Last September, ISHN printed a survey on this page asking you about your opinions and experiences regarding behavior-based safety. It's part of Virginia Tech's two-year research grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to study the critical success factors for behavior-based safety. Before the end of 1996, 162 completed surveys were returned to us by mail or fax.
An overall respect for behavioral safety was shown by 80% of the respondents answering "yes" to the question: "Do you believe behavior-based safety is a viable approach for reducing at-risk work behaviors and activities?" Plus, more respondents answered "no" (48%) than "yes" (34%) to the question of whether a safety program should focus more on attitudes than behaviors. This shows a shift from the traditional attitude-oriented approach to safety education.