HUMAN FACTORS

Why People Do What They Do (and What You Can Do About It)

Human factors are the environmental, organisational, job and individual factors that influence behaviour at work in a way that can affect health and safety. It is concerned with what people are doing, how they are doing it, what they are doing it with and where they are doing it (i.e., the person, the task, the equipment, the environment, the procedures and the organisation), all of which are influenced by the wider society.

The scope of what we mean by human factors includes organisational systems and is considerably broader than the traditional view that equated human factors with ergonomics. Rather it requires an understanding of human behaviour and judgement, as well as of the range of performance shaping factors that influence behaviour and judgement.

Not On Our Patch^®

Not On Our Patch develops the mindset and practices required to foster a safety culture in which staff at all organisational levels are focused on learning, fairness and consistency, safe system design, making and managing sound behavioural and cognitive choices, and accountability. Using organising frameworks, case studies, group discussion, multimedia, and job aids, Not On Our Patch provides an understanding of:

• Why people sometimes do seemingly inexplicable things and what can be done about it.
• The barriers and defences needed to support "imperfect people operating within imperfect systems" to make better behavioural choices and judgements.
• The principles of a 'just culture' that ensure human actions and judgements are dealt with fairly and consistently increasing the reporting of safety-related information, and balancing individual and organisational accountability.

Not On Our Patch can be customised to different levels within the organisation, with the core messages about safety mindset and practices running through each level.

Relearning Your ABCs

Risk taking (e.g., not wearing correct PPE) is not as baffling as you might think. Any behaviour, including risk taking behaviour, is influenced jointly by what precedes it (activators) and what follows it (consequences). To stop risk taking, we need to "set the stage" to encourage safe behavioural choices and arrange consequences that reinforce safe behavioural choices rather than encourage risk taking. Particular behaviours are encouraged or discouraged, inadvertently or intentionally, by people and systems. By identifying and arranging the appropriate activators and consequences, we can give people the best possible chance of getting it right.

Relearning Your ABCs is a 3-hour workshop to develop the knowledge and skills of applied behavioural analysis to understand and stop risk taking.

MindFrames^®

Improved workplace safety requires a strong safety mindset. Safety starts, as they say, between the ears before it is in the hands and feet.

MindFrames is a 3-hour workshop to foster a shared safety mindset across all levels of a team or organisation using a 'card sort' methodology. This process involves identifying and changing unhelpful beliefs and assumptions, resulting in a different perspective and, in turn, different practices. Reframing – as opposed to replacing – mindsets is an important aspect of changing safety culture. The pre-conditions for reframing include a psychologically safe environment where people can express their values, beliefs, and attitudes and explore the limitations and inconsistencies of their current and future frames openly and honestly without fear of recrimination or ridicule, an openness to new ways of looking at the world, time for reflection and a willingness to walk a mile in someone else's steel-cap moccasins.