Why UMZ needs BSA

Recently, press officers attended a behavioral security audit. Read this article to know why such audits are needed and what they are.

What is bsa

Behavioral Safety Audit (BSA) is an important element of our safety culture. It is a process that involves systematic reviews of staff performance by managers. However, this is not an ordinary check, but a special form of interaction between the auditor and the audited. Its main goal is not just to eliminate industrial safety violations... The most important thing is to prevent them in the future!

Behavioral Safety Auditing aims to prevent unsafe acts, unsafe conditions and incidents without consequences.

Dangerous action – the behavior of an employee, as a result of which there is a risk of injury to himself or others, as well as damage to the environment or the property of the enterprise. Personnel inaction can also be dangerous.

Hazardous condition / event – a condition or event not directly related to the action or inaction of workers, which can lead to an accident. The hazardous condition can be caused by design errors, manufacturing errors, poor maintenance, or degradation.

Near Miss – unintended, unplanned, and unexpected event that did not result in injury, illness, or injury, but posed a potential danger of serious consequences.

Some statistics

Behavioral safety audits at UMP have been held since 2018. During the three quarters of this year, 2,715 BSAs took place, which is 645 higher than the planned number. Thanks to them, 1,735 hazardous conditions and 980 hazardous actions were identified.

Simple algorithm

The first stage is preparation: the auditor determines the venue, clarifies the hazardous factors of the audited area, finds out what work is being performed and by whom, studies the documentation and instructions for the work performed, prepares questions for employees.

Further, during the conduct of a behavioral audit, the auditor observes the actions of employees, such as: the use of safe work methods, the use of overalls and PPE in full, the use of serviceable tools and equipment, compliance with safety rules and order at the workplace.

After observing the behavior of employees, a conversation between the auditor and the person performing the work is mandatory. A conversation always starts with a positive moment. Then the auditor asks leading questions, with the help of which the auditee, as a rule, independently realizes which of his actions were wrong.

The behavioral audit ends with the presentation of the results. At UMP, data is entered into the Industrial Safety Management software package.

During BSA, «undesirable» events may not be detected. Then the auditor should note that employees are performing their duties in good faith. If possible, the auditor solicits the manager to encourage such employees.

Bsa example

Let»s tell you how the audit goes in practice. During BSA we visited tantalum production, namely, building 57 of shop No. 10. Here a team of employees of Mashzavod LLP prepared the foundation for the installation of a vacuum annealing furnace. The audit was carried out by Andrey Dovgopolov, Acting Deputy Director of TP for HSE at that time, and Artem Yakovlev, engineer for HSE.

After some observation, Andrei Matveyevich and Artem Evgenievich suspended work, introduced themselves, and explained the reason for the suspension. During the conversation, they made comments to the team members about the incomplete use of PPE. The employees of Mashzavod LLP brought their work clothes into full compliance with safety requirements and continued to work.

Julia Antonova, Alexey Proskuryakov