29 October 2015

An international audience has heard how Costain’s use of behavioural science has helped improve its health and safety record over the past decade.

Representatives from the Company’s Behavioural Management Team attended the Behavioural Safety Now (BSN) Conference in Reno, Nevada.

“The event focuses on sharing experiences and gaining knowledge of how applied behavioural science can help to shape a safety culture,” said Behavioural Management Consultant, Carly Wheeliker, who attended the event with Costain’s Director of Behavioural Management, Alan Cheung.

During the conference, Alan delivered a keynote address on the application of behavioural science within Costain: "Alan presented the journey that Costain has been on since it started using behaviour to make a difference nine years ago. He talked about the different things we’ve done and the impact that behaviour has had on Costain’s safety culture including how we now use the science to predict unsafe behaviour so that we can become more proactive in our approach.”

Alan and Carly were also formally presented with a certificate for the re-accreditation of the Costain Behavioural Safety Programme (CBS) in front of an audience of around 400 attendees.

This followed the reaccreditation earlier this year of the CBS by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies (CCBS) in the US, which gave Costain a gold award for its efforts in the field.

“We have the only third-party accredited behavioural safety programme in the UK and I’d reiterate the fact that it’s unique to us,” said Carly. “Our programme is differentiated from the majority of other behavioural programmes because it’s based on behavioural science, not behavioural psychology. Our approach is based on collecting data, not just getting people to think about things differently; ours is about measuring outputs.”

During the visit, Alan and Carly also visited University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) and delivered a guest lecture on Costain's behavioural journey to a group of faculty students who are studying behaviour analysis.

“It was a privilege to discuss Costain’s journey with the students and to be able to talk about how we were making the science real,” said Carly.

The US visit has served to strengthen relationships with CCBS and UNR well as to provide the team with advanced knowledge on how to apply behaviour further within the business. This will now focus on bringing better results in the leadership and quality fields.

Pictured: Alan Cheung delivers keynote address at the BSN Conference in Reno, Nevada.

 

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