Prevenção de acidentes ocupacionais por behavior based safety (segurança baseada no comportamento): uma teoria fundamentada nos dados

Abstract

Behavior Based Safety (BBS) is a program aiming at increasing safe behavior to prevent occupational accidents. It is based on a systematic practice of observing workers' behavior and using feedback in the form of positive reinforcement to increase the frequency of the target behavior that will replace risk behavior. BBS is well accepted in industrial environments, due to the low costs and studies that document good results. OBJECTIVES. To identify efficiency and to understand the process of applying BBS in three chicken slaughterhouses. METHOD. The study consists of a methodological triangulation. First, a search for archival data was carried out in the three slaughterhouses to identify the efficiency of BBS through the frequency of occupational accidents and the evolution of safe behavior indexes during the program. Second, to identify the influence of BBS on the safety culture, the questionnaire Safety Climate at Work was applied, in slaughterhouses B and C, before the intervention and seven months after it started. Finally, focus groups were held involving workers, observers, guide staff and safety technicians, to identify the subjective experience of the participants and to understand how BBS works from their perspective. Quantitative data (archival data and questionnaire data) were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package (26.0). Qualitative data (obtained from the focus groups) were transcribed and analyzed following Grounded Theory (GT) tenets. RESULTS. Slaughterhouse A showed the largest reduction in accidents (82.2%), followed by slaughterhouse C (33.3%) and slaughterhouse B (14.6%). The average index of safe behavior was higher for slaughterhouse C (4.96/5,00), followed by slaughterhouse A (4.85/5,00) and B (4.66/5,00). Slaughterhouse A and C adhered better to the program from the beginning, whereas slaughterhouse B took five months to adapt. The safety climate in slaughterhouses B and C was positive both before and after seven months into the program, and introducing BBS had no notable impact on the safety culture measures. Participants¿ subjective perception regarding the processes involved in the program was captured in five categories. The first presents prerequisites for successfully implementing the program. The second describes the active ingredients that explain why the program works. In the view of those involved, the program makes managers more coherent, helps workers understand safety measures and realize their responsibility. Further, the presence of observers and the appreciation of efforts motivates the worker. The approach brings the reasons underlaying risk behavior to light. The personalized concern validates the worker, produces openness to directives and to criticism and motivates the worker to take the initiative in pointing out risks. The third category describes the interactions and processes involved, that is, the facilitators and challenges encountered during the program. The fourth category describes the collateral effects the program has on the management process, on the quality of life at work, on participatory democracy and on the quality of workers¿ personal life. And the fifth and last category presents criticisms regarding the program. The results allowed the elaboration of a Taxonomy (or Conceptual System) of implementing BBS, from the point of view of the people involved. CONCLUSION. BBS proved to be efficient in reducing occupational accidents, an effect that seems independent of a change in the safety climate as measured in a questionnaire. The participants reported practical experiences in the program, revealing which factors were responsible for the results obtained in the three slaughterhouses under study