For almost 40 years the author and his students have conducted field studies to develop and evaluate intervention strategies to improve safety-related behaviors in industrial, community, and institutional settings. As a result, a number of evidence-based techniques have been identified to increase the occurrence of safe behavior and/or decrease the frequency of at-risk behavior. Most of these are interpersonal, requiring a safety leader or change agent to target a specific behavior of another person in order to decrease, increase, maintain, or support that behavior. All of these cost-effective intervention strategies can be applied on a large scale for substantial injury prevention, and all have been described in the research literature, along with objective data demonstrating their beneficial impact. Over the years, the author has described these practical intervention methods in ASSE presentations; and in some cases, attendees have later applied a technique with remarkable success, as revealed in follow-up communication with the author. Never have all of these injury-prevention approaches been defined and illustrated in one presentation, which is the purpose of this document. However, before reviewing these interpersonal interventions for injury prevention, it's instructive to consider barriers that prevent the large-scale application and institutionalization of these safety-management procedures. In other words, given their demonstrated effectiveness and practicality, why haven't they been adopted and implemented throughout organizations and communities nationwide in order to help keep people safe?
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