Richard Booth's Mentoring Page
Richard is the lead mentor in the following areas:
He is also available for a wide range of our consultancy services.
1. Behavioural Safety
The purpose of behavioural safety schemes is, to improve workforce behaviour (ie, to reduce errors and rule violations) usually via observations of operational tasks with feedback. There is ample evidence that many behavioural safety interventions work well; but some do more harm than good. The key factors that determine success include: a pre-existing positive safety culture (see below); appropriate scheme selection; and crucially the way the scheme is 'rolled out' in the organisation and continually reviewed. Any behavioural safety scheme needs to factor in a taxonomy of human failure types, eg, that of Reason.
2. Safety Culture
The safety culture of an organisation is a function of the attitudes and beliefs of every employee about the importance of health and safety at their workplace, and the suitability of controls. It is possible to assess the safety culture via attitude surveys, interviews, observations, and document analysis. On this basis it is then possible to introduce focussed, step-by-step interventions that may lead to substantial improvements in attitudes and behaviour. As with Behavioural Safety, poorly-planned interventions have limited prospects of success. The safety culture of an organisation has evolved over time; dramatic changes in culture cannot be implemented 'overnight'.
3. Investigations
The lessons learnt from effective investigations of accidents and incidents are vital for developing improved preventive measures. Superficial or unstructured investigations are unlikely, in particular, to pin-point root causes associated with shortcomings in the management systems. The ingredients of an effective investigation process include: open and enquiring minds; systematic methods for gathering evidence; the adoption of incident investigation techniques such as Events & Causal Factors Analysis (ECFA); the use of expert or independent advice if necessary; and planned dissemination of the findings & recommendations.
4. Occupational Road Risk
Many employees, even those in hazardous industries, are likely to be at their greatest risk when driving in the course of their employment. Approximately 1,000 people are killed in Great Britain each year as a result of accidents involving drivers at work. Organisations should include occupational road risk in their risk assessment and control planning. Key issues include: hierarchies of preventive measures ('is the journey really necessary?') ; self-insurance; collation of accident data from different sources; collaboration between 'fleet' and safety staff; and the minimisation of the number of staff who are obliged to ride powered two wheelers.
5. Training Course Design
Training is not just about competency; training aims may include: motivation; 'awareness' (not necessarily a good aim); communication (eg, via cascade briefings), and effective safety inductions. Motivation courses might be used to promote a positive safety culture. Pre-requisites to success include: setting clear objectives; ways of carrying the delegates with the tutor from the beginning (many course attendees are pressed 'men'). An important part of the design should be the selection of indicators to determine whether the course has succeeded. Particular efforts should be made to plan and evaluate induction courses, where unfavourable first impressions are difficult to redress.
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