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Behavioral Safety from the
Consumer's Perspective

What is the "behavioral" in behavioral safety?

Grainne A. Matthews

Behavioral Safety is one application within a larger field called Organizational Behavior Analysis. Organizational Behavior Analysis applies the principles and findings of Behavior Analysis to the performance of organized groups of people. Behavior Analysis uses the scientific method to study individual performance. The phenomena of interest to those responsible for safety are the behaviors of the individuals in their organization that prevent injuries.

Behavior Analysis is relatively new in comparison to the other scientific disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and there remains much about human behavior that we have yet to explore and explain. However, we have come a long way towards a coherent understanding of the fundamental principles that explain our behavior. The scientific research already done has allowed us to develop some basic technologies that have been successfully applied in our efforts to support safe behavior at work.

  • Basic research in behavior analysis – 100 years
  • Applied research – 40 years
  • Organizational applications – 30 years
  • Safety – 20 years

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This paper was originally presented at the Behavioral Safety Now 1998 conference.