Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D.,

Clearly positive reinforcement is the most effective and efficient way to increase safe working behavior. However, if you do it in the wrong way, at the wrong time, at the wrong frequency you will not get the behavior you intend but are likely to get unproductive and risky behavior as a result.

Many safety journals have articles that present positive reinforcement as a simplistic, common sense technique when in fact it is a complex scientific concept. Attempts to give positive reinforcement in the form of “a pat-on-the back”, positive feedback, positive recognition, give ‘em something to eat or wear may likely be a punisher rather than a positive reinforcer. When approached in this way positive reinforcement does more harm than good.

I agree with Manuele’s assertion that the employee is rarely the cause of accidents but an indicator of faulty design or faulty management, (Professional Safety, Oct., 2011) Reviewing Heinrich: Dislodging Two Myths from the Practice of Safety. However neither Manuele or Heinrich seem to fully appreciate the behavior/system interface and the role positive reinforcement, or the lack of it, plays in a properly designed workplace.

Positive reinforcement is a scientific concept and until it is understood and applied as such, sustaining a safe workplace is unlikely.

Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Chairman and Founder, Aubrey Daniels International

Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., is the world’s foremost authority on applying the scientifically-proven laws of human behavior to the workplace. With business and industry confronting complex new challenges—from ethics to high turnover to outsourcing—Daniels helps the world’s leading organizations employ the timeless principles of behavioral science to re-energize the workplace, optimize performance and achieve lasting results.

His management consulting firm, Aubrey Daniels International (ADI), works with business leaders such as DaimlerChrysler, Blue Cross Blue Shield, NASA, Roche Laboratories, and Westinghouse to develop management strategies that reinforce critical behaviors vital to their long-term success. Headquartered in Atlanta, the firm was founded in 1978.

Aubrey Daniels is the author of four best-selling books widely recognized as international management classics: Bringing out the Best in People: How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement; Performance Management: Changing Behavior That Drives Organizational Effectiveness, and Other People’s Habits and Measure of a Leader with James E. Daniels. His books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and French and have been licensed in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Romania and Saudi Arabia. Look for his new book, Oops! 13 Management Practices that Waste Time and Money (and what to do instead).

A passionate thought leader and an internationally recognized expert on management, leadership, and workplace issues, Daniels has been featured in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fortune, CNN, and CNBC. Daniels is a member of the Board of Trustees of both Furman University and the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He is an Associate of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, a faculty member of the College of Health Professions at the University of Florida, and a visiting professor at Florida State.

His numerous awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Organizational Behavior Management Network and the Outstanding Service Award from the International Association for Behavior Analysis, which also named him a 2005 Fellow. Daniels received his doctorate from the University of Florida, where he also earned his masters degree and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

He received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Furman University. Daniels has been honored by both Furman University and the College of Health Professions at the University of Florida as Alumnus of the Year.

Daniels and his wife Rebecca reside in Atlanta and have two married daughters, two grandsons and a granddaughter.

Kent Salitros

President & General Manager. Western Energy Company, Wednesday, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.

A surface coal mine provides unique challenges to the successful implementation of a behavior based safety process.  The operational area likely covers several square miles.  Not only are workers spread out over a large area, but are often isolated in equipment cabs.  Shift rotations play a factor in creating a cohesive program. 

Mining is a highly regulated environment with regular direct inspection by the Federal Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) and in most cases comparable state agencies.  Unlike an OSHA regulated business which may not see an inspector for years, it is not uncommon for a large mine to experience in excess of 50 inspector days per year.  Further the MSHA regulations reinforce the idea that all safety behavior is the responsibility of the employer rather than the employee.

The presentation will review the path of Western Energy Company from experiencing 34 MSHA Medical Reportable Incidents in 2006, design and implementation of a BBS process in 2007, and the achievement of zero such incidents in 2011.

The presentation will explore the potential of focusing a behavior based approach on reduction of MSHA Citations per Inspector Day.

Kent Salitros is President & General Manager of Western Energy Company, a subsidiary of Westmoreland Coal Company. Western Energy began implementing a behavior based safety program inn 2007.

Kent Salitros has over 35 years of experience in coal mining with assignments in coal preparation, mine planning, construction, environmental restoration, engineering, and operations. Kent began his mining career with Amax Coal Company while attending Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. He received a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Rose-Hulman in 1975. Kent held various positions with Amax Coal before joining the Shand Mining Inc. subsidiary of Charter Consolidated Ltd. in 1984 eventually holding the position of Sr. Vice President of Operations & Engineering at Shand.

In 1995 Kent formed Enviro-Check Engineering in Vincennes, Indiana, a consulting firm specializing in environmental site investigation and remediation while providing various mining support services. Kent joined Western Energy Company in 2002.

Kent is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Montana.

E. Scott Geller, Ph.D.

Alumni Distinguished Professor, Virginia Tech and Senior Partner, Safety Performance Solutions
Wednesday, 11 a.m. – 12 noon 

An actively-caring for people (AC4P) attitude benefits any intervention designed to improve the human dynamics of safety.  This spirited, research-based presentation will explain how to promote an AC4P mindset and illustrate with empirical evidence how a large-scale AC4P movement has prevented occupational injuries, interpersonal conflict, and bullying in industrial and educational settings worldwide.

This presentation will be based on an edited book to be published in the summer of 2012, entitled “The Actively Caring for People Movement: From psychological science to personal inspiration and intervention in industries, schools, and communities.” This book will be available at the conference.

E. Scott Geller, Ph.D.

E. Scott Geller, Alumni Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Applied Behavior Systems at Virginia Tech (VT) is Senior Partner of Safety performance Solutions, a leading-edge organization specializing in behavior-based and people-based safety training and consulting. He has authored or coauthored 31 books, 43 book chapters, 38 training manuals, 234 magazine articles, and over 350 research articles addressing the development and evaluation of behavior-change interventions to improve quality of life. He is senior partner of Safety Performance Solutions, a leading-edge consulting firm for behavior-based and people-based safety.

He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the World Academy of Productivity and Quality Sciences. He is past Editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (1989-1992), current Associate Editor of Environment and Behavior (since 1982), and current Consulting Editor for Behavior and Social Issues, the Behavior Analyst Digest, the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, and the Journal of Safety Research.

In 1982, Scott Geller received a teaching award from the American Psychological Association, and since then won every university teaching award offered at VT. Also, VT has awarded him the University Alumni Award for Excellence in Research, the Alumni Outreach Award for exemplary real-world applications of behavioral science; and awarded the University Alumni Award for Graduate Student Advising. In 2005, Dr. Geller was awarded the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award by the State Council of Higher Education.

He has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the International Organizational Behavior Management Network, and the American Psychological Foundation. At the College of Wooster Graduation Ceremonies next May, Dr. Geller will be awarded the Honorary Degree Doctor of Humane Letters.

Behavioral Safety Delivery Manager, Costain, Ltd.
Thursday, October 11, 2012, 8:15 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Alan’s key note speech will focus on why Behavioural Leadership, and making it a way of life is the key to implementing and sustaining a Real Behavioural Safety Programme. He will give simple examples of how this has been achieved, the tools Costain has developed and the data they capture and use.

Alan will also challenge us to think about what our Leadership Critical Safety Behaviours really are and what happens when we don’t do them. He will also talk about the importance of achieving 3^rd Party Accreditation of the Costain Behavioural Safety Programme and what it means to the company.

 Alan Cheung

Alan has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the Costain Behavioural Safety (CBS) Programme, which began in 2006.  In 2011 he successfully took the CBS Programme through third party accreditation with the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, making CBS the first third party accredited behavioural safety programme in the UK.

Costain is a leading UK Engineering Company founded in 1863, the Group turns over c£1Bn per year and is engaged in Engineering, Construction, Maintenance and Land Development.

Costain operates in 10 specific sectors; Water, Waste, Education, Marine, Highways, Airport, Rail, Nuclear, Hydrocarbons & Chemicals, and Power, it has a diverse portfolio of projects which are being delivered for major blue chip clients.  As project durations range from 3 months to 3 or more years, Costain’s workforce is made up of both directly employed and that of our supply chain.

Alan has a degree in Civil Engineering from Loughborough University, is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.  He has over 20 years experience of working in the UK Construction Industry and prior to taking on his current role Alan headed up Costain’s £440M United Utilities Contract.

Tim Ludwig, Ph. D.

Appalachian State University, Senior Consultant, Safety Performance Solutions
Thursday, 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

I get asked to visit companies and “diagnose” why their behavioral safety program has “lost steam” or never got off the ground to begin with.  Inevitably I often find that the safety department is running the whole shebang and few anointed safety enthusiasts who do all the observations. Or it is dumped on supervisors who have observations cards to do on top of their other mound of paper. Employee involvement is nil or close to it.  

While this may seem like the most reliable way to institute a behavioral safety program, its tough to see the resulting undesirable effect from the inside of the operation. 

Many are asking, “how do we motivate safety when no one’s looking” these days.  If you engage employees in their own safety you get behaviors and peer coaching maintained in the absence of supervisors… and more importantly, employees will generalize their efforts to other safety behaviors as well as other work activities to become more productive, precise (quality), and pleasant.

Through stories, satellite imagery, and real-world examples, we’ll take a journey though ownership, self-determination, and discretion, all from the perspective of behavioral science…and maybe I’ll throw a bomb in the middle of the room just see what will happen.

Timothy D. Ludwig, Ph.D.

Appalachian State University
Senior Consultant, Safety Performance Solutions

Tim Ludwig earned his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech researching the benefits of employee-driven behavior based safety programs under E. Scott Geller. Dr. Ludwig is a full professor at Appalachian State University where he was named a Distinguished Graduate Faculty for his contributions to the nationally recognized Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Human Resources Management Masters program. Dr. Ludwig’s teaching has been recognized with the North Carolina University Board of Governors’ Excellence in Teaching award and he has been inducted into Appalachian State University’s Academy of Outstanding Teachers. Dr. Ludwig is the chairperson of the Institutional Review Board at Appalachian State.

Dr. Ludwig is currently serving as the President of the Organizational Behavior Management Network and the current editor of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. He is the author of dozens of scholarly articles that empirically document the successes of methods to improve safety and quality in industry through behavior-based management. His book Intervening to Improve the Safety of Occupational Driving reviews 10 years of behavior-based safety in the product delivery industry.

His upcoming books include Best-in-Class Safety that benchmarks how companies with the best safety records succeed, and Behavioral Systems: Understanding Complexity in Organizations co-edited by Dr. Ludwig with contributions from 15 top scholars and practitioners in the field of Behavior Systems Analysis. Dr. Ludwig serves on the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies’ Behavioral Safety Accreditation Board that reviews best-in-industry safety practices and offers independent, objective feedback on safety programs.

Within his consulting practice with Safety Performance Solutions (SPS), Dr. Ludwig has helped design, deliver, and implement safety programs at Corning, Albany International, TRW Automotive, Eastman Chemicals, Domino’s Pizza, DRA of South Africa, Newmont, Andersen Windows, Carolina Medical Center, Kimberly Clarke, Connectiv Energy, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), SuperValue, and Nucor Steel. He has continued this research for two decades integrating his empirical findings into his safety consulting.

He also has provided his expertise in Behavior Systems Analysis, Strategic Planning, and Human Resources Development to numerous private and government organizations over the past 15 years. Clients include the US Navy-Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), US Department of Energy, US Department of the Interior, National Grocers of Canada, the Deaconess Hospital System, Boyles Furniture, and Alex Lee Inc. of North Carolina.

Dr. Ludwig’s recent keynote presentations include speeches at International Conference on Occupational Risk Prevention, A Coruna, Spain; AmCham’s Health Safety and Environment Conference & Exhibition, Trinidad; Behavioral Safety Now, Kansas City, MO.; Behavior Management Training Leadership Conference, Darington, United Kingdom, and at state-level Association for Behavior Analysis conferences throughout the United States.

Nicole Gravina

Ph.D., Reaching Results
Thursday, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Behavioral science offers the solutions to many of the problems that keep you up at night, not just related to safety, but a range of issues at work and home.  Yet, we have found that knowledge about behavioral science alone is not enough to create a significant and lasting change.  

Learning project management skills in tandem with behavioral science empowers people to leverage the power of the science in a way that permanently transforms people and organizations.

Nicole Gravina, Ph. D., Reaching Results

Nicole Gravina, a consultant at Reaching Results, is an expert in behavioral science and using behavior-based techniques to create positive changes in organizations. Her consulting work has helped organizations in various industries to achieve substantial improvements in safety and performance while maintaining and improving employee satisfaction and engagement.

Nicole has delivered presentations and workshops at national and international conferences and has published numerous research and applied articles. She serves on the editorial board at Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, the board of directors for the Mid-American Association of Behavior Analysis, and the Board of Advisors for the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. She is also the President of the OBM Network, an organization dedicated to disseminating behavioral science in business.

Nicole obtained her Ph.D. from Western Michigan University and completed a research fellowship at Liberty Mutual Safety Research Institute. Prior to joining Reaching Results she was on faculty at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Vice President, Quality Safety Edge
Thursday, 11 a.m. – Noon

The 21^st century has given us amazing technology. You can protect yourself with flame resistant clothing, air-purifying respirators, and chemical resistant gloves… but only if you commit to wearing them. You can also protect yourself and the people around youwith the principles from Behavior-Based Safety… but only if you commit to using them.

Commitment is a critical contributor to your workplace safety program, but commitment itself is rarely addressed at a personal level. To make a personal commitment means “to act in the direction of what is most important to you even in the presence of obstacles.”If you don’t make a proactive commitment to safety, all the technological advances you may be using– whether we’re talking about PPE or BBS – will be ineffective.

After 15 years of working with individuals and organizations to increase commitment, I developed a learning experience that encourages employees at all levels – from leaders to the frontline employees – to become proactively committed.

All employees can learn to strengthen their commitment to safety and increase their personal responsibility. Proactive commitment to safety is vital to any workplace initiative, and this presentation will introduce the key elements of the learning experience that enables their transformation.

D.J. Moran has been using evidence-based applications to change behavior since 1991, and co-authored a book entitled ACT in Practice which focuses on the broad application of Acceptance and Commitment Training. He has spent the last several years combining ACTraining with behavior-based safety and executive coaching for leadership.

• Recently worked on safety initiatives with the Kuwait Oil Company
• Recognized ACT Trainer by the Association for Contextual Behavioral Sciences
• Published ACT for Leadership: Using Acceptance and Commitment Training to Develop Crisis-Resilient Change Managers in the International Journal for Behavior Consultation and Therapy
• Founder of the MidAmerican Psychological Institute
• Coeditor of Evidence-Based Educational Methods
• Invited speaker for the American Psychological Association’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Conference
• Served as a featured psychologist on The Learning Channel and Animal Planet television shows throughout the 2010-2011 television seasons
• Past president of the Behavior Analysis Society of Illinois
• Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Illinois and Indiana
• Board Certified Behavior Analyst

Mark Alavosius, Ph.D., University of Nevada, Reno
Tim Ludwig, Ph.D., Appalachian State University
Morning Workshop (8:00 AM – 12:00 PM)

Register

Sustaining safe performance and effective BBS programs are major challenges. CCBS Behavioral Safety Accreditation can help you meet that challenge

CCBS accreditation recognizes your outstanding safety performance and tells the world about what your company has done. For your employees it becomes a source of pride and the valuable intangible reinforcers that sustain safe performance

This workshop will describe the value of CCBS accreditation to employees and other stakeholders, including customers. We will review accreditation methods and standards, and show data on the behavioral safety practices among companies who are accredited. You will have opportunities to discuss behavioral safety programs in your company and learn how to assess the readiness of your programs for accreditation. We will discuss case examples of companies, such as the Acetate Fibers Division of Eastman Chemical, that have sustained long term success in their BBS programs.

You may wish to bring data on safety programs and performance, such as graphs of OSHA recordables over recent years. Dwight, Tim and Mark will give you recommendations and guidance to help your company plan and prepare for an accreditation site visit.

Presenters:

Mark P. Alavosius, Ph.D.

Mark Alavosious, Ph. D.

Mark P. Alavosius, Ph.D. is assistant professor of psychology in the Behavior Analysis Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received his BA in psychology from Clark University in 1976 and earned his MS (1985) and Ph.D. (1987) in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. As President of MPA & Associates, Inc., Dr. Alavosius works with specialists in instructional design, multi-media interactive systems, software development, business strategy, and performance management to develop and provide behavioral systems to improve performance in business and industry. He held faculty appointments in the Behavior Analysis and Industrial/Organizational Program at Western Michigan University and the Behavior Analysis Program at West Virginia University. His interests are in developing behavioral and instructional systems to improve work performance particularly in the areas of health and safety. Dr. Alavosius has a proven track record with NIOSH as a recipient of Small Business Innovations Research Grants to develop and test behavioral safety technologies. With over twenty years of experience in behavioral approaches to work performance and occupational health & safety, Dr. Alavosius has over 100 publications and conference presentations.

Tim Ludwig, Ph. D.

Tim Ludwig, Ph.D.

Tim Ludwig earned his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech researching the benefits of employee-driven behavior based safety programs under E. Scott Geller. Dr. Ludwig is a full professor at Appalachian State University where he was named a University Deans’ Distinguished Graduate Faculty for his contributions to the nationally recognized Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Human Resources Management Masters program. Dr. Ludwig’s teaching has been recognized with the North Carolina University Board of Governors’ Excellence in Teaching award and he has been inducted into Appalachian State University’s Academy of Outstanding Teachers.

Dr. Ludwig is currently serving as the President of the Organizational Behavior Management Network and the current editor of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. He is the author of dozens of scholarly articles that empirically document the successes of methods to improve safety and quality in industry through behavior-based management. His book Intervening to Improve the Safety of Occupational Driving reviews 10 years of behavior-based safety in the product delivery industry. His upcoming book, Best-in-Class Safety benchmarks how companies with the best safety records succeed. Dr. Ludwig serves on the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies’ Behavioral Safety Accreditation Board that reviews best-in-industry safety practices and offers independent, objective feedback on safety programs.

Within his consulting practice at Safety Performance Solutions, Dr. Ludwig has helped design, deliver, and implement safety programs at Corning, Albany International, TRW Automotive, Eastman Chemicals, Domino’s Pizza, Carolina Medical Center, Kimberly Clarke, Connectiv Energy, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), SuperValue, and Nucor Steel. He has continued this research for two decades integrating his empirical findings into his safety consulting. He also has provided his expertise in TQM, strategic planning, and human resources development to numerous private and government organizations over the past 15 years. Clients include the US Navy-Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), US Department of Energy, US Department of the Interior, National Grocers of Canada, the Deaconess Hospital System, Boyles Furniture, and Alex Lee Inc. of North Carolina.

Dr. Ludwig’s recent keynote presentations include speeches at International Conference on Occupational Risk Prevention, A Coruna, Spain; AmCham’s Health Safety and Environment Conference & Exhibition, Trinidad; Behavioral Safety Now, Kansas City, MO.; and the Behavior Management Training Leadership Conference, Darington, United Kingdom.

Register

What is behavioral safety and what does it mean to an organization? If you are just embarking upon or are currently in the initial stages of this type of safety process, you will learn the basic elements of behavioral safety and the steps involved in its implementation. This informative session will answer questions such as:

1. How does behavioral safety differ from traditional safety programs?
2. What are the main components and key features of a behavioral safety process?
3. What kind of results can a behavioral safety process achieve?
4. What are the critical features of a behavioral safety process?
5. What are the steps when designing and implementing a behavioral safety program?
6. What are the roles does of the steering committee and leadership?

Presenters:

Angelica C. Grindle, Ph.D.

Project Manager

Quality Safety Edge
561.212.9449 (direct)
angelica@qualitysafetyedge.com

Dr. Grindle has successfully designed, implemented, and evaluated behavioral and process improvement systems in a wide variety of organizational settings including Archer Daniels Midland, Kaiser Permanente, Georgia Pacific, Menasha Corporation, and Lear Seating.  Dr. Grindle has presented at numerous local and national conferences and is the author of articles appearing in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management and the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.  She is a contributor to the book The Values-Based Safety Process: Improving Your Safety Culture with Behavior-Based Safety by Terry McSween. Together with Dr. Foate, Angelica is the developer of BBS Essentials® for small companies.  Dr. Grindle received her MA in Industrial Psychology and her Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis from Western Michigan University.

Beth Foate, Ph.D., MBA

Senior Project Manager

Quality Safety Edge
Phone: 334 750 3334
Email: beth@qualitysafetyedge.com

Dr. Foate has over fifteen years’ experience working within various industrial settings while implementing process improvement tools. Her behavioral safety systems approach has been designed for a variety of challenging environments including manufacturing, oil and gas, call center, power plant, refinery and maritime. She has developed innovative training, feedback, recognition, and reward systems for performance improvement projects. Together with Dr. Grindle, Beth is the developer of BBS Essentials® for small companies.  Beth also has workshop and training experiences with Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma and with diverse audiences ranging from top executives to front line employees. She received her Doctorate and MBA from Auburn University and is an adjunct faculty member at Athens State University.