Is Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) a New Approach to Safety?

I have long been a fan of Aubrey Daniels and his approach to science of behavior as it relates to Behavior-Based Safety.  For an understanding of how HOP fits into the safety, click here for a link to an article that appeared in Aubrey Daniels International and written by one of his partners, Judy Agnew, Ph.D.  It is well worth the read.

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Safety Certified or Safety Competent?

What’s the difference?   Of course, teaching and certifying the many skills necessary to perform in a safe manner is paramount in all safety cultures, but it is only a part of the balance needed to be a truly safe environment.

In working with safety professionals over the years, we’ve heard several questions and comments on this subject, mostly in relation to the effectiveness of safety training required to be certified.  It’s like so many other things.  If you know the proper way of doing something doesn’t necessarily mean you will do it properly. 

Both certification and competency are important but in different ways.  They mean different things.

Safety certification is essentially formal education where safety professionals complete a course of study, pass a written examination, and continue to take professional development courses over their careers.  They are committed to their profession, have set certification as a goal and have achieved it.  The certification is a third-party stamp of approval that validates that knowledge. 

Competency really has nothing to do with formal education.  It refers to the knowledge and skill necessary to complete a task. Many workers without being certified have competencies and are qualified to perform their work safely and often do so with little or no supervision.

As with certification, it takes time to develop competence.  Workers gain competence through initial training, on-the-job training, assessments and other formal qualifications, and especially by completing the job properly and safely every time.  Practice does make perfect and certification alone won’t provide a whole lot of practice. 

Training is a staple in the safety industry.  Workers often take a training course, and then take a test to prove their knowledge. They receive a certificate to prove their compliance in that area.  But when they don’t use this knowledge for an extended period of time it’s almost certain that they won’t be able to gain competence.  Research has shown that we can lose 50% to 80% of what we have learned the day before if we don’t do something with the information.  You miserable if can’t remember where you left you cell phone for a day, but when it comes forgetting safety information or processes it is dangerous!

One of the main reasons that behavior based safety is so successful is that you are constantly looking for and recognizing safety performance.  You are building safety habits, or in other words you are building a safety competent workforce. 

With behavior based safety you establish standards and criteria to assess competency through evaluation, use training for those who show gaps in competency, and then recognize improved performance.  You use the knowledge gained through certification to grow the competency of your workforce. 

For more information on AwardSafety products or services or other white papers please contact us at awardsafetyinfo@cox.net

Safety Training for Millennials

While the focus in recent years has been an aging workforce it has shifted and research shows that millennials are now the largest segment of the labor force.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2020, nearly 50% of the U.S. workforce will consist of millennials.  And the time to plan on how provide safety training for them is now. 

In recent years, many have felt that safety training millennials was going to be difficult because they were thought to be hard to engage and even harder to keep interested because of their need for instant gratification and short attention spans. But many safety professional have found that safety training for millennials can be very rewarding and that they can actually be very attentive and engaged if you take advantage of their use of technology. 

They were born using technology.  When many in safety management didn’t even like to use computers on the job or even cell phones, these millennials were playing video games as a part of growing up.  Their use and understanding of technology is light years ahead of where the safety world was when they were born between the 1980’s and 2000.

They are not only tech savvy; they are used to finding what they want and finding it immediately!  While some of us may be pondering where to go for dinner, they have their cells phones out and have a list of several choices.  When you give them access to training on their own terms, you can get their attention.  They are highly mobile and are comfortable in accessing and receiving information, including training, through the use of technology and mobile devices, and in fact they expect to. 

Take advantage of who they are.  If you want to disturb your safety training routine, millennials will be ok with it, actually like it.  Some would say that millennials are more risk tolerant than previous generations and far more entrepreneurial.  When you combine those attributes it will give them a sense of competence. 

Behavior based safety, properly executed, works very well with millennials.  You can teach them with instant messaging, observe them in action, and reward them instantly. 

According to a 2012 study commissioned by Time Inc. millennials switch media types 27 times every nonworking hour. And, just because they are at work does not mean they put down their phones or stop checking social media sites. So take advantage of it. Use safety training materials that are concise and available on demand. You might be surprised at the results.

For more information on AwardSafety products or services or other white papers please contact us at awardsafetyinfo@cox.net