BBS Kit - Section 5: Resources

Resources

As these programs become more widespread, so too do resources and articles debunking them.  Take a look at some of the material available:

  • On this site: Nancy Lessin BBS - A Union Viewpoint 

  • Professor Andrew Hopkins: "What are we to make of safe behaviour programs?"   Working Paper 36,  National Research Centre for OHS Regulation  

  • From the US the Steelworkers' Union report, 'Not walking the talk: DuPont's untold safety failures' [pdf] on the real OHS performance of DuPont - creators of one of the world's most widespread Behaviour Based Safety Programs, STOP.  Also check out  the USW DuPont council webpages and a new website Dupont Safety Revealed

  • Excellent trade union resources on Behaviour Based Programs are available through Hazards Magazine, a terrific resource supported by the UK's peak union council the TUC.  Unions and union OHS reps should subscribe to it.  
  • Global food and farming union federation IUF issued a serious health warning about BBS programmes at work. The union body noted: "Behaviour-based safety programmes, which are now the guiding method used by many companies, shift employer responsibility for maintaining a safe workplace onto workers by focusing on workers' 'behaviour' rather than the workplace hazards which are the source of workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities. They undermine union-based health and safety committees and workplace solidarity based on collective bargaining."In January 2019, its Food Processing Division released:
    • a Policy paper [pdf] and
    • summary [pdf].
  • UK's Trade Union Congress (TUC) 2011 guidance for unions criticising the behavioural safety approach as being unscientific and based on a 'blame the workers' approach - TUC guidance

Useful Trade Union Health and safety sites

Regular union newsfeeds or journals on health and safety can be subscribed to via:

Many other union sites have good health and safety information. Go to the Union links section of this site.

Last amended January 2019

More Items

BBS Kit - Section 1: What is BBS?

What are 'Behaviour Based Safety' Programs?...read more

BBS Kit - Section 2: What can we do?

If your employer is looking at introducing these programs – what can you do?...read more

BBS Kit - Section 3: Exercises

This section has a number of exercises that will help you and the members make some judgements about Behaviour Based Safety Programs....read more

BBS Kit - Section 4: Background information

This section contains background information from a range of different sources.  It is designed to give reps and other interested people some more in-depth information about what BBS is and some experiences of it....read more