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The use of data analytics has seen widespread application in fields such as medicine and supply chain management, but their application in occupational safety has only recently become more common. The purpose of this scoping review was to summarize studies that employed analytics within establishments to reveal insights about work-related injuries or fatalities. Over 300 articles were reviewed to survey the objectives, scope and methods used in this emerging field. We conclude that the promise of analytics for providing actionable insights to address occupational safety concerns is still in its infancy. Our review shows that most articles were focused on method development and validation, including studies that tested novel methods or compared the utility of multiple methods. Many of the studies cited various challenges in overcoming barriers caused by inadequate or inefficient technical infrastructures and unsupportive data cultures that threaten the accuracy and quality of insights revealed by the analytics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral safety is one of the most mature and efficacious applications of organizational behavior management in industrial workplaces. Built on the foundation of behavior analysis, behavioral safety attempts to prevent harm and reduce human suffering by targeting risk and intervening upon environmental factors related to safe behaviors. The current paper will (a) review the core components of a behavioral safety process, (b) highlight the extension of modern OBM methodologies (e.g., behavioral systems analysis) in behavioral safety, and (c) review best practices from world-class behavioral safety programs accredited by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies (CCBS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of task clarification and performance feedback on cleaning and restocking behaviors on both targeted and nontargeted behaviors was analyzed using an AB multiple baseline design across behaviors. Task clarification was presented on an enlarged poster to the serving staff at a fine dining restaurant. Group performance feedback was delivered in the form of letter grades on a daily chart. The first intervention focused on cleaning tables, chairs, and floors, which resulted in a 63% increase over baseline. The second intervention application focused on the restocking of side stations, which resulted in a 47.5% increase over baseline. Response generalization was noted among nontargeted cleaning behaviors in the restaurant bathrooms with a 48% increase in cleaning and a 44% increase in restocking behaviors over baseline. (Contains 3 figures.)

Engagement is a "buzz" word that has gained popularity in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Based on a "Positive Psychology" approach, engagement is perceived as a valuable state for employees, because surveys on the construct have found it correlates with some organizational tactics (e.g., human resource policies, procedural justice) and positive outcomes (e.g., growth, lower costs, lower absenteeism). Reviews of the engagement literature suggest engagement is not clearly defined, which is common with some popular cognitive/emotional constructs. Positive Psychology is nothing new to behavior analysis (Luthans, Youssef, & Rawski, 2011), which has many applications through the field of Organizational Behavior Management to create an "engaged" workforce and culture.

Companies operating large industrial settings often find delivering timely and accurate feedback to employees to be one of the toughest challenges they face in implementing performance management programs. In this report, an overhead scoreboard at a retailer's distribution center informed teams of order selectors as to how many tasks were completed, how many tasks were in queue, and how their team performance measured up against engineered labor standards. Results indicated that group-based immediate feedback can have a substantial impact on performance. Productivity for order selectors (n = 36) assigned to four pick zones increased by an average of 10.25% after intervention. The role of the Organizational Behavior Management experimenter and practitioner in linking business activity monitoring and engineered labor standards in order to accelerate key operational processes was examined. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)

The purpose of this research was to evaluate a reward program designed to reduce absenteeism among staff (N = 38) at a grocery store. The intervention included public feedback and a credit reward system whereby participants got store dollars for attendance and authorized rescheduling of work assignments. Results showed that absenteeism decreased from a group mean of 8 shifts missed per week during baseline to 4.25 shifts missed per week during the intervention before increasing to 6.75 shifts missed per week during the reversal phase. The mean total rescheduling occurrences were reduced from a baseline average of 19.83 per week to 9.25 per week during the intervention and returned to 22.25 per week during the reversal. Employees were also less likely to leave early during the intervention period. (Contains 3 figures.)

Additive effects of publicly posting individual feedback following group goal-setting and feedback were evaluated. The turn-signal use of pizza deliverers was studied in a multiple baseline design across two pizza stores. After baseline observations, pizza deliverers voted on a group turn-signal goal and then received 4 weeks of group feedback on their turn-signal use (i.e., group feedback phase). Then, for the next 4 weeks, individual turn-signal use means were publicly posted along with the group feedback (i.e., individual feedback phase). Deliverers at Store A (n = 24) increased their use of turn signals from a mean of 5% during baseline to 16.9% during the group feedback phase and then to 30% during the individual feedback phase. Turn-signal use at Store B (n = 20) increased from 28.9% during baseline to 43.6% during group feedback phase and to 56% during the subsequent individual feedback phase. Individual analyses suggested that deliverers who improved the target behavior during group feedback phase did not increase their turn-signal use further when individual feedback was added. Conversely, most deliverers who did not improve during the group feedback phase increased their turn-signal use when individual feedback was added. Complete intersection stopping increased concurrently with the turn-signal intervention phases from baseline means of 12% and 30% at Store A and B, respectively, to means of 21% and 48% during the interventions. (Contains 3 tables and 11 figures.)

Thomas E. Ludwig is the John Dirk Werkman Professor of Psychology at Hope College, where he joined the faculty in 1977 after receiving his PhD in development and aging from Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on developmental issues in cognitive neuropsychology. He is also the author or coauthor of more than a dozen sets of instructional computer activities, including PsychSim, PsychQuest, PsychOnline, PsychInquiry, Exploring Human Development, ActivePsych, and Concepts in Action. In 2003, Hope College presented him with its Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2005, the American Psychological Foundation honored him with the Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award. Timothy D. Ludwig received an MA from Wake Forest University and a PhD in industrial/organizational psychology from Virginia Tech. Since 1994, he has been on faculty at Appalachian State University where he has received the University Deans Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award and the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is currently the editor of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management and serves on the board of the Organizational Behavior Management National Network. He is the author of dozens of scholarly articles and one book that empirically document the successes of behavioral methods to improve safety and quality in industry. David J. Ludwig is emeritus professor of psychology at Lenoir-Rhyne University. He received an MDiv from Concordia Seminary, in St. Louis, and a PhD in personality from Washington University in St. Louis. His creative blending of psychology and religion has spanned more than 40 years as a university professor, a licensed psychologist, and a Lutheran minister. During this time, he has authored seven books, several DVD series, and numerous professional articles, while speaking internationally on practical ways to develop healthier personal and family relationships. (Contains 2 notes and a list of resources.)

Behavioral Systems rely on valid measurement systems to manage processes and feedback and to deliver contingencies. An examination of measurement system components designed to track customer service quality of furniture delivery drivers revealed the measurement system failed to capture information it was designed to measure. A reason for this failure was an inadequate design, which resulted in sabotage of the measurement system by agents in the organization. The failure of this measurement system led to the ineffective operation of business processes and related systems. For example, a bonus pay system and a disincentive system were disabled due to the faulty measurement system. Suggestions for the development of a valid measurement system are offered. (Contains 1 figure.)

The effects of task clarification, self-monitoring, and performance feedback on cleaning behaviors of 9 lifeguards in 3 performance areas (vacuuming, lobby tidying, and pool deck maintenance) were investigated using an ABA reversal design at a county swim complex. A specific task in each performance area was used as a behavioral control. Following a task clarification meeting, the percentage of closing tasks completed each night was self-monitored through ratings by lifeguards and managers. Researchers conducted independent ratings of these completed tasks after the staff had left the building. Feedback data were posted daily using line graphs that displayed the percentage of tasks completed correctly from both self-report and researchers' data. Overall performance increased from an average of 45.1% correct behaviors during baseline to an average of 76.9% during intervention then reversed to baseline during follow-up to an average performance of 45.05%. (Contains 1 table and 5 figures.)

Employee-based errors result in quality defects that can often impact customer satisfaction. This study examined the effects of a process change and feedback system intervention on error rates of 3 teams of retail furniture distribution warehouse workers. Archival records of error codes were analyzed and aggregated as the measure of quality. The intervention consisted of a process change where teams of 5 employees who had previously been assigned a specific role within the process were cross-trained to know and help with other team members' functions. Additionally, these teams were given performance feedback on an immediate, daily, and weekly basis. Team A reduced mean errors from 7.47 errors per week during baseline to 3.53 errors per week during the intervention phase. Team B experienced a reduction in mean number of weekly errors from a baseline of 11.39 errors per week to 3.82 errors per week during the intervention phase. Team C did not experience significant error rate reduction. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)

Field study was conducted in auto-parts after-market distribution centers where selectors used handheld computers to receive instructions and feedback about their product selection process. A wireless voice-interaction technology was then implemented in a multiple baseline fashion across three departments of a warehouse (N = 14) and was associated with a 17% increase in productivity over the previously implemented handheld scanning technology of the baseline condition and comparison departments that continued to use handheld scanner technology. Selection accuracy was nearly identical for voice (99.55%) and handheld (99.80%) technology. But, both were associated with substantially higher selection accuracy than a paper-based method (96.50%). Accuracy with voice instruction delivery, however, was most vulnerable whenever upstream events (i.e., processes that occur before the selection process such as receiving, replenishment, and inventory control) resulted in the wrong product being in the selection location. The implications and limitations that arise with these technologies are discussed as well as the expanded role of the Organizational Behavior Management professional.

A foodservice distributor in the southeastern United States implemented a voice assisted selecting tool to reduce selector errors by providing immediate feedback when errors occurred. An AB design with a nonequivalent comparison group was used to examine the effects of the voice technology on 132 selectors whose mispicks and shorts were collected over 6 weeks of baseline and 8 weeks of the intervention phase. Selector errors were reduced from 2.44 errors per 1,000 cases picked to 0.94 errors per 1,000 cases when voice technology was implemented. Further analysis indicated that the immediate feedback provided by voice had a greater impact on employees who were making the most errors during baseline.

Under baseline conditions warehouse stockers (n = 23) could earn incentives if their team performed above the team quota of 18 cases stocked per hour. They were also subject to disciplinary action if they failed to regularly meet individual stocking quotas. In spite of these contingencies the stockers failed to receive bonus payments most of the months preceding the intervention. The intervention package included a task analysis in the form of engineered labor standards. Empirically derived time standards were combined to provide engineered standards for all stocking tasks. A specific time duration goal for each task was presented prior to execution of each task. Percent of standard time used to complete each task was then presented immediately upon completion of each task via a handheld Electronic Performance Monitoring (EPM) device. Thus, task goals and performance feedback immediately preceded and followed performance of each stocking task. Immediately upon onset of the intervention, employee performance increased and eventually averaged 4.46 cases stocked per hour per person, an increase of 24% over the baseline phase. Performance was maintained for the 10-week duration of the study. Team members received the maximum bonus of $300 per month for 9 consecutive months under the intervention system. Performance levels in a comparison team at another warehouse were unchanged during the entire study. Results were discussed in terms of expanding the role of Organizational Behavior Management professionals and operational and ethical issues associated with EPM technologies.

In this study, the authors investigated a social marketing intervention to increase the use of bicycle helmets on a university campus in the southeastern United States. Focus groups of students developed a bicycle helmet program slogan and logo (ie, "The Grateful Head"). The authors trained student bicyclists who already used helmets (n = 15) as peer agents. These agents provided bicycle helmet information and asked fellow bicyclists to sign a pledge card to wear a helmet. They gave a coupon for a free helmet to those who pledged to wear a helmet. The authors received a total of 379 pledge cards and distributed 259 helmets. Bicycle helmet use rose from a baseline mean of 27.6% to a mean of 49.3% by the last week of the intervention. (Contains 1 note.)

Universal Precautions (UPs), procedures to reduce the likelihood of accidental exposure to blood-borne pathogens, were observed among seven Certified Nurse Anesthetists and one anesthesia technician during intravenous line procedures. After six weeks of baseline measures, nurses participated in training, goal setting, and feedback targeting hand sanitizing practices. Three weeks later immediate needle disposal was targeted. Hand sanitizing behaviors increased from a group baseline percentage of 24% to 65% during the intervention, and 52% during withdrawal. No significant increases in immediate needle disposal were found. Participants disposed of needles immediately 53% of the time during baseline, 58% during the intervention phase, and 45% during withdrawal. Non-targeted UP behaviors also increased as a result of the intervention: Recapping needles with on-hand increased from 45% during baseline to 61% during the intervention phases; removing gloves from inside out increased from 61% to 93%; and wearing gloves when discarding waste increased from 31% to 52%. Auxiliary behaviors such as nurse and patient interactions remained consistently high throughout the study.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00532.x Byline: David T. Goomas (1), Timothy D. Ludwig ([dagger]) Abstract: Electronic performance monitoring can monitor employee performance, while providing proximal goals and immediate feedback. A warehouse management system was enhanced to depict goal and performance on handheld wireless computers to improve order selection in an auto-parts aftermarket distribution center. Upon the onset of the intervention of an engineered labor standard and electronic performance monitoring, performance immediately increased by 24 units picked per hour per person and was maintained for the duration of the study, an increase of 12.9%. Evidence from this study suggests that performance goals and feedback can be aggregated beyond the work-unit level without decreasing the effectiveness of the intervention. Author Affiliation: (*)Dean FoodsDallas, TX ([dagger])Appalachian State University Article note: (1) David T. Goomas, Dean Foods, 2515 McKinney Avenue, Dallas, TX 75201. E-mail: David_Goomas@DeanFoods.com or to Timothy Ludwig, Department of Psychology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28692. E-mail: ludwigtd@appstate.edu

The study presents immediate feedback delivery to forklift drivers in a distribution center using engineered labor standards (ELS) to calculate the work-unit goal times. The ELS feedback was linked to the forklift drivers team's work achievement, which led to improvement of the drivers' replenishment performance by 2.14 pallets per hour.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a program designed to improve the work quality of employees at a food distribution warehouse. Participants (n = 23) were responsible for selecting food items to be distributed to restaurants. Selector errors were targeted using an adapted incentive program featuring tiered goals and individualized normative feedback. A pre-existing incentive program, wherein selectors forfeited money for each error, was adapted to allow the selectors the opportunity to earn back their disincentive money upon attainment of weekly goals that were increasingly demanding. The initial goal for the first two weeks was set at 2.0 errors per 1000 cases and every two weeks thereafter the new goal was reduced by 0.1 errors per 1000 cases until the final goal of 1.5 errors per 1000 cases. Weekly graphic feedback included public posting of individual error rates. The mean errors per 1000 cases for the experimental group decreased 10% from 3.16 during baseline to 2.54 during the intervention. The largest decrease in errors was observed in the mid-level performers (with baseline error rates between 2 and 3.5 errors per 1000 cases). A cost-benefit analysis revealed potential savings of $9,799.50. KEYWORDS. Incentives, employee errors, changing criterion, normative feedback

Despite the growing use of virtual communication technology and flexible work sites allowing for remote teamwork, little research has been done to systematically review workplace incivility within this context. The literature on workplace incivility has primarily been through the lens of Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology, focusing on antecedents and correlational organizational outcomes. Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) strategies may provide additional insight for developing sustainable interventions for workplace incivility. The current paper discusses how OBM can supplement the I/O Psychological incivility literature and may provide additional insight into environmental context and prevention tactics for virtual workplace incivility. Specifically, we (a) identify contextual events that predict civil or uncivil behaviors by assessing antecedents, consequences, and interlocking contingencies, (b) consider value-enhancing or -abating motivating operations, (c) describe a functional assessment for pinpointing problem behaviors, and (d) suggest several potential interventions for mitigating virtual incivility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of a safe driving competition facilitated by publicly-posted individual feedback. The turn-signal use, safety-belt use, and complete intersection stopping of 82 pizza deliverers were observed at two experimental and three control stores, as well as among the civilian population. After baseline observations, pizza deliverers received posted weekly individual feedback on their turn-signal use (at Store A) or complete intersection stops (at Store B). The deliverers' safe driving scores were posted individually on a vertical scale along with their names. Each week the deliverer with the highest average performance was rewarded with a free vehicle-maintenance coupon. Turn-signal use among drivers at Store A (n = 24) increased 22 percentage points from baseline to the intervention phase which was maintained into the withdrawal phase. Complete intersection stopping among drivers at Store B (n = 21) increased 17 percentage points from baseline to the intervention phase and was maintained into the withdrawal phase. Although the winners of the weekly competitions had the greatest increase in performance, non-winners also increased their instances of safe driving during the competition. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: KEYWORDS. Feedback, public posting, competitive rewards, safe driving, pizza deliveries, occupational safety, behavioral covariance, unobtrusive observation

The term response generalization has been poorly defined and has, over many years, been a source of controversy for applied researchers who must grapple with results that show changes in behaviors outside of the response class targeted by their intervention. The present discussion seeks to differentiate response generalization from such terms as response covariation and induction. Instead, response generalization is redefined in the context of response classes and concurrent schedules of reinforcement. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: KEYWORDS, Structure, response class, response generalization, response covariance, concurrent schedules, induction, organizational behavior management

This monograph reviews seven field studies that evaluated behavior-based interventions designed to increase safe-driving practices of pizza deliverers. Intervention strategies focused primarily on variations of goal-setting and feedback techniques, including: (a) nonnumerical goals in an awareness and promise card intervention; (b) nonnumerical goals mandated as company policy; (c) participative and assigned group goal setting paired with feedback; (d) group goal setting and feedback with added public individualized feedback; (e) individualized feedback and competition; and (f) private individualized feedback paired with dynamic, static, or dynamic and static goals. An additional intervention evaluated a community program in which pizza deliverers acted as behavior change agents for safety-belt use. Two models of intervention effectiveness were evaluated for their ability to help practitioners design interventions that maximize both short-term and long-term impacts as well as desirable response generalization. The amounts of individual involvement, peer support, response information, and external consequences influenced the beneficial impacts of the interventions. Additionally, maintenance of behavior change after the interventions were withdrawn varied directly with the degree of peer support and involvement in the interventions' designs. Employee involvement increased the amount of desirable response generalization while external consequences seemed to be associated with undesirable spread of effect presumed to be countercontrol.