Occupational Health And Safety: Promoting Personal Responsibility

Effective occupational health and safety requires both technical, organizational and personnel measures to reduce accidents at work at height.

Photos: Peri

The TRBS 2121–1, which has been updated since last year, stipulates that every employer must inspect and, if necessary, carry out a function check by his employees before using the scaffolding. This also applies if the scaffolding is used by several entrepreneurs (trades) at the same time or one after the other. Nevertheless, it can be observed time and again on construction sites how risky work safety is handled on scaffolding in order to e.g. B. repaint a facade or apply thermal insulation. Often, the scaffold anchors on the scaffold for material transport or for access to certain facade areas are dismantled, coverings are lifted or parts of the side protection are opened. This not only harbors static risks, but above all increases the risk of falling. Careless handling of occupational health and safety unfortunately often results in serious injuries or even death.

Occupational health and safety: behavior-based occupational safety

According to Prof. Dr. Christoph Bördlein, General and Clinical Psychology at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (FHWS), the percentage of “behavioral” accidents is now between 76% and 90%. (1) “The more you look at the technical aspects of occupational safety, the lower the total number of accidents. However, the relative proportion that human behavior has in the occurrence of an accident is also higher. Nowadays, the cause of an accident is almost always the behavior of one or more employees, regardless of whether the conditions under which they were working were more safety-promoting or rather unsafe, "writes Prof. Dr. Bördlein in his book 'Behavioral Occupational Safety - Behavior Based Saftey'. According to him, people consciously take risks in their everyday work. Safe behaviors often have immediate negative consequences, for example they are more complex for those affected and only lead to positive results in the long term by avoiding accidents. While misconduct is still far too often responded to with controls, instructions and punishments, Bördlein propagates the “behavior-based saftey” approach, or BBS for short. It is no longer about punishing risky behavior, but about making safe behavior worthwhile for those affected: "People voluntarily behave safely when they experience that this is recognized." Define behavior and / or Results (states), observing, giving feedback,Setting goals and strengthening safe rules of conduct are the core components of this concept, which has proven itself in practice. In the operational implementation of a scaffolding company, the advantages of "Behavior Based Safety" are obvious. All the necessary methods and instruments to increase personal safety in the company or to assemble, dismantle and use scaffolding can be developed in-house. The company-specific circumstances can be taken into account with the involvement of the employees and lead to increased motivation through team building. Mutual attention to each other supports continuous improvement processes in the company and can permanently reduce the accident rate. The return on investment (ROI) is shown by lower sick leave,better working atmosphere and greater economy of painting.

Integrate security

Wherever and whenever possible, security problems should be solved directly at the source of danger. That is why technical security measures always have priority over organizational or personal protective measures. Three safety aspects were particularly important in the development of the Peri Up scaffolding system, since structural weaknesses can quickly lead to accidents or damage to health: the component weight, the side protection and the scaffolding coverings. In conjunction with mindful personal responsibility of the scaffold users in responsible teams, the Peri Up scaffold can be used to create safe workplaces with significantly reduced accident risks. In order to permanently implement a successful prevention culture in everyday construction site work and on the scaffolding, there are now many approaches, from regular training of those affected, tightening of legal rules, the technical optimization of scaffolding construction systems to the threat of punishing misconduct. The simplest solution is the one that cannot lead to accidents at all.

Source: Prof. Dr. Christoph Bördlein, Introduction to behavior analysis (2016)

Prof. Dr. Christoph Bördlein

The cause of an accident nowadays is almost always the behavior of one or more employees.