It has been said that behavior-based safety is not a program, but rather a set of principles to be applied to other programs and procedures. Focusing on communication and awareness, a number of tools were introduced to drive improvement in our Safety Performance, but the most important was the clear communication of that message from senior managers. One specific area where the outcome was successful was in addressing vehicle-backing incidents.

In mid-year 2009, during an Operations staff meeting, several motor vehicle backing incidents were reviewed. They had not amounted to much damage, and there were no injuries associated with the incidents; however, it was noted that backing incidents are very common and they have the potential to be very dangerous regardless of the actual damages.

After this discussion, senior management requested a "backing incident" evaluation report for our next safety stewardship meeting

We were confident that we would find backing incidents have a high frequency rate. In preparing the internal report, two years of data was reviewed and it was found that backing incidents were our single most important category of accidents. Senior management quickly approved a review of our procedures and a campaign was developed to elevate awareness.

While the first action was a review of backing procedures, our approach quickly shifted to a focus on behaviors.

Upon review it was found that almost every backing incident involved backing into something that was not expected. Although procedures are in place to address this and they are well known, knowing the procedures, or knowing how to prevent backing accidents is really not as important as adopting the attitude to always follow all of the procedures. Following the procedures without fail ensures that you identify what is in your path of travel, before backing.

With management leadership communicating the importance proper backing and the data showing why, a positive impact on behavior was ultimately made.

The results so far have been very encouraging. Looking again at the basic rate per 200,000 manhours for that period beginning in 2007 (when we started capturing backing data) results in about two incidents for every 200,000 manhours. Since the campaign started last September we have reduced backing incidents by a little more than half, an encouraging result.

The message we want to share here is the significance of communication and awareness. While we did tighten up our procedures, the main effort was communication. Looking at this from a behavioral perspective, we see yet another example of the power of awareness and communication to shape attitudes. If you have an understanding of marketing principles, you will not find this discussion remarkable at all. They are not just marketing tools though. Use behavior principles in your safety programs, they work!