Answers to many common questions relating to the PEER® process itself are below. 

Does PEER® perform Miracles?

Answer: Not quite! Like all processes, the effort put into PEER® is proportional to the rewards received. If it is treated as a “flavor-of-the-month program or magic pill that will cure all safety ills, it probably won’t deliver the dramatic results that it is capable of. If it is treated as a sustainable long-term process that is designed to help improve peoples safety behavior and the company’s safety culture, dramatic incident reductions can be achieved in a relatively short-time frame.

What is the main focus of PEER®?

Answer: To improve safety performance by helping people work safely and by eliminating system issues that lead people to behave unsafely. The peer-to-peer conversations following an observation are categorized by Users into either personal, system or environmental root causes, highlighting specific areas of concern.

How regularly are PEER® observations and conversations done?

Answer: Evidence shows frequent safety observations and conversations lead to a much bigger impact on safety performance. Recognizing that not everyone can do these daily, we recommend two observations and conversations per trained person, per week. 

Who should be involved in making PEER® safety observations and conversations?

Answer: PEER® observers are managers, supervisors and employees. The more the involvement of all three levels, the greater the impact on safety performance.

What is the goal of the PEER® observations and conversations?

Answer: The goal of the PEER® process is to recognize and reinforce good safety performance when it is observed, to encourage people to continue to work safely. People will occasionally be seen working unsafely. Using coaching, support or stopping-the-job, the PEER® process is designed to help people work safely when observed performance is not what is expected. The conversations following an observation help to pinpoint the factors that led to the unsafe behaviors so they can be eliminated. In this way, unsafe behaviors are converted to safe behaviors, which in turn improves safety performance as this helps people avoid injuries and incidents.

How do you know PEER® is making a difference?

Answer: Performance feedback is based on the principle of “to use it is to make it useful”. The PEER® administrator(s) can examine the data in many ways to provide feedback to people about on-going performance. For example, by examining improvement trends by sites, site locations, by categories of behavior, by root causes, by the number of potential serious injuries & fatalities (SIFs), by the number of outstanding or completed corrective actions, etc. These can be obtained in tabular or graphical formats, or by downloading data into excel spreadsheets and creating customized reports. The data can be used to [a] re-focus observations and conversations on specific issues; [b] highlight and eliminate system faults that are leading to unsafe behavior(s), or [c] track the number of corrective actions being completed.

What are the potential blockages to success?

Answer: Common blockages to success include [a] not having dedicated PEER® process owners (e.g. administrators, steering committee, etc.) to drive improvements, ensure regular feedback to managers and employees, and maintain people’s enthusiasm; [b] not providing proper safety observation and conversation training to site personnel; [c] insufficient number of safety observations and conversations; [d] not recognizing and addressing wider operational issues blocking people’s participation; [e] not completing follow-up corrective actions; [f] not assessing the impact on actual safety performance (e.g. number of incidents and injuries); and [g] not celebrating successes.

Can we enter PEER® data using smart phones and tablets?

Answer: YES. Because PEER® safety software is a web-based application, people can use smart phones / tablets or office computers to enter data. This means people can enter data while in the field or in the office.

What kind of data can PEER® collect and store?

Answer: PEER^® has a standardized data entry card that collects information on consequence management, behavioral categories of concern, precursors, exposure categories, and types of impact for potential Serious Injuries and Fatalities, various root cause categories, and immediate and follow-up corrective actions. Users, and their designated sites and locations are also stored.

PEER^® also contains the means to develop specific behavioral checklists for senior, middle and front-line management safety commitment leadership behaviors, employee safety behaviors, audit questions and inspection criteria. This allows everyone to be involved in the improvement process, as the checklists can be developed to cover any activity. 

Who has access to PEER® and what can they see?

Answer: Only those people you have designated as “Users” have access to PEER^® safety software. Normal “Users” have limited access to the data. Each User has their own separate account, and they can see everything they have ever entered. They cannot see what other “Users” have entered. PEER^® software Administrators can see the aggregated data for all ‘Users”, monitor trends and drill-down into the data if they wish. It is up to you to determine who has administrator access or those who are simply a normal “User”.

Who enters the data?

Answer: Anyone in your Company who does safety observations, and has been given access rights. We do not do data entry for you. That is your people’s responsibility. Most “Users” have been trained to observe and discuss safety, and are aware of what they are looking for. In some companies, untrained “Users” have been able to successfully enter data as PEER^® is so easy to use and is intuitive.

Some companies who have been using other Behavioral-Based Safety type software packages have switched to PEER® as it is so “User” friendly, and provides the means for more extensive analysis of the data.

Is PEER® safety software easy to use?
Answer: Yes. We have specifically designed it to be ‘user friendly’. The software is easy to use and understand. Users login and access the ‘data entry’ screen via a ‘tab’ and record their findings and save. It takes a few minutes depending on the depth of detail they enter. Users can also view their previous records and update or close out their corrective actions.

Does the 'Administrator' require training?
Answer: No. The software is intuitive and can be learnt in a few minutes. However, some Administrators like to be trained in data interpretation. Help Manuals are available for both Administrators and Users, as well as help files being embedded within the online application.

Is the number of Users limited?
Answer: No. We do not limit the number of users from a licensed site. In other words, everyone on site can use it. 

Can BSMS provide ‘Safety Leadership’ training to our people?
Answer: Yes. We can train as many people in your company as you desire. Simply contact us to make the appropriate arrangements. 

All companies are concerned about what is required from their IT departments, and about the security of our application. We broadly address these issues below. 

Do our IT department have to do anything to install PEER®?

Answer: No. They only need to give “Users” access to the internet (perhaps via a dedicated computer if there are restrictions on internet usage by employees).

Will PEER® compromise the security of our IT network?

Answer: No. PEER® is hosted on our HTTPS servers, and is delivered through the Web. PEER® does not host any information that could be used to break into your network and servers. It simply stores safety data.

Who owns the data?

Answer: You Do! We're just custodians. We simply make and maintain the vehicle that gets you from A to B.

How secure is the data?

Answer: Very. We have adopted and initiated a multiple ‘defense in depth’ philosophy to ensure your data is secure.

Is there a data-back-up service?

Answer: Yes. We automatically keep a 30 day rolling back-up of all data. Should something go wrong, we can quickly restore your data. 

Can we expand  capability as our company grows?

Answer. Yes: We can add additional site licenses as the need arises, for the appropriate site license fees.

What charges are there for Upgrades?

Answer: None. Everyone benefits from our continuous improvement activities that come from our own experiences, or added-value suggestions from clients. Additional features or tweaks are installed quietly behind the scenes, with administrators informed of developments on the admin portal page.

Can PEER® be adapted to suit our company’s specific circumstances?

Answer: In principle, Yes. We have programmed bespoke versions of PEER® for clients to suit their particular circumstances. We work with the client to identify the specific changes required, agree a project plan with milestones, and provide regular updates. Programming time is charged.

Can we purchase the PEER® Source Code and host it internally?

Answer: POTENTIALLY: For large organizations desiring to use PEER® in all of its facilities, it is possible to purchase a “one-time” non-exclusive license so your company may host the software on its own Internal IT Servers (license restrictions apply). Details available on request. 

Described by a major client as a 'Game Changer', the following provides more detail about PEER® safety software.

Why did BSMS develop PEER®?

Answer: After 20 years of Behavior-Based Safety experience, the initial idea came from working with clients to capture observation and discussion data to enhance their safety leadership processes. In 2007 we worked with SHELL on the Corrib project in Ireland, where we used paper cards and an excel spreadsheet. Later, we worked for EPCOR in Canada, who suggested we develop the software to make the whole process more efficient by removing the need for paper and pencil cards, and handing them in for data-entry. They wanted their people to enter the data directly into the software to reduce the time, money and effort involved. By the end of 2009, using in-house programmers, PEER® safety software was born.

How has PEER® evolved?

Answer: Our first version, using the PEER® card containing common behavior and discussion categories was used by Petrochemical, Oil & Gas, and Metal Refining in the Middle-East and elsewhere. Based on client feedback, significant upgrades were made over the next couple of years.

·         In 2013 BSMS incorporated the causes and correlates of Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIFs) into the PEER® card.

·         In 2015 we added the means to monitor the main types of Human Error (Failures in Planning, Failures in Execution and Behavioral Choices) as Root Causes.

·         In 2016 we developed PEER® to also cater for both traditional BBS process checklists that encompass specific senior, middle and front-line management behaviors, people’s safety behaviors, audit questions and inspection criteria, as well as the normal PEER® card.

Industries adopting PEER now include Construction, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Shipping and Utilities, As we go forward, BSMS is keen to ensure PEER® harnesses new safety thinking to help ensure companies can reach and maintain zero incidents.