Nicholas Porro
Safety Supervisor
Hercules Research Center Wilmington,
Delaware
"I first became aware of Topf
Initiatives in 1993 when a team that
I was a member of, searched the
Internet for references to
"Behavioral Safety". Articles
written by Michael Topf intrigued us
and we invited Michael speak to our
safety team.
One thing about that first meeting
sticks out in my mind. We were told
that typically, greater than 90% of
injuries involve behaviors. At that
time, I was a chemical operator with
20 years experience at a research
facility. I could not buy into the
notion that the vast majority of our
safety incidents and injuries could
be traced to our own behaviors and
actions. After their presentation, I
voiced my strong disbelief . Topf
suggested that I resolve the issue
for myself. I was to gather safety
incident reports from our site for
the past three years. I was to ask
myself "yes" or "no", "Did a
behavior of the involved person or a
co-worker, contribute to the event?"
Hours later, after pouring over more
than one hundred safety incident
reports, I concluded that 94% of the
events did, in fact, involve our
behaviors and actions. I became a
believer that if we were going to
improve our safety performance, we
had to open our minds to the
importance and complexity of
behavioral safety issues.
We began our Topf Process in early
1995, with our Topf facilitator. He
posed a tough question for us to
ponder. "If you would not let your
child do it that way, then why are
you doing it that way?" He exposed
us to the concept that safety is
everyone's business, not just the
responsibility of the safety group
or of supervisors. We became aware
of the three modes of behavior. We
could sit back and act as a
"spectator" in matters of safety. We
could watch something unfold and
then later "react" to the situation.
Or we could become "players" in the
safety game and thus truly impact
our safety and the safety of our
coworkers.
For the twelve months that followed
our initial Topf Training, we were
reminded of behavioral concepts by
our coworkers. Every month, we met
to cover one of the key points from
the Topf Training. This ongoing
process was a different tact than we
had experienced in previous safety
programs, now there was continuity
to our efforts. When we surveyed our
400+ employees and asked them what
was working about our approach to
safety, they noted that these
monthly discussions around safety
behaviors served to keep awareness
at very high levels. They also
stated that the conversations tend
to break down the barriers to good
communications between coworkers.
To this day, almost five years after
our initial Topf Training, every
employee on site, meets every month
to discuss a concept involving
behavioral safety and our actions. I
believe it is this ongoing forum
that allows us to continually
address safety issues and concerns.
Throughout the years, Topf
Initiatives has supported our safety
process and encouraged us to
customize it so as to make it work
for us. Getting buy-in from
employees is the key to making a
behavioral process effective.
In regards to safety performance,
for the three years prior to our
Topf Training, we suffered an
average of 14 OSHA Injuries each
year. In the almost 5 years since we
started our Topf Training, we have
recorded less than 3 OSHA Injuries
each year.
Perhaps the strongest testament I
can give is that prior to our
association with Michael Topf and
his Organization, we believed that
we did have a good safety program in
place and that suffering more than a
dozen OSHA Injuries each year was
simply the price of doing business.
Now, our culture has evolved and we
believe that even two or three OSHA
injuries each year is too many. Our
goal is an injury-free workplace. I
credit Topf Initiatives with putting
that goal within our reach.
