Several studies have evaluated the effectiveness of behavioral modification programs in improving workplace safety. These studies have focused on establishing the following:
- their ability to decrease accidents/injuries,
- their ability to increase safe behavior and
- which components in a behavioral observation safety processes are most important in changing unsafe behavior and reducing accidents and injuries
The literature review of general behavior modification interventions described above included nine studies where safety was the dependent measure. Seven of the interventions were judged to be effective and supported the effectiveness of behavioral safety interventions. This proves that behavioral techniques can effectively change employee health and safety behavior.
The literature review identified several research studies that investigated the relative importance of the component parts of behavioral observation safety processes to establish how they can be optimally combined. The studies showed that only changing the antecedents (e.g., by training staff how to behave safely) achieved mixed results, and where successful, only modest improvements were achieved. Significant gains were achieved when the consequences were changed through graphical feedback, goal setting, and support from management and peers. Although theoretically and intuitively important, the added impact of immediate face-to-face feedback has not been systematically demonstrated.