Get on our list for email updates
about the conference.

Reinforcement in
Behavioral Safety:
Recognition and Celebrations

Terry McSween and
Grainne Matthews
Quality Safety Edge

Reinforcement is ultimately the key to the success of a behavioral safety process. All employees must receive some form of reinforcement if the process is to survive. Some of that reinforcement may be naturally occurring, such as when observers see their co-workers working more safely, or when the number of incidents is significantly reduced. Often, however, we must supplement these natural consequences in order to ensure the long-term survival of a behavioral safety process.

Problems with the use of reinforcement

Planning reinforcement is one of the most complex aspects of behavioral safety. Successful reinforcement requires a detailed analysis of both behaviors and consequences. Too often, the design team or steering committee develops a plan that provides a tangible award for completing observations. The program often looks much like a traditional safety award program except that the awards are earned by submitting completed observation forms rather than completing a period of time without an incident. While this type of award process may occasionally be appropriate encourage initial participation in observations, they often create a very predictable set of problems.

The more common problems associated with the use of reinforcement include the following:

An additional problem with poorly designed reinforcement programs is that some employees resent the process, as evidenced by negative remarks and comments that discourage and punish participation. The result is that our organization develops an undesirable subculture that is not aligned with, nor supportive of, the organization’s commitment to safety.

Using reinforcement the right way

We often use the terms "recognition" and "celebrations" because these terms do not seem to imply the use of significant, tangible incentives as much as the term "reinforcement". We encourage companies to develop plans to use recognition and celebrations to support behavioral safety. Ideally, the steering committee will have plans for providing recognition for completing observations and other behaviors that support the process or promote safety. In addition, they should have plans to celebrate team successes such as completed action plans, achieving overall levels of participation, and accomplishing other objectives related to the process.

The social community

The most effective behavioral safety programs establish observations as part of their cultural norms. That is to say, employees support, encourage, and sincerely appreciate one another’s efforts to create a safer work place. Employees provide social reinforcement that supports participation in the process. The idea is to create a large amount of social reinforcement (attention, approval, etc.) to support safe behavior. Well-designed recognition and celebrations provide the foundation for the steering committee’s efforts to promote this kind of a social environment. Their efforts should promote positive interactions surrounding both safety and the behavioral safety process, and not simple pat-on-the-back kinds of interactions. This is best achieved by a steering committee comprised of representative employees who (1) are informal leaders, (2) have a good understanding of behavioral safety and its rationale, and (3) model positive interactions and support for the process with their co-workers.