
and lagging indicators for evaluating safety professionals should reduce risks and address the root causes for their existence.
not be surprising since most safety science curricula now recog-
nize and stress the importance of communications, teamwork •Agree that achievement of goals and implementation of
and the ability to interact with others as predictors of OSH pro- action plans will contribute to a significant portion of their ac-
fessional success. This finding reinforces the need to teach soft countable job expectations; agree on which leading indicators
skills as well as technical skills in educational systems. they must measure and track for the given evaluation period.

Demonstrating values was the fifth major performance evalua- •Ask their direct managers what soft skills they may need to
tion category. Values reflected professionalism, attitude, integrity improve during the evaluation period. Action plans would be
and ethics. Thus, safety professionals seem to be evaluated on a generated for their improvement (e.g., taking a public speaking
set of value-based tenets. Beyond technical and managerial com- or negotiation course) and achievement of the action plan would
petency and communication skills, a demonstration of critical be part of the performance evaluation.
societal or organizational values seems to be an aspect of a safety
professional’s evaluation. It would be interesting to discover •Lastly, petition their direct managers to provide concrete
whether these or other similar values are being used to evaluate opportunities for safety professionals to demonstrate some of the
performance as frequently in other professions. key values that stakeholders find desirable for them to possess;
successful demonstration and documentation of these values
Practical Implications would also be part of the performance evaluation.
OSH professionals can take an active role in educating their
The more information that safety practitioners, academics
stakeholders and direct managers as to what is important to eval- and safety associations present and publish on appropriate per-
uate in assessing their performance and, indirectly, their organi- formance measures for safety professionals, the easier it will be
zational importance. Leading indicators are now acknowledged for OSH professionals to advocate for themselves as to how they
by safety professionals and theorists as one of the better forcing need to be assessed, by understanding the options they have be-
functions to “push” an organization into a more proactive stance fore them and by providing these examples as a foundation for
that would lead to decreased safety risks. What is interesting about discussions with their managers.
leading indicators is that they can be easily morphed into goals,
and goals can often be linked with actionable plans to achieve those Next Steps
goals. The achievement of such goals should then be used to evalu- Now that a baseline of perceived specific performance mea-
ate safety professionals’ performance, but only if these action plans
are under the direct implementation control of safety professionals. sures has been established, the next steps include generating and
Safety professionals must be their own advocate to decouple orga- applying a survey tool developed from the results of this study
nizational safety performance via corporate-wide lagging indicators to reassess perceptions of safety professionals from a broader
(which they cannot control) to individual safety performance ad- working population/sector base using a more structured ap-
dressing specific risk and risk factors (which they can control). proach with predefined categories. Instead of using frequency
as a measure of strength of a performance evaluation measure
For example, if an organization or OSH professional believes that (as this study did), a more robust ranking study of performance
safety can be improved by providing more inspections related to iden- measures can be performed by safety professionals. PSJ
tifying and controlling electrical hazards (due perhaps to some elec-
trical-related injuries in the past), then the leading indicator would be References
to measure the number of inspection events (followed by corrective
actions) related to electrical safety, which would then be provided by Blair, E. & O’Toole, M. (2010, August). Leading measures: Enhancing
the OSH professional in the workplace in the next 6 months. The goal safety climate and driving safety performance. Professional Safety, 55(10),
could be for the safety professional to conduct four electrical safety 29-34.
inspections in the next 6 months covering the entire facility. An ac-
tion plan could be developed to implement this goal. The evaluation Coffey, W. (2009). Developing metric systems for sustained improve-
of a safety professional’s performance would be based on successful ments (Course No. P104). Toronto, Canada: American Industrial Hygiene
implementation of the action plan and the achievement of the goal. Conference and Exposition.

The key point here is that specific leading indicators within the scope Shapiro, S.A. & Rabinowitz, R.S. (1997). Punishment versus cooper-
of a safety professional’s role, responsibility and authority can be used as ation in regulatory enforcement: A case study of OSHA. Administrative
catalysts for developing goals and actions that could be used for evalu- Law Review, 49(4), 713-762.
ation purposes, and at the same time be used as mechanisms to reduce
organizational risk. These goals and action plans could be a major con- Wachter, J.K. (2011, June). Ethics: The absurd yet preferred approach to
tributor toward a safety professional’s job expectations, which nearly 50% safety management. Professional Safety, 56(6), 50-57.
of respondents in the survey state they are being evaluated on. Let these
job expectations be based on goals derived from leading indicators and Wachter, J.K. (2012, April). Trailing safety indicators: Enhancing their
the primary basis for which safety professionals are being evaluated. value through statistics. Professional Safety, 57(4), 48-60.

How do safety professionals realistically promote for their own Wachter, J.K. (2014). Ethics for the safety and health professional: Ap-
performance measurement criteria? Safety professionals should: proaches and case studies. Falls Church, VA: AIHA.

•Meet with their direct managers and outline major safety Wachter, J.K. & Bird, A.J. (2011). Applied quantitative methods for safety
risks in the organization, department or other relevant unit, as and health. San Diego, CA: University Readers Press.
well as the potential root causes for the existence of these risks.
Wanda D. Minnick, Ph.D., CSP, is an associate professor and the M.S.
•Generate goals and action plans (based on leading indicators) that coordinator in the Department of Safety Sciences at Indiana University of
they have control over in terms of design/implementation; explain Pennsylvania (IUP). She holds a Ph.D. in Administration and Leadership Stud-
ies from IUP, an M.S. in Environmental, Safety and Health Management from
Rochester Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Safety Sciences from IUP. She is
a professional member of ASSP’s Western Pennsylvania Chapter.

Jan K. Wachter, D.Sc., CSP, CIH, CQE, CRE, is a professor and the Ph.D.
coordinator in the Department of Safety Sciences at IUP. He holds a B.S. in Biology,
an M.S. in Environmental Health, an M.B.A. and a D.Sc. in Hygiene from University
of Pittsburgh. He is a professional member of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter.

36 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

SAFETY MANAGEMENT
Peer-Reviewed

SYSTEMS/MACRO
THINKING
A Primer By Fred A. Manuele
MMORE OFTEN THAN IN THE PAST, systems thinking is a term used
by some safety practitioners and occasionally it is found in safe- The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, first printed
ty-related literature. Promoting systems/macro thinking is pro- in 1990 and revised in 2006, and Donella Meadows’s Thinking in
gressive and commendable, and should be encouraged. Systems: A Primer. Several excerpts from Meadows (2008) follow.
Many safety practitioners would increase their effectiveness
by adopting the premises on which systems thinking is based in Systems analysts use overarching concepts . . . and
a form that is practicable and effective in the organizations to have many fractious schools of systems thought.
which they give advice. To adopt systems/macro thinking, safety
practitioners must understand its bases. As our world continues to change rapidly, and be-
come more complex, systems thinking will help us
manage, adapt and see the wide range of choices we
have before us. It is a way of thinking that gives us the

What Is Systems Thinking? freedom to identify root causes of problems and see
Those engaged in the field of systems thinking have not yet new opportunities. (p. 1)

arrived at a uniformly accepted definition for their subject, as the I don’t think the systems way of seeing is better than

writings of several authors show. the reductionist way of thinking. I think it’s comple-

To his own question, “What does systems thinking involve?” mentary and, therefore, revealing. (p. 6)

Goodman (2018) responds: The most marvelous characteristic of some complex

The term systems thinking can mean different things to systems is their ability to learn, diversify, complexify,

different people. Systems thinking is a diagnostic tool. evolve. The capacity of a system to make its own struc-

In this sense, systems ture more complex is called self-organization. (p. 79)

IPOPBA/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS KEY TAKEAWAYS thinking is a disciplined Summation to This Point
approach for examining As Meadows (2008) says, there are “many fractious schools of
•This article discusses systems problems more com-
pletely and accurately systems thought” among those who offer themselves as skilled in
thinking and the premises on before acting. It allows the field. If safety practitioners are to adopt systems thinking con-
which it is based, and demon- us to ask better ques- cepts, a definition suitable to the practice of safety must be written.
strates that experts in this field tions before jumping to
of study do not agree on a singu- conclusions. Meadows also speaks of complex systems and self-organiza-
lar definition. tion. Both subjects require comment and cautious consideration.
Richmond (2018) acknowl- Definitions of complexity, as on the Internet and in some books,
•The author describes the status edges that the application of are thought provoking and challenging. They may apply to the
his view of systems thinking work of a small percentage of safety practitioners. But this au-
quo in the practice of safety and can be difficult. He says that thor has difficulty relating them to an enormous share of organi-
discusses the enormity of the applying systems thinking zations that make a product or provide a service.
culture change needed in some “remains a tough nut to crack”
organizations to adopt systems and doing so “requires a whole TU Delft OpenCourseWare (2018) provides the following
thinking concepts. package of thinking skills.” definition:

•The article connects systems/ Several books relating to A complex system is defined as one in which many in-
systems thinking have been dependent agents interact with each other in multiple
macro thinking to having a soci- published, such as Peter (sometimes infinite) ways. This variety of actors also
otechnical balance in operations. Senge’s The Fifth Discipline: allows for the “spontaneous self-organization” that
It also encourages the use of the sometimes takes place in a system. This self-organiza-
five-why problem-solving tech-
nique in the early stages of ap-
plying systems/macro concepts.

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 37

tion occurs without anyone being in charge or plan- A composite definition of reductionism is a theory that all com-
ning the organization. Rather, it is more a result of plex systems can be completely understood in terms of their com-
organisms/agents constantly adapting to each other. ponents; the analysis of complex things into simpler constituents.
The complex systems are also adaptive (i.e., they al-
ways adapt in a way that benefits them). Terminology in the literature, such as the following, are diffi-
cult to comprehend and are somewhat scary. They may apply in
Leveson (2011) describes complexity as intellectually unman- a few organizations, but a rare few:
ageable:
•The most marvelous characteristic of some complex systems
Complexity comes in many forms, most of which are is their ability to learn, diversify, complexify, evolve;
increasing in the systems we are building. The opera-
tion of some systems is so complex that it defies the •Self-organization occurs without anyone being in charge or
understanding of all but a few experts, and sometimes planning the organization;
even they have incomplete information about the sys-
tem’s potential behavior. The problem is that we are •Intellectual unmanageability.
attempting to build systems that are beyond our ability This excerpt is repeated for its importance: “I don’t think
to intellectually manage; increased complexity of all the systems way of seeing is better than the reductionist way of
types makes it difficult for the designers to consider all thinking. I think it’s complementary, and therefor revealing”
the potential system states or for operators to handle (Meadows, 2008, p. 6).
all normal and abnormal situations and disturbances For an enormous share of the risk situations with which
safely and effectively. In fact, complexity can be de- safety practitioners are involved, the use of reduction concepts
fined as intellectual unmanageability. (p. 4) is sufficient in applying systems/macro thinking. Safety practi-
tioners are rarely involved in operations that are self-organizing
Dekker’s (2011) Drift Into Failure is devoted principally to and unmanageable.
complex systems. But it also provides valuable help in un-
derstanding the difference between a complex system and a Recommendation
complicated system. About interactive complexity and linear Regardless of the negatives and indications of complexity in
interactions, Dekker (2011) says:
the preceding discussion, the author promotes adoption of the
Linear interactions among component are those (that premises on which systems/macro thinking is based for the
occur) in expected and familiar production or mainte- practice of safety. However, the macro thinking model adopted
nance sequences, and those that are visible and un- must be practicably applicable in the organizations that safety
derstandable even if they were unplanned. practitioners advise. In its application, systems/macro thinking
applied to the general practice of safety requires:
But, complex interactions produce unfamiliar se-
quences, or unplanned and unexpected sequences, •taking a macro view of the situation being considered and
that are either not visible or not immediately compre- promoting collaborative discussion;
hensible. An electric power grid is an example of an
interactively complex system. (p. 128) •looking at the whole of the interrelationships, interdependen-
cies and interconnectedness of units within the processes and
Dekker’s example of an electric power grid being an interac- the human interactions within those systems;
tively complex system is easily understood. When major power
failures have occurred, unanticipated, unforeseen and varied •looking at the proverbial forest and the trees at the same time;
consequences have resulted. However, not many organizations •being truly diagnostic;
have similar exposures. •recognizing that several causal factors may exist for a given
situation;
Dekker (2011) distinguishes between complex systems and •determining where data can be obtained and used to evaluate
complicated systems in the following excerpt: the processes and the human interactions within those processes
to become predictive;
Complex is not the same as complicated. A compli- •recognizing the need for communication feedback loops;
cated system can have a huge number of parts and •being willing to champion interventions that may not be
interactions between parts, but it is, in principle, ex- popular.
haustively describable. We can, again in principle, de-
velop all the mathematics to capture all the possible Comments on the Status Quo
states of the system. By implication, the promoters of systems thinking (macro

Complicated systems often (if not always) do rely thinking) would have a large majority of safety practitioners
on an external designer, or group or company of de- convert the fundamentals of their practice from being person
signers. The designers may not beforehand know how centered (in which unsafe acts of employees are dominant causal
all their parts are going to work together (this is why factors) to being systems centered (in which multiple and largely
there are lengthy processes of flight testing and cer- systemic hazards and risks should be addressed).
tification), but in due time, with ample resources, in
the limit, it is possible to draw up all the equations for This concept that worker unsafe acts are the principle causes
how the entire system works, always. of occupational injuries and illnesses is deeply embedded in
many organizations. That is a hindrance to macro thinking. Un-
Reductionism, then, is a useful strategy to understand fortunately, it defines the status quo (Manuele, 2014).
at least large parts of complicated systems. We can break
them down and see how parts function or malfunction The author’s reviews of more than 1,950 incident investigation
and in turn contribute to the functioning or malfunction- reports indicate that a large proportion of safety practitioners
ing of superordinate parts or systems. (p. 149) take a narrow, micro view as they assist in determining the caus-
al factors for incidents that occur. Examples follow.

1) The author was a speaker at a session arranged by ORC HSE,
a consulting organization whose members represent Fortune 500

38 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

TABLE 1

INCIDENT REPORTS THAT IDENTIFY
UNSAFE ACTS AS THE PRIMARY
CAUSAL FACTOR

companies. When the more than 85 attendees were asked for a When safety personnel employed by a large manufacturing compa-
show of hands indicating whether identifying worker unsafe acts ny with many locations were asked, “About what percentage of the
dominated the incident investigation systems in their organiza- incident reports at your location identify unsafe acts as the primary
tions, more than 60% responded. causal factor?” participants could select from the percentages
shown in the left column.
2) At a meeting of about 42 safety practitioners who had gath-
ered for technical discussions on a standard, about 50% raised % of incident reports % of responses
their hands when asked whether worker unsafe acts were the 100% 3%
focus of incident investigation reports. 75% 33%
50% 37%
3) At a meeting of 121 safety personnel employed by a large 25% 12%
manufacturing company with many locations, the participants were < 25% 15%
asked this question: “About what percentage of the incident reports
at your location identify unsafe acts as the primary causal factor?” micro view of causal factors is the acceptable practice, and that
Attendees could select from the percentages shown in Table 1. identifies an element of the culture that has been created.

Participants indicated that for 50% or more of incidents, So, for management to adopt macro thinking for operational
identification of worker unsafe acts as the primary cause total risk management, a major change may be required that results in
73%. As the colleague who conducted this survey said, “we’ve broadening the view it has taken of the impact its decisions and ac-
got work to do.” tions have with respect to hazards, risks and possible deficiencies in
management. Doing so will often require a major culture change.
To achieve a broad adoption of systems/macro thinking in
operational risk management, a shift must occur from a focus on It cannot be overemphasized that an organization’s culture will
unsafe acts of employees as being the principal causal factors for be the major determinant if a safety practitioner tries to have an
incidents and illnesses to a focus on the work systems and work entity adopt macro thinking concepts. A relative and all-too-true
methods as the principal sources for causal factors. What occurs excerpt from Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS, 1994)
now for incident investigation in many organizations is micro supports this premise:
thinking. Replacing that with macro thinking would constitute a
major and beneficial step forward. This will require a major cul- A company’s culture can make or break even a
ture change in a huge percentage of organizations. well-designed data collection system. Essential re-
quirements are minimal use of blame, freedom from
While providing encouragement, promoters of systems fear of reprisals, and feedback, which indicates that
thinking (macro thinking) should be aware of the enormity of the information being generated is being used to
the task they undertake. make changes that will be beneficial to everybody. All
three factors are vital for the success of a data collec-
Systems or Macro Thinking tion system and are all, to a certain extent, under the
Kim (1999) says “we hear and use [the term] system all the control of management.

time.” Hollnagel (2004) implies that the term system is over- CCPS says that such guarantees may not be obtained in organiza-
ly used and may not be sufficiently descriptive to convey the tions that maintain a traditional view of incident causation (p. 259).
thoughts and purposes intended. Hollnagel writes, “The term
[system] is ubiquitous in technical (and popular) writing today Relating Macro Thinking to a Model
and is generally used on the assumption that it is so well under- for a Balanced Sociotechnical Operation
stood by everyone that there is no need to define its meaning.”
Promoting macro thinking should also promote the benefits of
While supporting the premises on which systems thinking is having a balanced sociotechnical operation. This should be the
based, this author now believes that the term may not convey foundation for applied macro thinking. Definitions of a socio-
the breadth of thinking necessary for its application. As a term, technical system vary. This author’s composite definition follows
systems thinking may not communicate the breadth of what is (note the similarity to definitions of systems thinking):
intended. If the intent is to propose thinking broadly about the
consequences that could derive from hazards and risks, other A sociotechnical system stresses the holistic, inter-
terms are needed such as macro thinking, micro thinking and col- dependent, integrated and inseparable relationship
laborative thinking. Composite definitions of those terms are: between humans and machines and fosters the shap-
ing of both the technical and the social conditions of
•Macro thinking: Very large in scale, scope or capability, taking work in such a way that both the output goal of the
a broad and holistic approach to the interdependent and integrat- system and the needs of workers are accommodated.
ed relationships between all aspects of processes and humans. (Manuele, 2013, p. 58)

•Collaborative thinking: In real time, interfacing and discus- When safety practitioners offer a recommendation to improve
sion with colleagues who may have substantially differing views a facet of an operational risk management system, they should
to achieve plausible and actionable conclusions. apply macro thinking to determine how application of the rec-
ommendation may also affect other operational aspects.
•Micro thinking: Small and narrow in scope, centering on
the unsafe acts of employees and immediately apparent physical Applied macro thinking takes a holistic approach to analysis
conditions as causal factors. that focuses on the whole of a system and its parts at the same
time and the way a system’s parts interrelate. Macro thinking con-
Significance of an Organization’s Culture trasts with an analytical process that addresses a technical or social
Safety practitioners must understand that how an organization

encourages or does not encourage avoiding, eliminating and
controlling hazards and risks is established within its culture.
In addition, they must be aware that management creates and
controls the culture. In too many organizations, taking a narrow,

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 39

aspect of a system separately (micro thinking) without consider- the role of change agent by championing macro thinking. Doing
ing the relationship of that aspect to the system as a whole. so will be educational, over time, for many employees.

To further understand systems thinking (macro thinking), Incident Investigation & Causation:
safety practitioners must understand and include the human Introducing the Five-Why Problem-Solving Technique
interface of the process they advise. When promoting macro
thinking and having a balanced sociotechnical operation, the Dekker (2006) makes the following astute observation, which
organization should understand that: is worthy of consideration by anyone involved in incident in-
vestigations:
•technical and social systems are inseparable, integral and in-
terrelated parts of a whole; Where you look for causes depends on how you be-
lieve accidents happen. Whether you know it or not,
•changes made in one process may have an effect on others; you apply an accident model to your analysis and un-
•an organization’s needs and employees are not well served if, derstanding of failure. An accident model is a mutual-
when resolving a risk situation, the subject is considered narrowly ly agreed, and often unspoken, understanding of how
and in isolation rather than as a part of an overall operating system. accidents occur. (p. 81)
This article emphasizes the importance of considering the en-
tirety of the processes and the probable human interfaces within Safety practitioners must recognize the fact that they apply an
those processes, as well as their interdependence when an orga- accident model as they participate in and give advice for inci-
nization discusses and resolves risk-related problems. dent investigations, and that they are obligated to provide advice
based on a sound thought process that considers the reality of
How to Get It Done: Safety Practitioners as Change Agents hazards, the risks that derive from them and the relative man-
This author has discussed OSH professionals’ role as culture agement system deficiencies.

change agent (Manuele, 2015). Safety practitioners may find it Unfortunately, an overabundance of incident causation mod-
an appropriate guide as they encourage managements to adopt els and discussions about them exist. For example, Toft, Dell,
macro thinking concepts. Excerpts from that article follow. Klockner, et al. (2012), comment on 13 accident causation mod-
els. Sklet (2002) discusses 14 incident investigation techniques,
Overcoming management systems deficiencies occurs some of which are not identical to those noted by Toft, Dell,
only by modifying the way things get done—that Klockner, et al. These are two examples of such collections;
is, only if an organization’s culture is changed with however, others exist.
respect to its system of expected performance. Thus,
the safety professional’s overarching role is that of a As safety practitioners become change agents and promote
culture change agent. (Manuele, 2015, p. 38) macro thinking, they should be certain that the causation
model they endorse appropriately encompasses the premises
An organization’s safety culture, which is a subset of that many incidents have multiple causal factors and that most
its overall culture, derives from decisions made at the causal factors are systemic.
governing entity level (e.g., board of directors, group
of owners) and at the senior management level that This author purposely avoids proposing a complicated causal
result in acceptable or unacceptable operational risk factor identification system because such a system would not
levels. Outcomes of those decisions could be positive likely be accepted by management. Safety practitioners should
or negative. Safety is culture driven, and management become familiar with the five-why system for problem solving
establishes the culture. An organization’s culture is and use it as they apply macro thinking in their work, perhaps
translated into a system of expected performance beginning with incident investigations. There are many reasons
that defines the staff’s beliefs with respect to what for this recommendation:
management wants done. (Manuele, 2015, p. 39)
1) Within the practice of safety, significant improvement in
A change agent is a person who serves as a catalyst to causal factor determination is needed.
bring about organizational change. A change agent
assesses the present, is controllably dissatisfied with 2) The five-why system for problem solving has long been
it, contemplates a future that should be, and takes used with great success.
action to achieve the culture changes necessary to
achieve the desired future. (Manuele, 2015, p. 40) 3) It is easy to learn and apply.
4) It fits well with macro-thinking concepts.
As change agents, safety practitioners should first study 5) If successfully adopted, the five-why system would:
and become thoroughly familiar with the premises of macro •significantly improve investigation quality;
thinking, and apply them in all that they do. Then they should •lead to determining the reality of systemic causal factors;
persuade management of the benefits of adopting macro think- •help determine the absence, inappropriateness, misuse or
ing and develop a convincing exhibit to support their proposal. nonuse of barriers;
Internal incident investigation reports can likely provide sup- •evaluate the human interfaces of the process in which the
porting data to help this cause. Exhibits should include examples incident occurred;
of how application of macro thinking would have resulted in •provide information about when risk assessments should be made.
identifying more pertinent causal factors. 6) Because of its structure, the five-why technique promotes:
•involvement of individuals in the investigation group who are
If such initiatives are successful, a safety practitioner should close to the work performed;
seek opportunities to make similar presentations to senior man- •critical, systematic and collaborative thinking;
agement. If unsuccessful, safety practitioners can still demon- •meaningful discussion that can lead to agreed-on causal factors.
strate their knowledge when they advise on hazards and risk 7) Use of the five-why technique helps determine whether
situations. As they participate, safety practitioners can think causal factors are complex enough to merit using additional in-
macro and take a holistic approach. Safety practitioners take on vestigation systems.

40 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

Applying the Five-Why Problem-Solving Technique carts to use two people to move the carts until larger
Three examples of applying the five-why technique are pre- casters are placed on the carts. I have asked our safe-
ty director to alert her associates at other locations
sented here (they first appeared in Manuele, 2016). Purposely, of this situation and how we are handling it.
these examples are rather ordinary and not overly complex.
They pertain to real-world operational situations. Example 2
Operations personnel express concern about injury potential
The author has made adjustments and extensions in the
examples to assist in identifying micro and macro thinking. because of conditions that develop in a metal forming machine
These examples illustrate the thought and inquiry process used when the overload trip actuates. This is an example of how the
in application of the five-why technique. five-why technique and macro thinking can be used to resolve
hazard/risk situations before an incident occurs.
Example 1
An incident’s written description says that a tool-carrying The safety director met with the supervisor who is directly
responsible for the work.
wheeled cart tipped over while an employee was trying to move
it. She was seriously injured. The causal factor was recorded 1) Why are you concerned?
as “Employee did not move the cart correctly.” This statement The electrical overload trip actuates very often
demonstrates micro thinking. The following illustrates using when we use this forming machine. It gets risky when
the five-why technique to inquire further. it stops in mid-cycle and the work that has to be done
to clear the partially formed metal adds risks that our
1) Why did the cart tip over? employees think are more than they should have to
We now realize that the carts are tippy because bear. Occasionally, that’s okay. Often is too much.
the diameter of the casters is too small. This has hap- 2) Why does the overload trip actuate?
pened several times but there was no injury and we This is a new problem for us. We rarely had the
didn’t make any reports. overload trip actuate. It started after a new order for
2) Why weren’t the previous incidents reported? metal was received. We are told that the purchasing
We didn’t recognize that a serious injury could oc- department thought that it got a very good deal
cur when the cart tipped over. from a metals distributor, but it turns out that what
3) Why is the diameter of the casters too small? was delivered did not meet our specifications. This
They were made that way in the fabrication shop. metal is not as malleable and workable, and the met-
4) Why did the fabrication shop make carts with al former struggles in the forming process. So, the
casters that are too small? overload trip actuates. Maintenance is furious with us
They followed the dimensions given to them by because we have to call on them as often as we do.
engineering. 3) Why can’t the amperage for the overload trip
5) Why did engineering give fabrication dimen- be increased for this batch of metal?
sions for casters that have been proven to be too Our engineers say they don’t want more power fed
small? into this machine.
Engineering did not consider the hazards and risks 4) Why do you have to call on maintenance so
that would result from using small casters. often?
6) Why did engineering not consider those haz- The rule here is that no overload trip is to be reset
ards and risks? without a review of why it tripped and clearance from
It never occurred to the designers that small cast- maintenance.
ers would create hazardous situations. 5) Why haven’t you recommended to your oper-
Causal/contributing factors: Hazard was not rec- ating manager that he arrange a get together with
ognized by operations personnel; failure to report the engineer and the maintenance manager to de-
hazardous incidents; and design of the casters result- cide on what must be done to resolve the overload
ed in hazardous situations. trip problem for this batch of metal?
That’s not easy for me to do at my level. But it
All of the preceding, beginning with the enumerated items, would be good if you could find a way to get that
and the following demonstrate macro thinking. done.
Possible causal/contributing factors: Overexer-
Conclusion: I [the department manager] have made tion; machine actuating when cleaning the partially
engineering aware of the design problem. In that formed metal; fall potential; partially formed metal
meeting, emphasis was given to the need to addition- being hazardous in the handling process.
ally focus on hazards and risks in the design process. Conclusions: Management resolved this risk-relat-
Also, engineering was asked to study the matter and ed problem by involving the purchasing department
has given new design parameters to fabrication: triple as to future purchases; operations; engineering; and
the caster diameter. On a high-priority basis, fabrica- maintenance (macro thinking). It is often the case
tion is to replace all casters on similar carts. A 30-day that risk reduction actions require participation by
completion date for that work was set. several interrelated functions and the application of
macro thinking.
I have also alerted supervisors to the problem in
areas where carts of that design are used. I have ad- And of interest, the supervisor did not feel free to discuss a
vised supervisors that when deciding whether to re- hazardous situation with the person to whom he reports.
port an incident not resulting in injury, their decision
should be on the side of being extra cautious. I also
advised them to instruct all personnel who use the

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 41

Example 3 injuries or fatalities, systems/macro thinking should be applied
Description of incident: Machine operator fell and with respect to the interaction and interplay of elements within
a process before adverse events occur.
broke a hip.
Causal factors: Oil on the floor. If safety practitioners promote adoption of systems/macro
Corrective actions: Cleaned floor. thinking concepts they should be prepared to participate in a
major culture change. Also, they have a responsibility to bring
Note: The foregoing was the entirety of what was entered in to executives’ attention any management systems deficiencies
the incident investigation report for the description, causal fac- that may be uncovered, some of which may relate to decisions
tors and corrective action. The entries represent micro think- made at the executive level. PSJ
ing. The incident investigation form contained four signatures
indicating approval. Further inquiry followed. References

1) Why was there oil on the floor? Arnold, R.D. & Wade, J.P. (2015). A definition of systems thinking: A
A gasket leaked. systems approach. Procedia Computer Science, 44, 669-678.
2) Why did the gasket leak?
Bearings are worn on this machine and when it is Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS). (1994). Guidelines for pre-
overstressed, it vibrates a lot and the vibration loos- venting human error in process safety. New York, NY: Author.
ened the joints.
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When production is at full capacity, which is often, ington, VT: Ashgate.
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4) Why haven’t the bearings been replaced? Dekker, S. (2011). Drift into failure. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
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5) Why hasn’t maintenance responded? systems-thinking-what-why-when-where-and-how
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ment and workers’ compensation claim costs for the make it easier to master? The Systems Thinker. Retrieved from https://the
cracked hip are estimated at $400,000. Additions systemsthinker.com/the-thinking-in-systems-thinking-how-can-we-make
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tems/macro thinking is based for the practice of safety. That plexity-theory
would add immensely to the content and effectiveness of what
safety practitioners do. Now that more entities are initiating Fred A. Manuele, P.E., CSP, is president of Hazards Limited, which he
activities to further improve on the prevention of serious in- formed after retiring from Marsh & McLennan, where he was a managing
juries and fatalities, macro thinking about processes and the director and manager of M&M Protection Consultants. His experience in the
interrelations between the elements within a process would practice of safety spans several decades. Manuele’s books On the Practice of
additionally identify the reality of causal factors. Preferably, for Safety and Advanced Safety Management: Focusing on Z10 and Serious Injury
all incidents but particularly for incidents that result in serious Prevention have been adopted by several professors for undergraduate and
graduate safety degree programs. Manuele is an ASSP Fellow and received
NSC’s Distinguished Service to Safety Award. He is a former board member
of ASSP, NSC and BCSP, which he also served as president. Manuele received
a BCSP Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, University of Central Missouri’s
Distinguished Service Award in 2015, and ASSP’s President’s Award in 2016 for
his dedication in advancing the practice of safety. Manuele is a professional
member of the ASSP’s Northeastern Illinois Chapter.

42 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

BEST PRACTICES

TECHNOLOGY’S ROLE

in Safety Management

By Ali Karakhan and Ola Alsaffar

Construction operations are hazardous and associated with high safety risks to both field personnel and the
public. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, 2017), the construction industry experiences fatal injuries
at disproportionate rates compared to other major U.S. industries.

GORODENKOFF/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS Although construction workers ac- injuries or even fatalities. It would also have hazards before the start of construction.
count for only 5% of the overall national significant economic impacts on the work Waly and Thabet (2003) developed an in-
workforce, approximately 20% of total community, project stakeholders and pos- tegrated virtual reality planning tool that
workplace fatalities in the U.S. occur in the sibly the community. Along with financial can be used by project teams to enhance
construction industry (Abdelhamid & Ev- impacts, workplace incidents can negatively project performance outcomes.
erett, 2000). In 2016 alone, more than 900 impact worker productivity and morale.
fatalities were reported in the construction For example, careful planning and selec-
industry, yielding an injury rate of about Now consider the same situation but in tion of critical path activities can improve
10, which is significantly higher than the slightly different circumstances: This time, workplace safety conditions and reduce
national injury rate of all other U.S. indus- technology is being utilized to simulate the change orders required during construc-
tries (BLS, 2017). Some have identified construction process before work starts. tion. Minimizing change orders during
the limited adoption of technology in the When a collapse occurs, it is contained construction while maintaining an effec-
construction industry as a potential reason within a virtual reality setting. In the latter tive work scheduling positively influences
behind the poor safety performance in con- situation, the cost of such a collapse would project safety outcomes (Hallowell, Veltri,
struction (Nnaji, Gambatese & Lee, 2018). be minimal and easy to absorb as compared Harper, et al., 2017; Kartam, 1997). More-
to the former situation in which the actual over, Sacks, Perlman and Barak (2013) used
Technology adoption in construction construction had already begun. The virtual immersive virtual reality for hazard iden-
has been slower than in other major U.S. reality setting provides project stakeholders tification and safety training, and found
industries. In other major industries an opportunity to eliminate potential proj- that virtual reality training is, on average,
where technology adoption has reached ect hazards before beginning construction, more effective that conventional methods,
high levels, safety performance has sub- thus avoiding workplace incidents that such as visual aids and classroom training.
stantially improved. This article describes could result in direct harm to employees In the study, subjects who received virtual
the potential safety benefits of technology and have significant economic impacts on reality training identified significantly more
in construction and provides examples of the project including morale breakdown, workplace hazards than those who received
how technology can be used to influence reworks, cost overruns and schedule delays. conventional training (Sacks, et al., 2013).
project safety performance outcomes.
Technologies in Construction Safety Another technology that has been used
Oakland Collapse The aforementioned scenario, which de- more in construction safety is augmented
In May 2017, approximately 20 workers reality. This technology can superimpose
rived from an actual incident, demonstrates spatially contextual information on the job
at a seven-story housing project under the potential of technology, represented by site during construction operations, which
construction near downtown Oakland, virtual reality in this case, to improve project can have many safety benefits. For example,
CA, were injured when scaffolding, tempo- performance outcomes in terms of quality, smart helmets that use augmented reality
rary formwork and vertical shoring on the cost, schedule and safety. Virtual reality in can give workers real-time data about
second floor of the construction project the construction industry is often employed workplace conditions, such as temperature
collapsed. The workers were plunged into to enhance work quality, reduce construction differentials and unsafe conditions, and
wet concrete and struck by falling debris costs and avoid schedule delays, as opposed can send location details to managers and
including reinforcing steel bars and tim- to improving workplace safety conditions. safety supervisors in the field office for
ber framework. At least a dozen workers The use of virtual reality in a safety context monitoring (Campbell, 2017).
were seriously injured and hospitalized. is currently not a standard practice in con-
The collapse was attributed to failure in struction, although it has recently received
the formwork and vertical shoring system increased attention. The authors recommend
design, or application of additional weights using technology including virtual reality in
that exceeded the designed load limits the safety context of construction. Such use
of the building (CBS SF Bay Area News, can lead to improved workplace conditions
2017). After visiting the site and investigat- and safety performance.
ing the incident, Cal/OSHA (2017) issued
a $145,000 citation to three contractors Research studies on the use of virtual
involved in the incident. reality in construction have shown high
potential for safety performance improve-
As an OSH professional, imagine your ment when this technology is used to mit-
company involved in a similar tragedy. What igate workplace safety hazards (Li, Yi, Chi,
would be the social and economic conse- et al., 2018). Virtual reality can assist proj-
quences of a construction collapse? Such a ect teams in the process of identifying and
catastrophe would likely result in workplace eliminating potential workplace safety

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 43

BEST PRACTICES

TABLE 1

POTENTIAL SAFETY BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY IN CONSTRUCTION

Technology Potential safety benefit Example
3-D/4-D •Enable hazard elimination or •Utilize 3-D model in a safety training course rather than photos and other
computer- substitution (design for safety). 2-D visual aids to improve worker perception about workplace hazards.
aided design •Improve hazard recognition and •Improve safety constructability reviews conducted during the design
(CAD) identification. phase of a facility (Hartmann & Fischer, 2007).
Building •Improve safety training.
information •Enable hazard elimination or •Automated safety-rule checking platform to identify potential hazards
modeling substitution (design for safety). before work operation starts and suggest hazard prevention measures
(BIM) •Improve hazard recognition and (Zhang, Teizer, Lee, et al., 2013).
identification. •Employ BIM-based tools (e.g., simulation, visualization) to facilitate
Laser •Enhance safety planning, worker safety integration into the design process, planning and
scanning awareness or communication. scheduling (Rodrigues, Estrada, Etunes, et al., 2017).
•Improve safety inspections. •Enable field personnel on site to report near-hits, thus enabling managers
Quick and supervisors to detect and mitigate potential workplace hazards (Shen
response •Improve hazard recognition and & Marks, 2015).
(QR) codes identification. •Identify blind spots of a heavy construction equipment in the job site
Radio •Enhance safety planning, using pictorial representations enabled by a 3-D laser scanner (Teizer,
frequency awareness or communication. Allread, Fullerton, et al., 2010).
identification •Improve physical workplace •Take accurate measurements of heavy construction equipment and the
(RFID) conditions. surrounding environment prior to start of work operations to ensure that
•Improve hazard recognition and the equipment has room to safely maneuver during work operations.
Robotics and identification. •Enable accessing safety information of a machine or equipment in the job
automation •Enhance safety planning, site easily.
awareness or communication. •Provide information about required safety precautions and operational
Unmanned •Improve hazard recognition and procedures for a particular task.
aerial identification. •RFID tags embedded in PPE such as a hard hat to identify real-time
vehicles •Enhance safety planning, locations and warn workers when they are in close proximity to hazards
(UAVs) awareness or communication. (Borhani, 2016).
Wearable •Improve physical workplace •RFID tags attached to safety gear to support and check on-site
sensing conditions. compliance with safety procedure (Kelm, Laußat, Meins-Becker, et al.,
devices •Improve on-site safety compliance. 2013).
(WSDs) •Enable hazard prevention or
Sensors substitution. •Perform welding tasks in high-risk situations using articulated robots.
•Enhance safety planning, •Utilize a bricklayer machine to construct a brick wall in hot climate
Warning awareness or communication. conditions.
systems •Mitigate safety or health problems. •Use a pipe manipulator for concrete pipe laying in trenches (Skibniewski,
•Improve hazard recognition and 2015).
identification. •Perform quality and safety inspections for steel erection in high
•Enhance safety planning, elevations.
awareness or communication. •Perform reality capture and take accurate measurements in high-risk
•Improve safety inspections. situations or hard-to-reach areas such as bottom of a bridge (Şerban, Rus,
•Improve hazard recognition and Vele, et al., 2016).
identification. •Perform biometric screening with respect to the physical characteristics
•Enhance safety planning, of workers (e.g., body temperature, repetitive motion) and send real-time
awareness or communication. data to safety supervisors on site for monitoring.
•Mitigate safety or health problems.
•Improve hazard recognition and •Utilize oxygen and temperature sensors to facilitate intelligent
identification. monitoring of confined spaces on site and send warning signals in case of
•Enhance safety planning, an emergency (Borhani, 2016).
awareness or communication.
•Improve physical workplace •Use intrusion alert technologies in highway construction to warn workers
conditions. against potential hazards resulting from motorist intrusions into the work
•Improve hazard recognition and zone during work operation (Gambatese, Lee & Nnaji, 2017).
identification.
•Enhance safety planning,
awareness or communication.

44 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

Other technologies that can be used to more productive, efficient process that yields on construction safety. Journal of Safety, Health and
generate safety benefits include 3-D/4-D superior performance outcomes with respect Environmental Research, 13(2), 370-377.
computer-aided design, building information to work quality, construction cost, comple-
modeling (BIM), laser scanning, quick re- tion schedules and safety. However, the use Hartmann, T. & Fischer, M. (2007). Supporting
sponse codes, radio frequency identification, of technology in a safety context in the con- the constructability review with 3-D/4-D models.
robotics and automation, unmanned aerial struction industry is still limited. The goal of Building Research and Information, 35(1), 70-80.
vehicles (UAVs), wearable sensing devices, this article is to encourage higher adoption
sensors and warning systems. These technol- rates of technology in construction especially Hunt, C. (2013). The benefits of using building in-
ogies can be incorporated into the project in the context of safety by providing specific formation modeling in structural engineering (Mas-
either during facility design to mitigate examples of how technology can be used ter’s thesis, Utah State University). Retrieved from
potential construction hazards and promote in construction to improve safety perfor- https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports/319
workplace safety, or during construction to mance outcomes. Construction stakeholders
enhance factors such as communication and are encouraged to use safety technology Kartam, N.A. (1997). Integrating safety and
collaboration between workers, supervisors throughout the project life cycle from siting health performance into construction CPM.
and project teams. to design, construction, operation, mainte- Journal of Construction Engineering and Man-
nance, renovation and deconstruction. The agement, 123(2), 121-126.
In many cases, more than one tech- use of technology may add extra costs at the
nology can be used, either jointly or sub- beginning, but such costs would be offset in Kelm, A., Laußat, L., Meins-Becker, A., et al.
sequently, to generate safety benefits on the long run and the safety value of technolo- (2013). Mobile passive radio frequency identification
the job site. For example, laser scanners gy use will outweigh the added costs. PSJ (RFID) portal for automated and rapid control of
or UAVs are often used to scan a site and personal protective equipment (PPE) on construc-
capture a detailed set of data before creat- References tion sites. Automation in Construction, 36, 38-52.
ing a point cloud for the deployment of a
BIM model. Table 1 summarizes potential Abdelhamid, T. & Everett, J. (2000). Iden- Li, X., Yi, W., Chi, H., et al. (2018). A critical
safety benefits of several technologies. tifying root causes of construction accidents. review of virtual and augmented reality (VR/
Journal of Construction Engineering and Man- AR) applications in construction safety. Auto-
With respect to the Oakland construction agement, 126(1), 52-60. mation in Construction, 86, 150-162.
incident, technology such as virtual reality
and BIM could be used to evaluate design Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). (2017). Nnaji, C., Gambatese, J. & Lee, H.W. (2018, April).
loads and elements, and simulate construc- National census of fatal occupational injuries in Work zone intrusion: Technology to reduce injuries
tion operations so that a collapse would 2016. Retrieved from www.bls.gov/news.release/ and fatalities. Professional Safety, 63(4), 36-41.
occur in virtual settings and be resolved pri- pdf/cfoi.pdf
or to beginning construction. Virtual reality Rodrigues, F., Estrada, J., Antunes, F., et al.
and BIM models could be used to evaluate Borhani, A. (2016). Individual and organization- (2017). Safety through design: A BIM-based
and simulate whether a particular floor or al influencing technology adoption for construction framework. Proceedings of the 1st GeoMEast In-
scaffolding system can withstand specific safety (Master’s thesis, University of Washington). ternational Congress and Exhibition, Egypt 2017
limits of dead and live loads. on Sustainable Civil Infrastructures (pp. 112-123).
Cal/OSHA. (2017, Dec. 14). Cal/OSHA cites
For example, information about the con- three contractors more than $145,000 for Oak- Sacks, R., Perlman, A. & Barak, R. (2013).
struction loads for temporary structures, land structure collapse (Press release). Retrieved Construction safety training using immersive
personnel and equipment, erection and from www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cal virtual reality. Construction Management and
fitting forces, equipment reactions, and osha-cites-three-contractors-more-than-145000 Economics, 31(9), 1005-1017.
lateral pressure of concrete can be stored -for-oakland-structure-collapse-300571795.html
into the BIM database along with infor- Şerban, G., Rus, I., Vele, D., et al. (2016). Flood-
mation about environmental (e.g., wind, Campbell, D. (2017). 6 ways virtual reality prone area delimitation using UAV technology, in
snow, rain) and material loads. Using the construction technology can save you money the areas hard-to-reach for classic aircrafts: case
stored information, the BIM model can be now. Connect & Construct. Retrieved from study in the north-east of Apuseni Mountains,
used to perform calculations of whether a https://connect.bim360.autodesk.com/virtual Transylvania. Natural Hazards, 82(3), 1817-1832.
structure (permanent or temporary) can -reality-construction-technology-saves-money.
withstand the application of certain loads. Shen, X. & Marks, E. (2015). Near-miss informa-
CBS SF Bay Area News (2017, May 26). 12 tion visualization tool in BIM for construction safety.
In the case of the Oakland construction workers injured at Oakland construction site Journal of Construction Engineering and Management,
site collapse, the design of the formwork and collapse. Retrieved from http://sanfrancisco 142(4). doi:10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001100
the vertical shoring system could have been .cbslocal.com/2017/05/26/oakland-rescue
checked to determine whether the design -collapse-construction-emergency Skibniewski, M. (2015). Research trends in
was legitimate and could withstand the ap- information technology applications in construc-
plication of dead and live loads of the project. Gambatese, J., Lee, H. & Nnaji, C. (2017). Work tion safety engineering and management. Fron-
The applications of BIM in the engineering zone intrusion alert technologies: Assessment and tiers of Engineering Management, 1(3), 246-259.
and design of permanent and temporary practical guidance (Report No. SPR 790). Retrieved
structures are abundant (Hunt, 2013). from www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Programs/Research Teizer, J., Allread, B., Fullerton, C., et al. (2010).
Documents/SPR790_IntrusionAlertTech.pdf Autonomous proactive real-time construction work-
Conclusion er and equipment operator proximity safety alert
The adoption of technology can bring Hallowell, M., Veltri, A., Harper, C., et al. (2017). system. Automation in Construction, 19(5), 630-640.
Impact of design completeness, clarity, and stability
many benefits to the construction industry. Waly, A. & Thabet, W. (2003). A virtual con-
High levels of technology adoption can help struction environment for preconstruction plan-
the construction industry progress toward a ning. Automation in Construction, 12(2), 139-154.

Zhang, S., Teizer, J., Lee, J., et al. (2013). Building
information modeling (BIM) and safety: Automatic
safety checking of construction models and sched-
ules. Automation in Construction, 29, 183-195.

Ali Karakhan is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State
University. He holds a B.S. in Building and Construction Engineering from University of Technology and
an M.S. in Civil Engineering from University of Baghdad. Karakhan is a member of the American Society of
Civil Engineers Construction Institute Construction Safety Committee. He is a member of ASSP’s Oregon
State University Student Section, which is part of the Columbia-Willamette Chapter, and is a member of
the Society’s Emerging Professionals in OSH Common Interest Group and Construction Practice Specialty.

Ola Alsaffar is a registered civil engineer in the Iraqi Society of Engineers. She holds a B.S. in Building
and Construction Engineering from University of Technology in Baghdad. Alsaffar previously worked as a
lab assistant in the department of Civil Engineering at University of Baghdad.

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 45

CHECKPOINTS

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

for Construction Safety

By Raghuvaran Chakkravarthy

The construction industry is a dangerous occupation that can result in various injuries, incidents and fatalities.
The development of machine learning in construction as well as the preparation of appropriate software aims to
provide improved solutions to potential safety hazards and risks within the construction environment.

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to Safety Benefits of AI Applications information. While the construction sector
a wide field of science that primarily A key component of artificial intelli- adopts technology for capturing data, the
focuses on having computers perform issue rests with implementing a system that
tasks that would normally require gence is data. At various stages of the con- can manage all the captured data for con-
human intelligence. It incorporates struction process, the data collected can be struction professionals.
various subjects including linguistics, compared across various projects in dif-
psychology, philosophy and computer ferent construction firms to offer valuable Another challenge with AI is the inabil-
science. The two key areas of learning learning information for AI applications. ity of related applications to fully program
for AI include machine learning and AI methods can also be used in product themselves, resulting in cases of errors,
deep learning. Machine learning entails quality control testing and design. And incidents or project delays. In addition, the
using algorithms that make predictions AI programs can deliver precise data and industry may fear possible loss of jobs as
using data without being explicitly pro- insights to ultimately assist contractors to skilled and intelligent technologies become
grammed. Conversely, deep learning optimize the safety of the work site. increasingly applied in place of humans.
involves a set of specialized methods
based on neural networks, a type of ma- Emerging AI technologies focus on Conclusion
chine learning algorithm that simulates increasing safety for site personnel, such While challenges to leveraging AI in the
the neurons in the human brain (Raja- as a system that alerts an operator with
gopal, 2017). a warning message, thereby minimizing construction industry remain, the oppor-
risks. With improved efficiencies, AI can tunities of such technology can offer both
AI & the Future of Construction lead to advances in safety and health, as short- and long-term value. AI can be a
Today, the application of AI shows a technologies and robotics can be used to useful technology in construction safety.
evaluate sites and complete dangerous Given its expected benefits of increased
rising trend in the use of computer pro- tasks for humans. safety and reduced costs, AI in construc-
cessing to undertake tasks that would tion safety demands continued research
normally demand human intelligence. AI applications that utilize visual pro- and development. As the sector continues
The technique allows for increased per- cessing algorithms can be valuable tools to move toward increased automation to
formance speeds coupled with a higher for safety professionals pertaining to risk enhance safety, the use of AI applications
degree of accuracy. On construction monitoring and prevention. Visuals from the cannot be overemphasized. PSJ
sites, the use of robotics can assist in per- construction site are assessed for safety haz-
forming certain tasks such as welding, ards. Additionally, safety professionals have References
laying bricks and demolition. Increased the opportunity to manage multiple projects
spending on research and development without the need for on-site presence. Safety Engineering.com. (2017, Dec. 28). How AI
can increase global use of robotics, with monitoring solutions using AI can scan bulk can reduce injuries in the construction industry.
more autonomy and intelligence through amounts of visual data, identifying staff and Retrieved from www.engineering.com/Designer
the application of AI approaches. On this situations that fail to meet set safety require- Edge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/16248/
note, safety professionals should embrace ments. In the construction industry, AI can How-AI-Can-Reduce-Injuries-in-the-Con
AI for construction safety relating to help reimagine how processes are completed. struction-Industry.aspx
workers, equipment and surrounding For example, with building information
environments. modeling (BIM) and with lessons learned Irani, Z. & Kamal, M.M. (2014). Intelligent Sys-
across project teams, AI knowledge is con- tems Research in the Construction Industry. Ex-
tained in daily reports, schedules and more. pert Systems With Applications, 41(4), 934-950.

AI Challenges for Safety Professionals Rajagopal, A. (2017, Dec. 21). The rise of
At a time when massive amounts of data AI and machine learning in construction. Re-
trieved from https://medium.com/autodesk
are created each day, AI is exposed to an -university/the-rise-of-ai-and-machine-learning
endless resource to learn from and adapt -in-construction-219f95342f5c
to. The data generated in the construction
industry is growing. Data gathered from Smartvid.io. (2017, Jan. 12). A case study
images captured on security sensors, on using computer vision for safety screening
mobile devices and BIM offer a pool of in ENR’s annual photo competition. Retrieved
from https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/710233/
collateral/Case-Study_ENR-Machine-Learning
-and-Construction-Safety_FINAL.pdf?t
=1520447173177

Raghuvaran Chakkravarthy M.S., CHST, STSC, GradIOSH, is a safety and health manager
at Gilbane Building Co. in Middle East region projects with 13 years’ construction safety and health
experience. Chakkravarthy holds an M.S. in OSH from Columbia Southern University. He is a member of
Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, a member of ASSP’s Middle East and India chapters, and a
member of the Society’s International Practice Specialty.

46 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org

BEST PRACTICES

8 TIPS FOR SUCCESS WITH SAFETY 4.0

Big Data Tools Zoom In on Unseen Safety Risks

By Keith Bowers and Geoff Walter

The powerful new tools that drive safety leadership in safety 4.0 allow OSH professionals to see and understand
the workplace and safety risks with new clarity. Done right, these new approaches can deliver big benefits. Done
wrong, they can bring big problems.

These eight tips will help keep OSH TABLE 1
professionals in bounds and on the way to
significant improvements with safety 4.0. BEFORE & AFTER SAFETY 4.0

Safety 4.0 is the application of fourth Before safety 4.0: Too much data, After safety 4.0: Data analytics drive
industrial revolution technologies such as not enough information meaningful analyses and conclusions
digitization and artificial intelligence (AI) to •Lacked scalable analytical tools to
safety. The safety 4.0 project discussed in this process colossal amounts of text and •Machine learning and natural language
article uses AI technologies to extract, sum- numeric data. processing consider all data concurrently
marize and prioritize the safety records and •Impossible to analyze and comprehend. housed in safety database (i.e., all text and
other text data that were too voluminous to •Focused on general, industry-wide risks numeric information from all years).
read and understand before safety 4.0. in broad categories. •Incorporating actionable and detailed
incident types customized for the
1) Text Records: A Treasure •Despite these shortcomings, the company’s workplace.
Trove of Data for Safety 4.0 company achieved award-winning •With safety 4.0, the company strives for
safety performance. even higher quality performance levels by
Organizations today collect huge employing data-based decision-making.
amounts of text-based safety data. Before
safety 4.0, it was not possible to convert In the case study, customized data science Safety 4.0 technologies thrive on the
these data into actionable information analysis, adapted for the company from a chaotic and abundant data found in writ-
without expending immense amounts of series of well-tested machine learning and ten incident reports and related commu-
time, effort and resources. Without safety NLP algorithms, reshaped the company’s nications that lack consistent structure or
4.0, these data are stowed away in spread- safety data and generated analysis, graphics labels. In the case study, the authors used
sheets, databases and e-mail systems, and and interactive reporting. Table 1 contrasts text data from more than 6,000 incident
little is done to convert these data into the understanding of safety before and after reports drawn primarily from the compa-
meaningful insights and conclusions. Most the adoption of big data tools and safety 4.0. ny’s safety database.
text stores are too big, complex, irregular
and detailed for even the most efficient In the example safety 4.0 analysis pre- Do not worry if your company has
safety professional to read and analyze. sented in this article, safety incident data more or less data than in this example, or
consisted of: if the data are not neatly stored in a single
With safety 4.0 tools, however, it is pos- database or format. These techniques scale
sible to efficiently sift through safety data •more than 6,000 written records with and can routinely handle the equivalent of
including incident reports in all forms, limited, inconsistent categorical labels; a million-row spreadsheet. In general, the
such as e-mails, root-cause corrective more data the company has, the more you
action reports and investigation records, •unstructured text records with multi- will get from these techniques and it does
and identify safety-relevant data. When ple formats (e.g., e-mails, RCCA reports, not matter where the data are located.
faced with hundreds or thousands of safety safety database);
documents, it is easy to get overwhelmed 3) Leave Preconceptions Behind;
beyond the first few dozen. Safety 4.0 uses •varying lengths and styles, inconsistent Avoid the Easy Ways Out
a family of AI techniques called natural wording and vocabularies, multiple formats;
language processing (NLP) to digest the Before safety 4.0, to determine where
detail and complexity buried in these un- •data spanning 110 locations and mul- the company needed to improve, OSH
structured text data, where the most criti- tiple languages. professionals relied on professional judg-
cal safety data often reside. ment and assumptions, and had limited
With unstructured written information, data to understand the complex landscape
The approaches of safety 4.0 empower tools previously used were unhelpful. Print- of workplace risk. With safety 4.0, it is
companies to distill much more useful ed out, the stack of paper stood 3 ft. tall. possible to access those data to help map
information from existing data sources improvement strategies and determine
and enable rapid, effective improvements 2) Use Safety 4.0 Tools Now; which safety problems most deserve lim-
of safety performance. To illustrate safety The Perfect Time May Never Come ited resources. These are both crucially
4.0, the authors use real data from a major important questions.
division of Owens Corning, an Ohio- Have you been waiting for that perfect
based producer of insulation, roofing and moment to implement safety 4.0, when As human beings, we seek to understand
fiberglass composites. The company em- the stars align for your software, database our environments, and we are prone to two
ploys approximately 15,000 people in 110 and process improvement program? That common cognitive errors when we examine
factories in 25 countries. moment may never arrive. Consider im- the weaknesses of our production processes.
plementing now if you have mature safety
processes and a reasonable amount of
relevant data, even if the data span multi-
ple systems and formats.

assp.org JANUARY 2019 PROFESSIONAL SAFETY PSJ 47

BEST PRACTICES

First, the recency effect is the tendency to For the case study, the authors used NLP each other and arranged in a precise and
overvalue recent events over more distant techniques to distill 15 broad types of safety consistent hierarchy of types (Figure 1).
events. This effect causes us to work on recent incidents seemingly buried in the compa- The number of feedback types (15) best
problems, still prominent in the memory. ny’s data (Figure 1). Each feedback type is fit the data. The data is routinely analyzed
labelled with three keywords that are most with fewer or more types depending on the
Second, humans tend to take the path of characteristic for that feedback type. These purpose and scale of the questions.
least resistance and work on problems that 15 safety incident types can be grouped into
are easy for them to solve. For example, if four high-level categories: machine impacts, Big data tools read and classify the
an individual has resolved measurement er- slips/falls, strains and hand injuries. ocean of valuable information that is oth-
rors in the past, s/he will be inclined to look erwise hidden in unstructured text data
for other opportunities to conduct mea- Note the internal consistency of the in- such as incident and root cause and cor-
surement improvement programs, even if cident types in Figure 1. The dotted lines rective action reports. Harvesting the text
efforts elsewhere could yield better results. represent a stronger similarity between the information in the safety database reveals
incident types. Note that the incident types the complex contours of the safety inci-
Using big data techniques can help are specific to the authors’ company opera- dents and highlights new opportunities
avoid these and other common cognitive tions and naturally fall into four broad cat- for improvement that could not be detect-
errors, and make the most of all data to egories. This network helps to visualize the ed before using the safety 4.0 tools.
determine the biggest safety issues and natural groupings of the incident types and
identify the best remedies. design a systematic incident reduction plan. First-time users of these techniques are
often surprised that these AI-generated
4) Let the Data Show the Way Each of the more than 6,000 incident classifications are specific, informative
Do not fall back on past classifications reports is associated with a safety incident and consistent. They are much more de-
type and provides many real-world exam- tailed, precise, customized and actionable
for safety data; let the data determine its ples of each incident type. Having many than a general category classification
own classifications. By reading the full specific, real-world examples facilitates the could have been before safety 4.0.
complexity and diversity of safety incident design of corrective actions. Also, note that
data, safety 4.0 can build a reliable and similar incident types are located close to With safety 4.0 tools, it is possible to quan-
comprehensive hierarchical classification. titatively measure the impact and extent of
these custom incident types accurately and
FIGURE 1 reliably to better understand risks and conse-
quences of workplace safety incidents. Safety
NETWORK DIAGRAM OF INCIDENT TYPES 4.0 allows OSH professionals to confidently
REVEALS PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN PATTERNS address the most important safety issues
because they have been objectively derived,
Network of the incident types in the Owens Corning safety database, as produced by big data tech- quantified and classified rather than relying
niques. The database consists of 6,228 incident records and 305,287 words of text. Each incident only on professional judgment.
type is labeled with key words that are characteristic for that incident type. The dotted lines repre-
sent stronger similarity between the incident types. Note that the incident types are specific to the 5) Maximize Improvements When
company operations and naturally fall into four broad categories. This network helps to visualize Combining Text & Numeric Data
the natural groupings of the incident types and design a systematic incident reduction plan.
With safety 4.0 tools, it is possible to
analyze quantitative data while applying
new techniques such as NLP. The authors
next rank and prioritize the text analysis
results and combine them with recordable
incident and lost-workday totals. The
authors recommend using multiple met-
rics such as recordable and lost-workday
counts to rank and prioritize the different
classes of safety incidents. This reduces
incorrect interpretations and provides
additional support for conclusions.

To put the high-level network of inci-
dent types into perspective, the authors
ranked the 15 types by total number of
recordable incidents and lost workdays
for each incident type. The recordables
represent the number of safety incidents of
each type that were classified as OSHA-re-
cordable incidents for each of the 15 types
shown in Figure 1. The lost days represents
the total number of lost workdays, if any,
associated with each safety incident type.

This quantitative ranking of safety in-
cident types helps to prioritize corrective
actions. In Figure 2, safety incident type

48 PSJ PROFESSIONAL SAFETY JANUARY 2019 assp.org