Rating:
A different, but just as common, rationale comes from accident investigation. Here, scrutiny of one or more possibly serious accidents reveals that behaviour -- what people did or failed to do -- was crucial to the chain of events that unfolded. This behaviour needs to be challenged to convince senior managers that effective action has been taken to prevent a re-occurrence.
This book provides the first short, accessible and easy-to-read guide to the principles and practice of behavioural safety. The first section covers why people take risks, safety training, the Heinrich principle and safety leadership -- or, to be precise -- what happens when it's lacking. The second, which focuses on behavioural safety solutions, covers planning, identifying risks/pitfalls, generic skills and impact measurement.
A few factual errors have crept in. For instance, the Hawthorne Electrical Company study --celebrated for revealing, quite accidentally, that paying attention to employees improves their productivity -- started with changing the factory lighting, not the colour of the walls. However, the errors are a minor quibble. What Tim Marsh is good at is picking out the salient points from the various research studies without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail: the mix of quoted research and personal anecdote works well.
He also keeps the focus broad -- this is not just about preventing accidents but also safeguarding health, including mental wellbeing. Marsh writes in a chatty and engaging style with only the very occasional lapse into psycho-jargon. The book is written from the perspective of someone who has implemented numerous behavioural programmes across a range of industries, so the reader is presented with valuable proven insights into what's likely to make a programme work in practice. Also, Marsh never allows the focus on employee behaviour to let senior management off the hook: prime responsibility for the corporate culture must, legally and practically, sit with them.
I have one small issue with the title: behavioural safety is a developing field (as the book reveals) and Marsh describes the text as "an attempt to provoke a debate". In the light of this, and the diversity of human behaviour, I can't see how any book could ever be a definitive (defined as conclusive, final, ultimate) guide. This is essential reading for anyone embarking on, or relaunching, a behavioural safety programme. But go for the softcover version: it's one third the price of the hardback.
Routledge (www.routledge.com)
