Focusing on human behaviour to improve safety performance has been successful within ExxonMobil. It shifts the focus of prevention away from unsafe conditions to unsafe activities (i.e. behaviours). Recent research indicates that 90% of incident root causes are related to work behaviour while only 10% are related to work conditions. So this behaviour-based approach focuses primarily on the 90%.

We have found that by adding this behavioural element to safety programs, new impetus can be created towards continuous improvement in safety performance. For example, the chart below illustrates how this has helped our road vehicle performance (1993-2004).