Center for Adult and Continuing Studies

Behavioral safety is the application of behavior analysis to work, specifically, safe and unsafe performance of a task. Using scientific principles of motivation, systems are analyzed to identify what is motivating safe or unsafe performance. For example, people take safety shortcuts because they are motivated by the certain and immediate consequence of saving a little time and they are not motivated by the fairly uncertain and unlikely consequence of getting hurt. Systems can then be modified or implemented to improve performance in a positive method. Implementation will be discussed with an emphasis on providing examples from companies who have used behavioral safety successfully.

• Understanding antecedents and consequences of performance.
• Analyzing the context of performance to develop strategies for change.
• Targeting performance that is a good candidate for improvement.
• Developing a behavior-based safety system that works for your company.