Behavior change versus culture change: Divergent approaches to managing workplace safety

This paper compares and contrasts two prominent and seemingly antagonistic safety management rubrics: the behavior change and culture change approaches to safety. The two perspectives are analyzed in terms of their conceptual and theoretical foundations, defining characteristics, and apparent strengths and weaknesses. The level of empirical support for each approach is also assessed. The argument is advanced that the two approaches are essentially complementary and that their respective strengths can be merged into a more balanced and comprehensive approach for managing workplace safety. This integrated approach has two key features: (1) a data-based and participatory problem-solving process that emulates some of the inherent strengths of behavior change technology, and (2) a more explicit culture change process that can be systematically monitored and assessed.