Human behaviour

A new learning approach from DuPont Sustainable Solutions looks to re-energise work safety by focusing on the beliefs and values of individuals within an organisation

This year, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, which took place on 28th April, focused on the prevention of occupational diseases which cause more fatalities at work than accidents. Around two million people die from work-related illnesses every year. Many can be prevented, but companies often find that safety efforts at work stagnate after a while.

DuPont Sustainable Solutions has developed the DuPont Integrated Approach for Safety (DnA) to address this challenge. DnA is aimed at organisations that are already advanced in their safety culture, but whose efforts have plateaued.

DnA takes into account how and why people make decisions. By combining psychology, behavioural safety and an understanding of the social norms that govern us, DuPont believes that DnA can take work safety to new levels.

DnA's approach is designed to prevent employees from becoming bored with an often repeated message. It works at several levels to transform organisations and change the way its employees think about safety. The programme uses a practical model of human behaviour to consider how the brain processes information, how we think and what we believe, as well as influential external factors such as the work environment and social climates.

With DnA companies can build an effective, tailored change programme, based on the specific needs of their business and personnel, based on a holistic understanding of the drivers of human behaviour.

Applying DnA DuPont Sustainable Solutions offers an assessment tool - the DuPont Values, Attitudes and Beliefs Index - to build a profile of critical safety beliefs, values and behaviours within an organisation. DuPont psychologists have designed this tool to identify ways of engaging the workforce of companies in many different sectors.

In a second stage, DnA offers competency-based learning, which differs significantly from traditional safety training. It works with individuals to develop their skill level from their own starting point and then assesses progress against a universal standard of competency, rather than against the achievements of other learners. Finally, DuPont ProGress Coaching builds on the level of competency an individual has achieved during the training phase to consolidate what has been learnt and maximise on-the-job achievement.

This new approach moves away from 'instruction' to a facilitated learning journey, with coaching being the crucial difference.

It is during this stage of applying theoretical learning to real life operations, that participants can expect to realise the most significant improvements in their safety skills and in influencing the safety attitudes of their team members.