Building a Safe Culture with Behavioural Based Safety

Behavioural Based Safety (BBS) is an evidence-based approach to improving safety performance by understanding why people behave the way they do and how organisations can influence safer choices. This course gives managers, supervisors, and operatives the tools to recognise behavioural patterns and create a culture where safe behaviour becomes the norm.

Participants learn how to identify the triggers that lead to unsafe actions, how to reinforce positive behaviours, and how leadership decisions shape day-to-day safety performance. Through practical exercises and coaching techniques, the course builds confidence in influencing behaviour without blame.

By the end of the programme, delegates will understand how to apply the ABC model, conduct behavioural observations, hold constructive safety conversations, and support a positive, proactive safety culture across their teams.

Who Should Attend?

BBS is suitable for anyone who influences or performs work, from senior leaders to frontline operatives, because behaviour is shaped at every level.

Managers and Supervisors
They set the tone, priorities and pressures that drive behaviour.

Team Leaders
They are frontline influencers who shape daily habits.

Operatives and Technicians
They perform the tasks where safe behaviours matter most.

New Employees and Contractors
This course can help them form safe habits early.

Health and Safety Professionals
This course can help them move beyond compliance-only approaches.

Key Topics

Benefits to the business of a strong workplace culture:

A strong culture helps reduce unsafe behaviours, near misses and injuries. Teams work more consistently, spot issues earlier, improve productivity and avoid repeat mistakes.

Safety Leadership:

What good safety leadership looks like.

How managers shape culture, the impact of priorities, pressure, and communication.

ABC analysis:

Identifying triggers that lead to unsafe behaviour, and how the consequences shape future actions.

Decision making styles:

In BBS, decision-making styles explain how habits, shortcuts, risk perception, and social influence shape the choices people make at work.

Cognitive bias:

The brain’s tendency to take shortcuts when making decisions. These shortcuts can help people work quickly, but they can also lead to predictable errors in judgement that increase risk, normalise unsafe habits and undermine safety culture.

System 1 and system 2 processing:

These two “systems” describe how the brain makes decisions. In BBS, they explain why people take shortcuts, miss hazards, or act on habit instead of training.

Behavioural Conversations and Effective Communication:

How to spot patterns, habits, and at-risk behaviours, and give feedback that changes behaviour.

Delivery Options

This course is delivered through trainer-led sessions and can be arranged to suit your organisation, with flexible options including in-person classroom delivery or on-site delivery at your workplace. These sessions give learners the opportunity to take part in group discussions, visual learning activities and real-life scenarios in an engaging, practical environment, helping teams apply the course content directly to their workplace and day-to-day roles.