Customer Reviews

The Values-Based Safety Process : Improving Your Safety Culture with Behavior-Based Safety

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I reviewed this book along with four others by other BBS consultant authors and I find this to be the best. Terry McSween has written a very usable book complete with forms, checklists. and essential elements necessary for doing your own process, if you are intending to anyway. I also found the section on safety incentives to be very helpful and neccessary. One is likely to do a poor BBS implementation unless they address the important organizational interface between the popular but controversial safety rewards programs and a new BBS effort. McSween's appreciation for manufacturing organizational cultures seems to me to be on the mark.

I have worked in this field for several years and observed Fortune 500 companies in every phase of implementing behavior-based safety into their organizations. I have witnessed first hand all of the major consulting companies installing BBS initiatives using the books of other authors in this field. I can unequivocally recommend Dr. McSween's book as the most successful and practical.

Above all, Dr. McSween has used his 20 years of hand-on safety consulting experience to design a behavior-based safety process that incorporates employees into the design and implementation of the process - and thereby creates all the necessary elements of acceptance and long range success. Unlike other BBS methodologies, Dr. McSweens process allows employee design teams to integrate BBS into the existing safety culture in a mannner that ensures its strengths will be sustained and effective.

Dr. McSween has used his clients feedback and his experience to design a process that minimizes administrative busy work and time off the job, yet includes the powerful tools and activites that BBS brings to the safety management process. Above all, Dr. McSween is a professional widely known for his integrity and client dedication - traits that are reflected in the honesty and practicality of his book.

After many years in the BBS business as an employee of Dr. McSweens competitors, I can truthfully say that Dr. McSween's book and his process are the most successful and that Dr. McSween is the best BBS consultant practicing in America today.

This is undoubtedly one of the best books in the area of behavioral safety. Dr. McSween provides a thorough guideline that safety professionals can use to implement a sound system for behavior change in their organizations. The reader is introduced to the basic concepts of behavior analysis, the proven techniques of applied behavior analysis, and relevant research in the area of behavioral safety. This ensures that the focus of safety efforts is on employees' safe behaviors and the environment that maintains such behaviors, which is critical because without such focus behavior change will not be achieved.

Dr. McSween clearly outlines the steps that most organizations go through in implementing behavior-based safety. This is not an academic text like others in the area, but rather a practical guide for those working in organiztions. The book is full of worksheets, decision guides, and examples. Highly recommended.

The book is a very good guideline on the steps of a implementing a behavioral safety process. The process is flexible and is well presented. The case histories are good, especially those dealing with unusual applications, such as industrial hygiene. The theory of how the process works is only lightly touched, and the use of positive reinforcement is missing. Overall, an excellent study for the implementation aspects of behavioral safety.

Dr. Terry McSween has written "The Values-Based Safety Process" what many have described as the "most practical book on how to actually implement behavioral-based safety and troubleshoot organizational and system problems within an organization". This book is an essential working reference for every executive, manager, supervisor and safety professional responsible for for helping protect employees, the environment, and property. A very positive review of the book was published in the July 2001 issue of Professional Safety.

This book can help you get a proper perspective of how Behavior-based safety can be an additional element (but not a replacement for) a fundamentally sound total loss control program to protect people, the environment and property.

Larry Bailey, CSP

Dr. Terry McSween has produced a concise and practical guide for implementing a behavior-based safety system within any organization. This book was the best book on behavioral safety that I have ever read. This book is easy to read and to understand, and most of all, easy to set into action in the work environment.

This is a great, great book. Having studied safety culture management for many years, this is the best book I have seen on the subject. A practical, meat and potato's guide to establishing a successful, high-performance safety culture, with a proven method that absolutely works. McSween holds your hand and takes you right down the road where you need to go with a clear, understandable writing style that starts at the basics and takes you all the way through how to celebrate your success. The second edition has lots of case studies and a great section on safety leadership. Buy this book! Also, read some great safety articles at McSween's website "Quality Safety Edge".

Beginning in 1986, I started my career in safety and health management. Beyond the "basic industrial safety classes" being taught at the time, a few innovative and creative individuals were looking at safety and health management in ways beyond making "physical and engineering changes" (a technique that had dominated safety program management since its inception). In 1995, Values-Based Safety Process emerged as a go-to reference for me. It is a wonderful and enduring book!

One of the chapters that I go back to regularly outlines a clear strategy for sustaining the safety management and culture process. Terry's book has endured as a benchmark in our consulting practice and approach to safety management today. I highly endorse and recommend his book, and believe it has helped immensely in the prevention of injuries and illnesses in the workplace.

Steve Thompson, President
Aspen Risk Management Group [...]
Coauthor, Workplace Safety: A Guide for Small and Midsized Companies

I found this book to be both practical and very helpful. It provided an easy roadmap for implementing a behavioral safety process. The illustrations provided guidance in setting up a feedback mechanism.