Most behavior-based safety (BBS) processes start with employees defining critical safe and at-risk behaviors on their job. They use these behavioral definitions to develop an observation checklist to use during one-on-one observations of each other's work practices. Following an observation, the checklist is used to give the observee behavioral feedback, which often includes a discussion of environmental factors that influenced the safe and at-risk behaviors observed.

A percent-safe statistic is calculated from each completed checklist, and averaged to obtain mean percent-safe scores for a particular work team, behavioral category, or work culture. The checklist results are entered into a computer program to obtain ongoing percentages of safe behavior as a function of various factors (e.g., from the nature of the job and work team to certain environmental or management-system factors). So, where is the relevance for humanism in this BBS scenario?