A "behavioral safety trap" is a collective term reflecting the potential for an employee to commit unsafe acts due to a combination of external and internal factors influencing their behavior.
The practical value of identifying behavioral traps in the workplace lies in preventing unsafe acts by personnel and eliminating the conditions that trigger them.
Let us examine some common behavioral traps and ways to overcome them.
Personal factors. Fatigue and excessive tension (stress):
Possible causes: individual characteristics of the employee and/or specifics of work organization.
Identification and mitigation methods: implementing a pre-shift and post-shift employee screening and fitness-for-duty monitoring system, as well as providing additional training on operating in non-standard situations.
Communication specifics. Receiving or issuing instructions without confirming accurate understanding:
Possible causes: lack of communication experience.
Identification and mitigation methods: observation (behavioral safety audit) of communication practices, and training in effective verbal and non-verbal communication skills when issuing and receiving instructions.
Tendency to choose (or agree to) a riskier course of action:
Possible causes: lack of experience, often occurring when decisions are made by a group or an authoritative manager (the "diffusion of responsibility" effect).
Identification and mitigation methods: observation (behavioral safety audit) of pre-job group briefings and discussions held when operational difficulties arise.
Correcting an error without analyzing potential consequences (which can lead to a worse outcome):
Possible causes: lack of experience or overconfidence.
Identification and mitigation methods: asking open-ended questions during safety briefings regarding work procedures and emergency response steps when an error or unintended outcome occurs, as well as conducting observations (behavioral safety audits) of procedural compliance.
We encourage you to list the behavioral traps affecting personnel at your facility, analyze their structure and root causes, and develop and implement the necessary corrective actions.