Weever drives BBSO program performance, increases observations and elevates safety outcomes.

Andy Pritchard | June 23, 2022 | 5 min read

TABLE of contents

Highlights

Our client, a Fortune 100 consumer packaged goods manufacturer, had implemented a paper-based BBSO program that was not delivering as expected
They struggled with a lack of employee adoption and greater-than-expected program administration requirements.
Weever helped digitize and relaunch their program, leveraging software running on tablets throughout the plant
Program metrics improved across the board including participation, time-to-close, and key safety outcomes.

BBSO Overview

A Behavior-Based Safety Observation Program enables staff to observe and coach each other’s work habits on a peer-to-peer basis. Results are then reported back to the safety team for analysis. These reports provide two distinct advantages:

Reinforcing a “safety first” culture. Training staff on appropriate safety behaviors and requiring them to complete safety observations helps to keep safety a priority and continuously reinforces the facility's commitment to incident prevention.
Safety trend analysis. The information submitted provides safety managers with details on at-risk behaviors. This can inform one-point lessons (OPL), training opportunities, and safety awareness signage throughout the facility.

BBSO programs have a proven fifty-year track record of enhancing overall safety culture, reducing incidents, and improving employee engagement and retention.

Challenge

Our client rolled out a paper-based BBSO program, opting for an open program where all staff were expected to submit once a month. The program required staff to pull cards from a rack, fill them out and place them back into the rack when complete. The backs of the cards were printed green, indicating they were completed to the Safety Committee members who would take the completed cards and manually input them into a spreadsheet.

Core Challenges

Manual data entry of observation cards was time-consuming and tedious
Employee adoption was low, especially with veteran workers
Managers had little visibility into program participation
Plant leaders felt they were nagging their staff to complete observations
Cards were filled out inaccurately and sporadically, providing little insight into at-risk behavior

Solution

The plant’s observation cards were digitized using Weever Forms, allowing staff to easily enter observation data every month using tablets and terminals placed around the facility.
Staff were retrained on the use of the Weever platform, the new BBSO form, and how to submit them.
Training included the use of the enhanced features of the digital BBSO form including capturing richer data using conditional logic, drop-down fields, taking photos to embed in submissions, and others.
To encourage participation the site elected to use Weever Rewards to provide an incentive for the staff who went “above and beyond”. Participants were allotted points redeemable in the factory's self-managed rewards shop. A leaderboard highlighted the program's top contributors.
All safety observation data was gathered and collated automatically by Weever software, eliminating tedious data entry
Safety committee members reviewed and evaluated submissions on a weekly basis for follow-up and coaching opportunities to help staff internalize safe behavior.
“Hot spot” at-risk categories and areas were identified and the committee put physical signs in the area to remind staff of the at-risk behaviors e.g. “Don’t forget to wear your gloves.”
A detailed, entirely automated, reporting dashboard was set up to show program performance and key areas of concern. Program results were broadcast to staff in real-time, which reinforced the impact of their commitment to safety.
After proving success with BBSO, the plant went on to implement Weever within other core operational processes including Near Miss reporting, Hoist Inspections, Pallet Rack Inspections, and 5S Audit Checklists.

Real-time-reporting-on-factory-floor-and-in-boardroom

Results

The positive impact of the digital BBSO relaunch was significant. 16 months following the program relaunch in early 2021 metrics are up across the board. Staff participation has increased, evaluation and action plan workflow efficiency has increased, and key safety outcomes have improved.

Observations increased to over 400 submissions per month and over 6,000 in total since relaunch
The average time to close at-risk evaluations decreased substantially.
Adoption was made easier due partially to less “friction” in the observation process and a better onboarding process during new staff orientation.
10 “hot topic” behavioral issues were identified and overcome leading to a safer environment.

“Weever is very fast and very efficient. Everything just works and flows. It’s really nice to work with. I love it.”

Carmen H - Training Coordinator

Download the Ultimate Guide to Behavior-Based Safety Observations (BBSO)

Instructions, customer stories, and best practices on setting up and managing an effective BBSO program to help you avoid over 90% of workplace incidents that result from at-risk behaviors.

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