HRD Program on Behaviour Based Safety - Assignment Example

?HRD Program on Behaviour Based Safety The operations head George Baker of the automobile parts manufacturing company VNR Autoparts Ltd. shared his concern with the HR department that the number of accidents within the organisation is far higher than the industry benchmarks. The accidents decrease manpower, damage property and cause a loss of working hours. After a long discussion, Mr. Baker and the HR department reached the conclusion that the company does not have a competent person in-house to help resolve the issue. As a result, they decided to acquire help from an external consultant. Out of several external consultants contacted, a senior consultant in the industry, Mr. Watson, proposed a training program on behaviour based safety. Mr. Watson supported his argument by pointing out that only 15 to 20% of industrial accidents are caused by unsafe conditions. The remaining accidents are all caused by unsafe behaviour. Among the accidents caused by unsafe behaviour, a greater number of accidents are caused by negligence (that includes cutting corners to save time or allowing comfort, convenience or complacency to affect job performance) than due to ignorance (lack of education, training or experience). Mr. Watson made a valid point. All of the employees in the organisation were trained on safety and security at work. However, they were not trained on behaviour based safety. Thus, Mr. Baker chose to train the operations team on behaviour based safety. When HR department checked the credibility of Mr. Watson, they found that he had conducted several training programs on the topic and had a long list of credible clients. Since there was nobody in the organisation who could train on behaviour based safety, Mr. Watson was selected to provide the training. Need Assessment After determining which training was needed, HR wanted to know who needed the training (person analysis). This need assessment exercise was also necessary to define the objectives of the training program. For the purpose, Mr. Watson devised a need assessment exercise—a questionnaire that was administered to a random sample of 50 workers. To increase the credibility of the exercise, it was kept anonymous. The questionnaire contained the following questions: What is your role in the organisation? What do you like about the organisation? What does the organisation do well? What you think about the safety culture of the organisation? How would you rate the safety culture of the organisation on a scale of 1-10? What are some of the best things about the safety management system? What are the gaps in safety culture- process/ system/ behaviour? What makes you frustrated or unhappy at times? Do you understand the need for getting feedback on safety lapses? How frequently are you provided feedback related to safety? The answers to these questions alarmed Mr. Baker. Workers did not perceive the factory area as a completely safe place. They agreed that they take shortcuts due to deadline pressures even though they know that it is risky. They do not get feedback on behaviour based safety lapses. Achieving targets and goals are celebrated, while safe working habits are not considered by the frontline and middle level management. All this indicated that the gap between what is and what ought to be begins with the frontline and middle level management. Hence, there is need to train 5 operations managers and 20 supervisors on behaviour based safety. These trainees will further increase awareness amongst the other employees by sharing the training with them. Objectives of the Training Program The objectives of the program are as follows: 1. Understanding what behaviour based safety is and the need to change behaviour to make the workplace secure. 2. Analysing the factors that helped other organizations reduce workplace hazards. 3. Knowing how to make sustainable changes in behaviour that would lead towards workplace safety. 4. Preparing an action plan on introducing the behaviour based safety techniques in the organisation. 5. Increasing self-awareness. 6. Understanding how to improve presentation skills and communication skills. 7. Sharpening observation and listening skills. 8. Learning the correct ways to provide feedback on safety lapses due to behaviour. Benefits of the Program to the Employee and the Organisation Industrial accidents cause loss to an organisation in three ways: damage to property of the organisation, loss of working hours and a decrease in manpower. Apart from the monetary loss to the organisation, such accidents, at times, are fatal. If the employees follow the safe practices on which they are trained, 99% of accidents can be avoided. All the new employees are trained of safety at work. However, as the employees become experienced, they start taking shortcuts to save time or for convenience, which causes accidents. The traditional safety method is a top down approach of external enforcement, which insists that employees follow the policies and rules and merely treats the symptoms rather than the problem itself. The behaviour based safety method is a bottom up approach of self-improvement that focuses on employee behaviour and addresses the root causes behind unsafe behaviours. Additionally, as indicated in the findings of need assessment exercise, the focus of the management towards deadlines and target achievement is one of the causes of unsafe behaviour. This training aims at explaining to the frontline and middle level management how important it is to have safe behaviour at work. This training would discuss cases of industry benchmarks of safety and how they have been achieved by improving the attitude of the workforce and management towards behaviour based safety. The operations managers and the frontline managers need to be trained on providing feedback to the workers whom they find taking shortcuts at work. They need to be trained on coaching and mentoring new employees before they start taking short cuts. They also need to be trained on presentation skills and communication skills, which will help them provide feedback and mentor employees. If listening and observation skills were sharper, managers and employees would take notice of unsafe behaviour. Increased awareness about one’s self, including one’s strengths and weaknesses, will help the trainees become better team leaders and help them train their employees. Training Methods to be Used and the Rationale behind Them Mr. Watson will be using a spectrum of different training methods for the training program, such as lectures, discussions and audio-visual media. Additionally, he will use case studies, business games, role playing and behaviour modelling for the training. The first method to be used is static audio-visual media. The trainer will make a PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint is a useful illustrative tool which, along with an overhead projector, makes it easier to explain concepts. PowerPoint helps quickly gain the attention of the trainees. If the trainer is not a highly skilled speaker, a good PowerPoint presentation can complement his skills to a certain degree. The trainees will also be given handouts related to the concepts introduced in the training and reading material for homework. Dynamic audio-visual media, such as CDs and DVDs, will be used to give live examples of how unsafe behaviour can lead to accidents. Dynamic audio-visual media stays in the memory of the trainees for a long time. A good video clip can be an effective aid in explaining what the trainer wants to say. It also helps the trainer reinforce the desired behaviour in the trainees, provided he does not rely too much on those kinds of aids. The discussion method requires two-way interaction and is therefore a good tool to increase the participation of the trainees. This method is extremely successful if the trainer is experienced enough to initiate a meaningful discussion. Through the use of this method, the trainer gets to know about the individual capabilities of the trainees, their feedback and their point of view, and the trainees are able to clarify their doubts and share their experience. The trainees will discuss their observations regarding unsafe behaviour at work and how to reward safety measures. It will also be used to develop a safety-related vision for the organisation. The lecture method is generally used with static audio-visual media. For each of the modules of the training program, the trainer will have a small PowerPoint presentation. That presentation will give the outline for his lecture. Only after this lecture will the trainer use other methods to reinforce the information. The lecture method is useful in explaining theories, rules, policies, procedures, concepts and factual information. The length of a lecture depends on the experience of the trainer and his knowledge on the subject. The topics which require the lecture method are the description of behaviour based safety techniques, the role of self in the implementation of behaviour based safety techniques, presentation skills, feedback skills and communication skills. Since this involves one-way communication, the trainer has to make sure that the lectures are not very long lest the trainees lose their interest in the topic. Role playing is a good tool for understanding and practicing how a person should behave in a particular situation. The trainees will be given a situation in which they will either have to coach a worker on using safe practices at work or will have to provide feedback to the worker concerning his or her unsafe behaviour. Role playing offers trainees an opportunity for self-discovery and gives them the chance to practice the concepts they have learned provided the trainees are able to understand the importance and seriousness of the roles being played. The case study method of training is useful for topics that need in-depth analysis and problem solving. The trainer has prepared cases on understanding the existing safety culture of the organisation and how to bring cultural changes to the organisation to make it a safer place to work. Apart from these two topics, there will be small case studies to understand unsafe acts and their effects on both the individual and the company as a whole. Case studies provide a link between the theories being explained and their practical application. The trainees discuss and debate the merits and disadvantages of different opinions and share their views, possible solutions and alternative courses of action. The trainees are then able to improve their analytical abilities and are able to visualize the practical application of the concepts introduced by the case study. The behaviour modelling method will be used for training modules on listening skills and observation skills. The trainees will be shown a short video demonstrating a particular behaviour. Then there will be a discussion on what they heard and what they observed. The business games method is useful in refining problem solving and decision making skills. It is also useful in interpersonal skills training. This method will be a part of the feedback skills module. Training Outline and Training Materials Used The training will be a three day program. As all the operations managers and the frontline managers are to be trained together, the training venue cannot be outside the premises. Therefore, the conference hall will be the venue for the training. The training will occur on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to downplay the effect on the normal operations of the factory. The dates have been confirmed with the trainer. The trainees shall be given two compensatory days off later in the same month. On the first day of the training, the trainer plans to address the first part of the behaviour based safety module: What behaviour based safety is and how other organizations have achieved lower accident rates. A few hours of the day will also be spent increasing awareness of individuals’ strengths and weaknesses. The agenda for the second day includes the second part of the behaviour based safety module: How to make sustainable changes in behaviour that will lead towards a culture of workplace safety. The second half of the day will be used for training modules covering observation skills and listening skills. The first two hours of the third day will be used to develop a safety vision for the organisation and prepare an action plan to introduce behaviour based safety in the organisation. The next two hours will be used for brief sessions on presentation skills and communication skills. The second half of the day will be used to develop feedback skills and coaching skills. The training materials that Mr. Watson is proposing to use are brief handouts, detailed reading materials for revising the topic at home, PowerPoint presentations for all the modules and chart papers for the self-awareness module. Apart from these, there will be a questionnaire for collecting feedback from the trainees on the training program. Mr. Watson prepared a brief lesson plan on the training program which is in the appendix section. The program schedule that was shared with the trainees appeared as mentioned below: Time Major Topics Topics covered 1st Day Introduction What is behaviour based safety? Welcome, introduction Context setting Framework of behaviour based safety Areas of focus Need to change behaviour for workplace safety Self assessment on safety Process to discover the positive sides that can lead to the initiation Factors that helped other organizations Comparison with the industry benchmarks Self- awareness module SWOT analysis Enhancing self-awareness Role of self in implementing behaviour based safety 2nd Day Making sustainable changes in behaviour and culture Enhancing self-effectiveness Adult learning principles Observation skills What to observe and how to observe Observation module of behaviour based safety Listening skills How to become a good listener Do’s and don’ts of listening skills 3rd Day Safety vision for the organization Reflections Visualizing the safety goal and vision of the organisation Action plan Drafting of the action plan Presentation skills Getting over fear Building Charisma Influencing Communication skills Communication and body language- verbal and non-verbal Feedback and coaching skills Describing vs expressing How to appreciate How to coach Certification Evaluation Plan The HR team is committed to following the four levels of Kirk Patrick’s model of training evaluation. For collecting the reaction of the participants, a simple questionnaire of seven questions will be used. The questions will ask whether the training was worthwhile, whether there was need for training, to what extent participation contributed to the learning experience, about trainer’s performance, what the trainees liked most, what they liked least and what suggestions they have for improving the training (Weatherby & Gorosh, 1989 cited in Werner & DeSimone, 2009, p. 211). For assessing the cognitive learning of the trainees, Mr. Baker requests an exhaustive assessment asking objective questions related to the lessons of the training modules. The topics included will be behaviour based safety, industry benchmarks, communication and feedback skills and presentation skills. This assessment is to be held one month from the day the training ends. The third level of evaluation requires assessment of the change in behaviour. As the training program was meant to build leaders of behaviour based safety who will take the task further by spreading awareness among the workers and create a safety culture, a questionnaire is prepared that is to be administered to the workers after three months have passed. This questionnaire will be made up of the following questions: Do you know what behaviour based safety is? Have you learned the benefits of safe behaviour? How often are surprise audits conducted? How often do you get feedback from your supervisors/managers after such audits? Do the supervisors/managers listen to your problems related to unsafe working conditions, if any? Do you provide feedback to your colleagues if they are working in unsafe manner? Do you ever resort to unsafe behaviour at work due to deadline or target pressure? What behaviour based safety measures do you usually take? The answers to the above questions will clearly indicate whether or not the concepts introduced by the training program have been applied. The operations manager insists on maintaining the anonymity of employees to get more credible data. The most important evaluation measure is the fourth level, i.e. the results of the training program. The first step to calculate the results is to compare the number of accidents that have occurred in the year following the training to that in the preceding year. The difference is multiplied by the average loss caused by each accident. This is the total savings due to a reduced frequency of accidents. When the total cost of behaviour based safety training program and the other chain training programs (for training the workers) is subtracted from the total savings, the resultant number is the return on the investment in the training program. A positive return on investment shows that the training has actually worked and a culture of safety has been established in the organization. Bibliography: Bohlander, G& Snell, S 2010, Managing Human Resources, South-Western Cengage Learning, Ohio. Sims, R 2006, Human Resource Development: Today and Tomorrow, Information Age Publishing Inc., U.S.A. Swanson, RA& Holton, EF 2009,Foundations of Human Resource Development, Berrett-Koehler Publisher Inc., San Francisco. Swart, J, Mann, C, Brown, S & Price, A 2005, Human Resource Development: Strategy and Tactics, Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington. Werner, JM & DeSimone, RL 2009, Human Resource Development, South-Western Cengage Learning, Ohio. Wilson, JP 2005, Human Resource Development: Learning & Training for Individuals & Organizations,Kogan Page Ltd., London. Appendix Program Title: Behaviour Based Safety Training Objectives of the session: 1. Understanding what behaviour based safety is and the need to change behaviour to make the workplace secure. 2. Analysing the factors that helped other organizations reduce workplace hazards. 3. Knowing how to make sustainable changes in behaviour that would lead towards a culture of workplace safety. 4. Prepare an action plan on introducing the behaviour based safety techniques in the organisation. 5. Increasing self-awareness (i.e. who I am and what are my strengths and weaknesses?). 6. Understanding how to improve presentation skills and communication skills. 7. Sharpening observation and listening skills. 8. Learning the correct ways to provide feedback on safety lapses due to behaviour. Preparations Required: 1. Physical environment: Conference hall on the premises 2. Equipment and materials: Overhead projector, handouts and reading material to be provided by the trainer, notepads and pens for the trainees 3. Instructor: External consultant 4. Trainees: 5 Operations managers and 20 frontline managers Time Major Topics Instructor Activity Trainee Activity Instructional strategies intended to be achieved 1st Day What is behaviour based safety? Lecture & PPT Basic concept of the topic Need to change behaviour for workplace safety Lecture & PPT Dynamic audio-visual media Case study Making the trainees understand the need for change Factors that helped other organizations Lecture & PPT Case study Comparison with industry benchmarks to assess the path ahead Self- awareness module Lecture & PPT Increase self-awareness and making better team leaders 2nd Day Making sustainable changes in behaviour and culture Lecture & PPT Case study How to sustain major learning of the training after the training is over, Initiation of cultural change Observation skills Lecture & PPT Dynamic audio-visual media Discussion Improvement of observations of trainees for surprise safety audits Listening skills Lecture & PPT Dynamic audio-visual media Discussion Improvement of listening skills to understand the challenges workers face in the course of their work 3rd Day Safety vision for the organization Facilitation Discussion Creation of a safety vision for the organization Preparing an action plan Facilitation Discussion Chalking out a plan for the implementation of the training program material Presentation skills Lecture & PPT Improvement of presentation skills to facilitate the process of explaining behaviour based safety concept to the workers Communication skills Lecture & PPT Improved communication skills and body language for non-offending feedback to the workers Feedback and coaching skills Lecture & PPT Role playing Game participation Skill improvement for providing feedback and coaching to workers Read More