Role of behavior in accident reduction

I read an article in (India) Industrial Safety Review (June 2011) on the role of behavior in accident reduction. One particular statement in the article is true for all organizations. The statement reads as, "showing zero accidents record and international certifications do not really ensure safe organization unless we target zero unsafe behaviors at workplaces".
In many organizations, their address will also contains about ISO/OHSAS certification. With the mushroom growth of certifying agencies, competition to get business and marketing skills, these certificates appear to be only for name sake. It is not possible for certifying agencies also to check thoroughly for compliance with applicable requirements, as their audits are based on random sampling. Instead of relying on these certificates, many organizations are developing their own systems to verify the credentials of the company with which they intend to deal with by site visits, field inspections, data collection, interaction with teams of production, quality, safety and health to assess compliance with standards and their own requirements. Certificates also induce a false sense of security/safety among the employees and lead to bad work culture.

In this context, I liked the above statement. Though every organization targets zero accident status, as the author said correctly, the approach should be, intolerance to unsafe behaviors rather than aiming to prevent major accidents. It is true that, to have such status coupled with rewards linked to accident-free working periods, the accidents are not reported.
To achieve true zero accident status, the author suggested, i) forming teams, ii) observing the work for some time, iii) not to blame the persons for at-risk behaviors, iv) interacting with the persons to find the cause for behavior, v) getting suggestions/feedback, vi) maintaining list of critical behaviors, vii) implementing measures for correct behavior by way of training, awareness, monitoring and feed back.
It is stated in an article that the returns will be 3-6 times for every dollar spent on training. Safety inspections by safety department are nothing but monitoring/policing. Any unsafe act or condition observed by safety department will be corrected at that time and it will repeat again, the moment safety inspector leaves the workspot. Unless the persons actually performing the work are aware of their risky behavior, and correct themselves, accidents can't be brought down to zero level by safety department alone.

Hazard communication - Way to reduce accidents

Accidents recur regularly on same or similar process / machine. A friend of mine said once that operators and supervisors can be reminded about the hazards by displaying on every equipment/machine, the list of persons injured - causes for accidents - protective measures taken subsequently so that people will not forget, do not opt for shortcut methods, do not bypass safety systems.

Further, flowsheet / block diagram, hazards, safe operating procedures (SOPs), dos' and don't's, safety systems and controlling parameters, location of emergency switches, checklist to be used before start of every shift, etc can be displayed on the particular equipment in the languages understood by the concerned persons to ensure safety at the workplace. I am sure, this will definitely help in reducing the accidents, though the information sheets displayed are more. One has to spend time in preparation of these information sheets once and they need to be changed only when they are required and approved by higher authorities.

Concerned operators and supervisors should be involved in preparing these information sheets so that they are relevant and are understood. Further, they feel that they are part of the system and are therefore responsible for ensuring safety.

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