ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the emergence of process safety management as a method for preventing industrial disasters is in part a realization that safety is a behavioral phenomenon. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration promulgated the standard titled Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals in 1990 to prevent the catastrophic release of hazardous chemicals. Illustrating some of the basic behavioral processes that account for process safety failures is one way to establish the relevancy of behavior analysis to process safety. Linking behavioral accounts of cultural practices with process safety, which inherently goes beyond personal safety, is a good opportunity for academics, researchers, and professionals in the behavioral sciences to make important contributions to how safety culture is conceptualized, assessed, and influenced. The successes of behavior analysis in improving the human condition in many different arenas suggest similar promises for improving the safety and well-being of workers.
