Developing Behavior-based safety programs are now considered as important in majority of industries. In fact, this approach to health and safety that assumes that most injuries and illnesses are the result of unsafe acts by workers first became popular in the United States with the work of H.W. Heinrich. Dupont says that 96% of injuries and illnesses are caused by unsafe acts.

Anyone who reads Heinrich’s original work can see that another of his conclusions, “ancestry and social environment are factors in every accident. Behavior-based safety programs appeal to many companies because they make health and safety seem simple, do not require management change, focus on workers and seem cheaper than correcting health and safety hazards.

Where do injuries and illnesses come from? Injuries and illnesses are caused by exposure to hazards.  Hazards include any aspect of technology or activity that produces risk.

Behavior-based safety programs turn the hierarchy upside down.  Most programs begin with the identification of “critical worker behaviors.”  Critical worker behaviors typically include wearing personal protective equipment and following safety procedures.  Remember that these methods of control are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Next the behavior-based programs set up elaborate mechanisms to check, inspect, observe, coach, reward and discipline workers.