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Applying the “Broken Window Theory” to Safety
I recently came across an old article that I first read about 10 years ago. The article highlighted the connection between the decline in violent crime in New York City during the early 1990s and the “Broken Window Theory.” While the original intent of the article wasn’t meant to be applied to the world of safety, I think it fits very well.
What’s the “Broken Window Theory”?
The “Broken Window Theory” is well known in the criminal justice world. Its basis is that the environment in which we live impacts our behavior. For example, people will feel more inclined to break the law in an area that is run down and dirty, hence the term “broken window.” Criminals feel less threatened and people seem to expect crime in this environment.
Applying the Theory to the NY City Subway System
In the early 90s, violent crime was rampant in the New York City subway system. The City hired a new subway director, who just happened to practice the "broken window" theory. The first item on his agenda was to solve the graffiti problem. To others, this priority seemed odd, to say the least. People are being mugged and killed and this guy wants to re-paint the subway cars? But every single car was cleaned and painted. And every time a car was vandalized, it was taken out of service until it was clean again.
As you can imagine, spending so much money on something that was seemingly meaningless didn’t sit so well with everyone. Until crime started to rapidly decline.
Soon after, the city hired a new head of police for the subway system, who also just happened to practice this theory. (Can you see a pattern here?) With violent crimes still occurring on a regular basis, the first plan of attack was to hire more officers and crackdown on fare beaters.
Up until that point, anyone who jumped the turnstile was not really important. It took way too much time and effort to arrest someone for not paying their fare. But under the new system, mobile police stations were set up, equipped with everything that was needed to process these individuals.
After a short while, crime began to decline again. It seems many of these fare beaters were also carrying a weapon or drugs or had outstanding warrants against them.
Applying the Theory to Safety
So why does this theory fit well with safety? Think of a violent crime much the same way as you think about an accident. Each of these has many causative factors involved. If we can eliminate some of the causative factors, we reduce the likelihood of the undesired result.
I’m sure we’d all like to say that our safety practices are consistent, no matter what other people are doing, but the reality is that other people’s actions do in fact affect our behavior. For example:
- Are you more or less likely to wear safety glasses when others around you aren’t wearing them?
- How about housekeeping? Does a dirty, messy jobsite impact how people work?
- Do you tend to follow traffic when other cars are speeding?
Now think of a worksite where “little things” are neither addressed nor corrected. These little things add up and have a major impact on our – and our workers’ – decision-making.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, when we talk about the little things, we’re accused of “nitpicking.” After all, there are much bigger things to worry about. That’s always going to be true. But by gaining control over the little things, by proactively setting the stage – and the standard – for a safe workplace, we may actually have that much less to worry about in the long run.
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Excellent article - especially the Conclusion! In today's world no one takes the time to get back to basics. A good foundtion is necessary for any beginning. Take care of the little things and they won't grow into the BIG things!!
Interesting read...
It is awesome to see a professional put an interesting twist on safety. Refreshing. Inspiring.
Hey - I was one of those individuals that thought, "why are they spending resources on on those things when the murder rate is so high?". I guess now I know.
This is just another example of "Thinking Outside The Box".
Job Well Done!!
Excellent way to describe what we do in safety everyday!
I use this process as well and it does impact the daily safety behavior thought process. Focus on the little things and in most cases the big things will not happen.
Great application of a proven theory, Michael. The clean, organized locations in multi-facility businesses consistently have less "accidents" than the ones where managers claim to be too busy to clean. Keep the articles coming!
The "broken window" works in so many areans. When I started buying duplexs and renting one side out while I fixed the other side up, my real estate agent told me that he had one trick that was effective in evaluating renters. He looked in the prospective renter's car. The way he kept his car, was the way he would treat his living space.
I used to work for a manager who said that he had seen a workplace with a good housekeeping record have a bad safety record, but had never seen a workplace with a bad housekeeping record with a good safety record.
I also subscribe to the broken window theory. All to often we concentrate on the "OSHA compliance" side of safety and only look at the libility affects and the disciplinary process when the basic principles of safety are human behaviors. Most employees will follow the established cultural environment of the worksite, good or bad. If we establish an attitude that promotes safety concepts, the majority of employees will get in step. If we allow sloppy safety standards to exist it will breed injuries. A quote I often use is "you will get from your employees exactly what you expect from them". Supervisors must take the lead.
This is a excellent and concise way of communicating one of my core values.
I will use this example to communicate the message to others.
It reminds me of a saying. Take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves. This works on many levels
The “Broken Window Theory” is a standalone theory with proven outcomes it by no means, in my mind, represents “nitpicking” little things to obtain bigger things. It is a synergetic theory where cleaning and other activities inspire community pride leading to decreased crime.
Traditional safety teachings tell us if you prevent minor injuries, you will automatically prevent major injuries from occurring. Old accident ratio studies insist on setting ratios between proactive observation, near misses, minor incidents and serious incidents such as –the Heinrich and Bird Iceberg Theory - many in the safety community have pursued the theory religiously. The belief is if you eliminate lower level incidents (first aid) you can in turn; eliminate higher level incidents (lost time injuries) from occurring.
I unquestionably agree there are lower level incidents that have the potential to result in higher level incidents, and we must investigate and learn from them, but personal experience and industry historical data suggests the majority of lower level incidents do not have the potential to elevate to a higher level. The major contributing factor is the amount of energy that was available to be exchanged in the incident. The more energy involved, the greater the risk which leads to a greater potential for a higher level incident occurring The theory that preventing lower level incidents will automatically prevent the higher level incidents is misleading and can waste time and valuable resources.
I have not heard of a safety department anywhere that does not have limited resources to devote to safety. I suggest spending the majority of time and money on the incidents, hazards and tasks that involve the most potential energy. Mitigate hazards and write step-by-step procedures for every task that involve the most energy to ensure worker safety. Wasting finite resources investigating and trying to fit all incidents into set ratios has proven to be unrealistic.
So, taking care of pennies does not always lead to the dollars taking care of themselves.