Behavioural Based Safety

What Is Behavioural Based Safety (BBS)?

BBS is a proactive approach to improving workplace safety by focusing on what people do, why they do it and how their actions can be influenced. Rather than relying solely on rules, procedures or PPE, BBS aims to understand the human behaviours behind incidents and shape them through observation, feedback and positive reinforcement.

At its core, behavioural safety is about recognising that most accidents nowday´s aren't caused by equipment failure or a lack of policy, they happen because of decisions people make in real time. Whether it's a shortcut taken under time pressure or a risk that’s become routine, these behaviours often go unnoticed until something goes wrong.

In this blog series, we’ll introduce you to the Six-Stage Behavioural Safety Model we created at DuoDynamic Safety Solutions, a structured approach developed from real-world experience across high-risk environments.

Whether you're building a Behavioural based safety programme from scratch or want to make an existing one actually stick, we are here to guide you step by step.

Six-Stage Behavioural Safety Model

Initial State - Assessing the current situation
Before anything can improve, we need to understand what our starting point is. This phase is about digging below the surface to uncover not just what’s going wrong, but why it’s happening.
What to focus on:
- Culture audits and surveys: Capture attitudes toward safety from across the workforce. Are people confident to report near-misses? Do they believe leadership prioritises safety?
- Behavioural observations: Systematic on-site observations help reveal patterns like whether people are rushing, skipping checks or misusing equipment.
- Incident and trend analysis: Are the behaviours leading up to repeated near-misses or minor injuries?
- Environmental and organisational factors: Is poor planning driving rushed behaviour? Are procedures unrealistic?
🔍 Example: An audit may reveal that workers often improvise because the safe method is too time-consuming. That’s not a “worker issue”, it’s a system issue.

Goal Setting & Alignment

Once we understand the current culture, we set clear, realistic goals and bring everyone from directors to operatives into alignment.
What this includes:
- Define behavioural safety goals: For example, “Increase proactive reporting by 30% in 3 months,” or “Hold 3 peer-to-peer observations per site per week.”
- Map roles and responsibilities: Everyone should know their part, from supervisors leading daily briefings to site managers tracking behavioural trends.
- Clarify “what good looks like”: Define observable, measurable behaviours that reflect your ideal safety culture.
- Set metrics for progress: Combine leading indicators (e.g. safety conversations) with lagging ones (e.g. reduced incidents).
🎯 Tip: Align safety KPIs with wider project goals, if productivity is tied to rushing, safety goals should include planning improvements, not just individual reminders.

Strategy Development

Now it’s time to turn insights and goals into a practical strategy. This is where we plan what will happen, when and how.
Key strategy elements:
- Prioritise interventions: Based on risk, frequency and impact. For example, if working at height is common and risk tolerance is high, focus there first.
- Develop training plans: Identify what knowledge gaps exist at different levels (e.g. leadership coaching, operative briefings).
- Design communication tools: Create visuals, briefing templates and campaign materials to support consistency.
- Establish feedback mechanisms: Build in ways to listen to the workforce continuously.
🛠 Example tools: A Behavioural Safety Observation form, a “Stop and Think” checklist, or a pre-task behavioural conversation prompt.

Implementation

This is where strategy meets reality. Success depends on consistent delivery, visible leadership and real engagement.
Core implementation actions:
- Briefings and daily conversations: Use shift starts and toolbox talks to reinforce behavioural themes like risk perception or fatigue.
- On-site coaching: Train supervisors to give real-time feedback, reinforcing safe behaviours.
- Recognition systems: Celebrate positive interventions and safe behaviours in meaningful ways, think shout-outs, reward schemes or team challenges.
- Training sessions: These should be role-specific and interactive, not solely generic. Include real scenarios and peer-led elements.
💬 What works: Workers respond better when feedback is two-way. Encourage discussion and reflection, not just instruction.

Monitoring & Evaluation

To know if your programme is working, you need ongoing data. This phase is about tracking behaviours, adapting strategies and sharing progress.
What to measure:
- Leading indicators: Safety observations completed, interventions logged, feedback given and training attendance.
- Lagging indicators: Near-miss rates, incident trends and missed-time rates.
- Culture pulse checks: Short surveys or focus groups to track shifts in perception and engagement.
- Dashboards or visual tracking: Use simple displays (digital or physical) to make progress visible and support conversations on-site.
🔁 Make it adaptive: If data shows one area is struggling with behavioural uptake, revisit training, coaching or workload issues there.

Final Stage

The goal is to create a self-sustaining safety culture. This final stage ensures behavioural safety becomes part of how the organisation works, not a one-off campaign.
How to embed change:
- Integrate into core systems: Add behavioural standards to risk assessments, inductions, audits and team objectives.
- Standardise key processes: Make behavioural coaching part of site visits, include behaviour-based questions in performance reviews.
- Create routines: From daily “safety moment” briefings to weekly behaviour-focused stand-downs, build habits that stick.
- Keep refreshing: Rotate themes, introduce campaigns, share success stories and stay responsive to worker feedback.
- Continue learning: Review lessons from audits, incidents and surveys to evolve your approach.
🌱 Culture is living. It needs maintenance, leadership visibility and regular reinforcement to stay strong.