Behavior Based Safety (BBS) programs fail more often than they should — not because the underlying principles are flawed, but because of predictable, preventable organizational failures. In this blog series, we explore the most common reasons BBS programs break down, drawing on insights from industry professionals Joseph Braun, EHS Manager at Ferrara Candy Company; John Peoples, Global EHS Manager at Huntsman Corporation; and Chad Rasmussen, EHS Manager at Cardinal Health — each of whom manages effective Behavior Based Safety programs at scale and has experienced these challenges firsthand.
A significant investment of time, resources, and organizational energy goes into building and maintaining a BBS program — and for good reason. At its core, a BBS program exists to protect workers from injury, and in high-hazard environments, that means preventing fatalities. That is why it is critical to understand not only how to build a BBS program, but where these programs typically go wrong and what separates programs that deliver lasting safety improvements from those that quietly fade into compliance theater. In this post, we examine the most common failure modes — and how safety leaders can avoid them.
We have covered in previous posts how a lack of buy-in and participation by the very workers a BBS program is meant to protect is one of its primary failure modes. Here, we go deeper into the organizational and leadership dynamics that consistently undermine program success.
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Lack of Senior Management Buy-in & Commitment to Behavior Based Safety (BBS)
John Peoples, Global EHS Manager at Huntsman Corporation identifies the single most common failure he encounters: “a lack of buy-in and commitment from the senior managers.” Senior leaders carry the most institutional authority in any organization — and when that authority is not visibly behind a BBS program, the message sent to the entire workforce is that safety observations are optional, low-priority, or performative. Experienced leaders who have been in an industry for decades can be particularly resistant to behavioral safety approaches, especially when they view them as bureaucratic additions to an already complex workload. Overcoming this resistance requires connecting BBS program outcomes directly to the metrics senior leaders care about: TRIR reduction, regulatory audit readiness, insurance costs, and operational efficiency.
Joseph Braun, EHS Manager at Ferrara Candy Company echoes this concern, emphasizing the cascading effect of leadership disengagement: “when there is no buy-in from the leadership team. If the leadership team is not 100% and pushing for the observations to be completed, the trickle-down shows that it doesn’t matter and is not a priority.” This trickle-down effect is one of the most damaging dynamics in workplace safety programs. When frontline workers observe that supervisors and managers do not take BBS observations seriously — do not complete them, do not reference them in safety discussions, or do not act on the data — participation collapses. A BBS program without consistent leadership engagement quickly becomes a checkbox exercise that generates data but creates no safety value.
As Chad Rasmussen, EHS Manager at Cardinal Health emphasizes: “top-level management commitment to programs like this is essential. If the program just lives in one department or the people at the top stop caring about/pushing these types of programs they will fail. It needs to stay relevant to the decision-makers and it needs to be seen as adding value.” This is a critical insight: BBS programs that are siloed within the safety department, without visible executive sponsorship, rarely achieve the cultural penetration needed to drive lasting behavioral change. The program must be positioned as a business priority — not just a safety initiative — and leaders at every level must be held accountable for participation and outcomes.
The consistent message from all three professionals is clear: senior management commitment is not a nice-to-have for BBS programs — it is a prerequisite for success. Bringing leadership on board requires framing BBS as a strategic investment in workforce protection, regulatory compliance (OSHA, ISO 45001), and operational performance. Use data from your BBS observations to show the connection between behavioral trends and incident rates. Tie observation completion rates to safety KPIs reported to the board. Make the business case in the language that resonates with decision-makers.
Looking at the big picture and keeping the goals of your safety program firmly in view are essential disciplines for any EHS leader trying to sustain a BBS program through inevitable organizational headwinds. With a clear strategy, defined goals, and regular progress reporting tied to meaningful safety metrics, you can build and maintain the senior management commitment that any BBS program requires to survive — and to deliver real safety outcomes.
Lead and promote your Behavior Based Safety Program with patience, vision, leadership, and all the resources available to you — including the right technology to make participation easy and data actionable at every level of the organization.
Check out previous blogs in this series and stay tuned for more!
Why You Should Include Behavior Based Safety in your Safety Management Program
How Do You Measure the Success Of A BBS Program?
Tips To Increase Participation, Buy-In, And The Effectiveness Of Your BBS Program
How to Avoid the BBS ‘Blame Game’
How Do You Avoid ‘Pencil Whipping’ With BBS Programs?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why do most BBS programs fail?
Most Behavior Based Safety programs fail for one or more of the following reasons: lack of senior management buy-in and visible commitment, insufficient worker participation, overly complex observation processes that create compliance burden without safety value, inadequate data collection and analysis, and failure to close the loop on corrective actions. Research consistently shows that BBS programs without strong leadership sponsorship at the executive level fail to achieve the cultural penetration needed to change behavior sustainably. Programs that are seen as department-level initiatives — rather than organization-wide priorities — struggle to maintain participation over time.
How do you get senior management to support a BBS program?
To secure senior management support for a BBS program, connect the program directly to the metrics leaders care about: Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), regulatory compliance costs, workers’ compensation exposure, and operational efficiency. Present data showing the relationship between behavioral observation frequency and incident rate reduction. Frame BBS not as a safety department project, but as a strategic investment in workforce protection and business resilience aligned with OSHA compliance and ISO 45001 obligations. Regular reporting to senior leadership — using dashboards that show BBS KPIs alongside safety performance metrics — helps maintain visibility and sustains commitment over time.
What role does technology play in preventing BBS program failure?
Technology plays a critical role in preventing BBS program failure by removing the friction that drives disengagement. Digital safety observation platforms make it fast and simple for workers at all levels to submit observations from any device, eliminating the paper-based processes that create delays, errors, and participation barriers. Real-time dashboards give EHS managers and senior leaders instant visibility into observation volumes, behavioral trends, and corrective action status — making it easier to demonstrate program value to decision-makers and sustain leadership commitment. When BBS data is automated, consistent, and immediately visible, the program is far more likely to remain a priority at every level of the organization.
