Results

Accident statistics from the German Federal and Railroad Accident Insurance (UVB) revealed that volunteer and full-time rescue workers are exposed to an increased risk of accidents. This is reflected in the continuously rising accident figures at the German Red Cross (DRK) since 2011. In part, the increased accident risk and accident occurrence result from the nature of the job as a rescue worker in extreme situations. Another cause, however, is the perception of potential risks and the associated safety behavior of employees (cf. Annex 6.1.). The project "Behavior Based Safety (BBS) - Safe behavior among rescue workers" is a research project initiated by the UVB in which, against the background of the DGUV campaign "Culture of Prevention", behavior-analytical methods of Behavior Based Safety (BBS) were transferred and adapted to the work of rescue workers in selected companies of the DRK. The scientific background of the project is BBS, a collection of methods with the purpose of achieving safe work habits. The ultimate aim is to reduce the number of accidents at work. The project was scientifically supported by the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (FHWS), which acted as implementation partner and contractor. As part of the research project, a checklist of safe behaviors and behavioral products (behavioral outcomes) adapted to the conditions of the rescue stations was developed. This checklist was used to observe and assess safety levels in two selected DRC operations. Following the baseline rate survey, Phase 1 of the project included the use of verbal and graphic feedback in addition to task clarification. This was intended to change the safety-related behavior of employees. The research design used was a multiple baseline design, meaning that the intervention was introduced in a staggered manner across the two rescue stations. The presentation of the obtained results is in the form of line graphs, the data of which were analyzed using visual analysis. The collected data from the baseline rate observations showed that the relative percentage of safe behavior for all items on the checklist was 52.10% for one of the rescue stations and 56.82% for the other rescue station. The progress of the project was affected by the constraints due to the COVID19 pandemic because of the scheduled observations in the direct work environment of the ambulance station staff, so the behavioral observations were suspended from March to June 2020. The remainder of the project was adjusted accordingly for this purpose, resulting in a shortening of Phase 1 (intervention phase) of the data collection. The collected data of the intervention phase showed that the relative percentage of safe behavior for all items of the checklist, under the use of the SMO intervention, increased from 52.10% to 76.05% at one of the rescue stations and from 56.82% to 76.23% at the other rescue station. In Phase 2, which began in November 2020, the functions of observing safe behavior and providing feedback were taken over by the employees themselves, in order to achieve permanence and independence of the BBS measures and the behavioral changes they achieved. However, due to the pandemic, external observations were again not possible from November 2020 to June 2021. Follow-up observations completed in July and August 2021 indicated that the behavioral changes achieved (without further intervention influence) appeared to be sustained.
    In summary, it could be concluded that BBS could be successfully transferred to the field of emergency medical services after appropriate individual adaptation. A prerequisite for successful transfer is that behavioral observations and feedback-giving are reliably carried out. In addition, it was shown that BBS can be implemented independently in the area of rescue services, but that the continuation and independence of the BBS measure strongly depends on the presence of certain circumstances, including the involvement of the employees in the rescue stations in decision-making processes and the active commitment of the management.

More Information on the Progress of this Research Project can be found here.