Behavior-Based Safety Consulting

A proven approach that utilizes a behavioral approach to clarify and strengthen the values necessary to sustain successful safety process.

SOPA Safety Software

A revolutionary new concept for managing behavior-based safety observation data

Value-Based Safety Video

The “Observations & Feedback Video Series” consists of six, 15-minute DVDs, a full color Leader’s Guide and one Student Workbook. Its simple, straightforward delivery is easy to understand and simple to follow.

Values-Based Safety Book

The Values-Based Safety Process: Improving Your Safety Culture with a Behavioral Approach, Second Edition provides a concise and practical guide for implementing a behavior-based safety system within any organization.

Speaking on Behavior-Based Safety

Visible Safety Leadership Workshop

Strong leaders are critical for sustained injury and fatality prevention at all organizational levels.

Through what they do and what they choose to focus on, leaders shape the culture that drives performance, and influence the systems and processes that create safety outcomes. The result is world-class safety performance that drives operational excellence.

In this one day workshop, you will learn how management can better support your safety process. Learn how to create a safety dialog that reinforces your safety objectives without alienating the workforce.

What Needs Does This Training Meet?

Typically, leaders tend to rely on in-house safety professionals to spearhead any safety initiatives or projects. This can lead to a disconnect for the employees who look to their leaders for indications of what is important in the "organization's culture". Leaders often don't have time for extended conversations with employees, and when they do their discussions tend to be punitive in nature because the leader is trying to "correct" the behavior of the employee.

What Will You Learn?

You will learn why employees make decisions that put themselves and others at risk. In addition you will learn hands-on skills for observing employees working, for example: how to give safety feedback in a way that the employee finds positive and constructive; how to foster a safety dialogue; and how to support the organization’s safety processes by developing personal action plans to implement and support these efforts on a daily basis.

Who Should Attend?

VPs, Safety Mgrs., HR Mgrs, General and Plant Mgrs, Operations Mgs/Supervisors, Risk Mgrs, HSE Mgrs, Maintenance Engineers, Shift Mgrs. and Supervisors; essentially any manager that has influence over others can benefit from this training.

These safety leadership training workshops are conducted at your facility and we recommend no more than 20 attendees per workshop since the workshop is interactive.

Learn More. Join Us On the Next Webinar.

Upcoming webinar dates are:
August 17, and September 8, 2011. If you would like to attend, contact Baxter Coffee at 713-807-1483.

The Values-Based Safety^® Video Series

The Most Comprehensive Observation Training Series Ever Developed

The "Observations & Feedback Video Series" consists of six, 15-minute DVDs, a full color Leader's Guide and one Student Workbook. Its simple, straightforward delivery is easy to understand and simple to follow.

MODULE 1: Observation Preparation - Strategies to Succeed
MODULE 2: Observation Strategy - Seeing is Believing
MODULE 3: Positive Feedback- Going Beyond Safes
MODULE 4: Concern Feedback - No Negatives
MODULE 5: Dealing With Resistance - Focus on Behavior
MODULE 6: Observation Evaluation - Continuously Improving

It provides specific overviews of each step in the observation and feedback process that can be utilized during monthly safety tailgate meetings to revitalize interest in conducting observations; generate more effective peer-to-peer dialog, and increase the nature and quality of feedback from your checklists.

No actors. No scripts. This is the real deal!

"A perfect fit for our program; it's surprisingly thorough and we liked how Terry reinforces each step and demonstrates how to apply it." "I've reviewed hundreds of training videos and this is one of the best; it's short, clear and to the point." "It's ideal for our workforce; the real-life workplace examples reinforce the message in a way that's easy for them to understand."

This is a video preview from Module 3.

For additional information and to order your free sample video from this series, simply call (936) 588-1140, ext. #15 and we'll will send you the video "Positive Feedback – Going Beyond Safes" with absolutely no obligation (you do not have to return the video).

Values-Based Safety® is a Custom Approach to BBS that Guarantees Bottom-Line Results

Do the daily actions of all employees reflect the company’s value for the personal safety and well being of each person?
Does your organization’s safety performance place you in the top twenty percent of your industry?
Do you have the level of employee support that you want for your safety improvement efforts?

If you answered “No” to any of these questions, we need to talk.

At Quality Safety Edge, we see industrial clients struggling to survive and show a profit. As a contributing member of your organization, you know both the personal and economic significance of ensuring that your workplace is injury free.

Values-Based Safety® is a positive, employee driven, system of safety observations, feedback, and problem-solving that is highly effective and extensively field-tested. Quality Safety Edge helps clients create a Values-Based Safety® Process that helps ensure that employees are “doing the right things for the right reasons.”

What makes us different?

We have distinguished ourselves from others on the basis of our customer relationships. In particular, we emphasize our:

Flexibility to meet customer needs
Years of experience
Level of ongoing support
Cycle time for implementation
Values-based, behavioral approach

Guaranteed Success

Based on QSE’s experience, we will guarantee the success of this approach. If you are near the average for your industry, you will achieve a 20 to 50 percent reduction in injury accidents. Here are four of our success stories:

A major US drilling company achieved a 48% reduction in lost time accidents
A large tomato cannery achieved a 30% reduction in recordable accidents
A solid chemical manufacturer achieved 0 accidents for 18 months after having 3-4 recordables per year
A hazardous area in a leading oil refinery achieved a reduction to 0 accidents after a year with 5 LTA’s

The Components of Values-Based Safety®

Values-Based Safety® Turnkey Implementation

For clients seeking to maximize the probability of success, Quality Safety Edge provides onsite support throughout the planning and implementation of the Values-Based Safety® process. We become members of your Design Team and shares responsibility and accountability for installing the new Values-Based Safety® process. The level of involvement and strategies vary for different organizations.

Values-Based Safety® Train-the-Trainer

Large organizations can often reduce the cost of implementation by conducting Observer Training themselves. Quality Safety Edge trains Design Team members or others within the organization to lead the Observer Training workshops. This training consists of a combination of a skill development workshop and co-leading of the initial Observer Training workshops with experienced Quality Safety Edge personnel. Skills covered in the train-the-trainer workshop include:

Effective presentation strategies
Optimizing the adult education experience
Dealing with resistance and managing the class
Preparation of materials and content

Values-Based Safety® Internal Consultant

Quality Safety Edge also works with clients to identify and develop internal consultants to support the design and implementation of Behavioral Safety processes across multiple locations. After completing Quality Safety Edge’s certification process, internal consultants then lead future Design Team workshops, facilitate the Design Team planning meetings, and lead Observer Training workshops.

Call us or send us e-mail to schedule a presentation or for more information about our training and implementation services. We customize our programs for your organization using statistics and examples drawn from your organization. Our introductory programs range from thirty-minute sessions to intensive, three-day workshops.

SOPA BBS Software

A Revolutionary New Concept for Managing Behavior-Based Safety Observation Data

Quality Safety Edge is the exclusive distributor of the SOPA^TM software from Behavioral Safety Services. SOPA^TM is the only BBS software designed to support the Values-Based Safety Process. SOPA^TM is simple to use, tracks observation frequency, participation, training progress, and behavior trends so that you can take early action to solve problems -- and recognize and celebrate participation.

Tracks safety observations
Provides interactive, analytical charts (observation frequency, participation by number and percentage)
Simplifies the process of identifying behavior trends
Increases your ability to focus on corrective efforts

Easy to use BBS Software

SOPA sets a new standard in ease of use for data analyis, greatly facilitating identification of improvement targets and development of action plans.

Facilitates Safety Analysis

Easily identify behaviors of concern, then simply “point and click” to learn when and where they occur. SOPA provides a unique “drill-down” Pareto chart of behaviors. They’re broken down by your choice of variables (by department, location, shift, crew/team, observer, etc.) and produces a report of comments and concerns.

Tracks Participation in Safety Observations

SOPA allows you to easily track the percentage of employees that participate in conducting observations at a level you select (1 per month, 1 per week, etc.)

Extraordinary Observation Capacity

SOPA’s cutting edge technology enables you to manage an expansive number of observations and checklists for a single location or throughout multiple locations.

SOPA User Feedback

“We have multiple sites using SOPA, and we like it because it is so easy to maneuver and input information; in addition the response is instantaneous. When we come up against an issue or problem they handle all the trouble-shooting for us so we really get our money’s worth from the annual subscription fee. We had previously used ProAct Software (MSAccess version) but it would slow down whenever we had a large number of checklists to enter.” —Shane Cammon, Southwire, Carrollton, GA

“We like it (SOPA); the service is great; and anytime we have a problem we can get it resolved immediately.” —Bret Graham, Thunder Creek Gas Services, LLC, Douglas, WY

“We have found SOPA ideal for tracking trends by department, information which we can then use to pinpoint at-risk behaviors within those departments. Our Steering Committee particularly likes the fact that SOPA can track employee comments; by addressing each of these comments and giving feedback to the workforce we have been able to increase participation in our observation process from 20 percent to 45 percent in just 18 months.” —Brittany Rish, BAE Systems, defense and aerospace systems, Aiken, SC

Speaking & BBS Workshops

Invite a QSE Consultant to Speak at Your Next Event

Organizations worldwide rely on QSE to provide speakers for keynote addresses, luncheon speeches, and leadership retreats. QSE’s presentations on safety and leadership target the critical issues facing business leaders today and in the future. Whether your organization is interested in an introduction to behavior-based safety, resolving problems in an existing behavior-based initiative or advanced topics like creating a world class safety culture or coaching safety leadership, QSE can inform and excite your participants.

You can choose from the following list of sample topics, or request a custom presentation to address the specific concerns of your organization.

PRESENTATION TOPICS

“An Introduction to Values Based Safety®”

Values-Based Safety® uses employee involvement, total quality management and organizational development to create a process of continuous improvement in safety management. This presentation will provide an overview of Values-Based Safety®: what it is, why it works and the types of improvements that accompany its implementation. It will provide you with all the necessary information to decide whether your organization will benefit from behavior based safety.
“Safety, Then and Now”

This presentation will contrast the behavioral approach with more traditional safety programs (including DuPont STOP). Using case studies and data from domestic and international implementations of behavior based safety, participants will receive a clear perspective on the value added of behavioral safety. Participants will leave with an in depth understanding about how the behavioral approach will enhance their safety improvement efforts.

“Questions about Behavioral Safety Processes”

In this presentation we will answer the questions most frequently raised by safety committees, safety professionals, and management teams regarding behavioral safety improvement efforts. The following are some of the issues that will be addressed:

Are there different ways to implement behavior based safety? What are they?
Are we ready to pilot a behavioral approach?
How should managers and supervisors be involved in the behavioral safety process?
How long does it take to see measurable results?
Is this approach cost effective?
How do we maximize employee participation to ensure optimum sustainability?
Should recognition and awards be a formal part of behavioral safety improvement efforts?

The presentation will include an overview of the steps required to design and implement Values-Based Safety®.

The topics below would be appropriate if you already have a BBS program in place:

“Leadership in a Safety: Problems and Solutions”

Effective leadership provides a foundation critical to the success of any improvement effort. This presentation will include common leadership problems that damage employees’ attitudes and participation in safety, and a summary of recent research on leadership practices and its implications for leaders. The presentation will also present the Values-Based Leadership model and discuss the management systems necessary to support effective leadership practices.

“Leadership: The Key to Creating Safety as a Value”

Leadership’s role is to establish safety as a value, which requires more than just rhetoric and well phrased written commitments. Leader behavior-the things leaders say and do on a daily basis-must support safety as a value. Leadership’s decisions and priorities must reflect a bias for safety. This presentation provides leaders with a positive model for safety leadership, as well as an analysis of the behaviors that conflict with building a world class safety culture.
“Potholes in the Road to Behavioral Safety”

Companies with a mature behavior-based process often struggle with a number of common problems, including:

Low rate of employee participation
Resistance to safety observations and feedback
A reluctance to provide feedback to peers
Forms completed without actual observation

In this presentation, we will describe some of the causes of these problems and how they can be addressed. We will show how you can adapt existing behavior-based processes to new safety related problems and issues, infusing your process with new vigor and creating enthusiasm and excitement for those who participate in applying behavior based safety.

“Measure Up! - Achieving Continuous Improvement in Safety”

Many companies struggle to determine the best metrics for their safety improvement efforts. Safety teams often overuse brainstorming and underuse data in their continuous improvement efforts. Management scorecards often place too much emphasis on recordable incidents. The presentation will include a discussion of:

Common deficiencies in our measures of safety
How safety measures are often misused
Safety measures appropriate for different levels of the organization

In addition, the presentation will discuss how to create a culture that fosters trust and supports appropriate safety data.
“Safety Awards and Incentives: How to Use Them Effectively”

For the last decade both safety professionals and psychologist have debated the effectiveness of extrinsic rewards. We will discuss both sides of the issue and summarize the current research studies and recent court decisions relevant to the use of safety awards in improvement efforts. The presentation will include guidelines on how to avoid common problems and recommendations for the design of effective safety awards and incentives.

A Practical Guide For Implementing Behavior-Based Safety
in Any Organization.

"If you’re only going to buy one book on behavior-based safety, this is the one!"

Values Based Safety Process The Values-Based Safety Process: Improving Your Safety Culture with a Behavioral Approach, Second Edition provides a concise and practical guide for implementing a behavior-based safety system within any organization.

Behavior-Based Safety, based on the work of B.F. Skinner, includes identifying critical behaviors, observing actual behaviors and providing feedback that lead to changed and improve behavior.

Information You Can Use

Packed with worksheets, checklists, and decision guidelines, this handbook will help you expedite the creation of a results-producing behavioral safety process.

An essential working reference for every executive, manager, supervisor, and safety professional who’s responsible for the well-being of employees in the nation’s industrial manufacturing and processing plants,

The Values-Based Safety Process will enable you to dramatically improve safety, boost worker morale, reduce on-the-job injuries, and strengthen your company’s bottom line.

About The Author - Terry McSween

Nationally recognized expert in behavior-based safety and founder and president of Quality Safety Edge. He has twenty plus years of experience consulting in educational, institutional, and business settings and is the developer of Values-Based Safety™, which creates ownership for organizational change through local-level, employee involvement in the design process.

Terry has received numerous local and national awards for his work in the area of behavioral safety. He is a regular speaker at local and national conferences, and author of numerous papers on performance management, safety and quality. He is founder of the Behavioral Safety Now Conference, now in its 18th year.

Amazon Reviews

"I reviewed this book along with four others by other BBS consultant authors and I find this to be the best. Terry McSween has written a very usable book complete with forms, checklists. and essential elements necessary for doing your own process, if you are intending to anyway. I also found the section on safety incentives to be very helpful and neccessary. One is likely to do a poor BBS implementation unless they address the important organizational interface between the popular but controversial safety rewards programs and a new BBS effort. McSween's appreciation for manufacturing organizational cultures seems to me to be on the mark." - John J. Turner

"An important reading for safety professionals . . . "

This is undoubtedly one of the best books in the area of behavioral safety. Dr. McSween provides a thorough guideline that safety professionals can use to implement a sound system for behavior change in their organizations. The reader is introduced to the basic concepts of behavior analysis, the proven techniques of applied behavior analysis, and relevant research in the area of behavioral safety. This ensures that the focus of safety efforts is on employees' safe behaviors and the environment that maintains such behaviors, which is critical because without such focus behavior change will not be achieved.

"The Process Employees Like The Best"

I have worked in this field for several years and observed Fortune 500 companies in every phase of implementing behavior-based safety into their organizations. I have witnessed first hand all of the major consulting companies installing BBS initiatives using the books of other authors in this field. I can unequivocally recommend Dr. McSween's book as the most successful and practical.

After many years in the BBS business as an employee of Dr. McSweens competitors, I can truthfully say that Dr. McSween's book and his process are the most successful and that Dr. McSween is the best BBS consultant practicing in America today.

Values-Based Safety® Clarifies and Strengthens Values Necessary For Sustaining a Successful Safety Process

Today’s behavioral safety initiatives also draw heavily on traditions of total quality management (TQM) and organizational development. Behavioral safety involves employees in both conducting observations within their work areas and participating in teams that analyze the resulting data, and then developing action plans targeting improvements in safe practices.

Quality Safety Edge (QSE) has developed what we term Values-Based Safety®, a proven approach that utilizes a behavioral approach to clarify and strengthen the values necessary to sustain successful safety process.

Readiness Assessment

Before beginning Values-Based Safety®, QSE conducts a brief readiness assessment to ensure that the organization has the necessary leadership foundation to support behavioral safety. The assessment entails interviewing a representative sample of personnel and reviewing safety data and documents (such as procedures, descriptions of other safety initiatives, and incident summaries).

This helps QSE to become familiar with site concerns, safety management practices, and historical facts to help customize the process for client organizations. It also enables QSE to get acquainted with site personnel and thereby identify appropriate Design Team members. At the end of the assessment, QSE meets with the management team to discuss findings and plan the path forward.
The Design Process

Most organizations charter a Design Team to take responsibility for planning and implementing behavioral safety. The team is typically made up of eight to ten employees along with a representative from both supervision and the safety department.

QSE conducts an initial workshop and then facilitates several meetings to complete implementation planning. The Design Team typically completes six steps in the implementation process:

Identify behaviors critical to safety
Design the observation and coaching process
Plan how the data will be used
Plan recognition and celebrations to support the process
Plan the training and kick-off process
Develop a plan for maintaining the process

Following management’s approval of the plans, the Design Team implements the process. Next it forms a Steering Committee that oversees the process and uses the data from ongoing observations of the process as the basis for continual improvement.
Safety Champion Workshops

QSE trains all employees in the basic elements of Values-Based Safety®. This eight-hour workshop includes an overview of the client’s behavioral safety process, the mission and values identified by the Design Team, and using a carefully designed observation checklist to coach fellow employees in improved safety practices.
Values-Based Safety Leadership

QSE also conducts a one-day workshop with managers and supervisors to clarify their role in supporting the new behavioral safety process. During the workshop, these leaders:

Learn about the principles underlying the behavioral safety process
Operationalize their company safety values for all supervisors and managers
Develop skills in monitoring and reinforcing employee involvement in the process
Develop observation checklists for leadership practices
Plan the integration of the new process with existing processes and for allocating resources

Follow Up and Support

After implementation, QSE works with the Steering Committee to ensure proper maintenance and support of the new process by conducting follow-up observations monthly for the first three months and again at the end of the first six months.

During these meetings, QSE works with the Steering Committee to develop action plans based on data from the observation process. In addition, education and skill-development continue with additional modules on analyzing data, problem solving and action planning, enhancing participation, and the use of reinforcement.