Are you just ticking the box on the checklist?

Are you just ticking the box?

Why take the time to observe the desired behaviour when you can audit a completed checklist?

These days there are more 'things' that we demand of our staff than ever before.

52% of all workers are feeling burned out, up +9% from a pre-COVID survey.

Construction supervisors are being asked to complete numerous checklists and briefing records, far more than in previous years.

As the workload mounts, the pressure pushes behaviour towards the quickest, minimal compliance result. Work must still be done.

The box ticked becomes the behaviour, rather than the check that it was intended to prompt.

The tick boxer knows that they haven't physically carried out the check but rationalises their decision by telling themselves that everything is ok, and it was yesterday so it will be today.

The safety dude comes along and audits the completed check list and all is declared ok.

The tick boxing behaviour is reinforced more than the physical checking / inspection behaviour.

As more forms and procedures are introduced, so too is the pressure to do the quickest, easiest pseudo-proof that everything is ok.