Understanding the basics of the ABC model is a MUST for safety professionals, even if your organization is not ready for a formal Behavior Based Safety Process (BBSP). This simple model will enlighten many and help them understand WHY workers and management do what they do. Seasoned safety pros will often focus far too much on the Behaviors and Consequences when, in fact, it is the Activators (or Antecedents) that offer us so much opportunity for improvement.
Several years ago, I read Clive Lloyd’s book Next Generation Safety Leadership: From Compliance to Care, where he coined the phrase: Behaviors are not the problem; they are a reflection of the problem. Oh, how I wish I could have read that book in 1995 or heard that phrase, as it could have saved me a lot of “growing pains” as I navigated the choppy waters of implementing BBSPs and focusing too much on the observed behaviors and consequences and far too little on the activators that were driving those observable behaviors. Believe it or not, a Causal Analysis course I took in 1996 changed how I view behaviors and decision-making. In that course, then supported by all the Plant Managers I worked for, we learned to focus on the Latent Organizational Failures more than the Active Failures, and by doing so, we created Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) that were designed to address the “activators” rather than the behavior.
By the way, the two (2) books that I will suggest that every safety professional must read are:
- The Psychology of Safety, by Dr. E. Scott Geller
- From Compliance to Care, by Clive Lloyd
Both books are easy to read and will profoundly impact your approach to managing safety, especially Behavior Based Safety matters.
So, let’s discuss the ABC model and how each element can improve safety performance and culture.