The enforcement gap
Relying on punishment suppresses reporting. The organisation stops seeing its weak signals until something serious happens.
OBM Programme · for operations, HSE and site leaders
The Rule-Safety ParadoxWhen compliance becomes an operational liability
More rules, tighter audits and more retraining have stopped making sites safer. Organisational Behaviour Management shows why, and gives leaders a practical way to change what actually happens on the workfloor, without blame.
Diagnosis
The management failure of "more"
The standard response to incidents is more rules, more audits and more retraining. In high-hazard operations that has reached diminishing returns: people end up managing paperwork instead of hazards. Leaders then hit a safety plateau.
Compliance fatigue
People prioritise completing the paperwork over spotting the hazard in front of them.
The cost of failure
Time and money go into reactive investigations and box-ticking that never shift behaviour on the floor.
The illusion of control
Leaders steer on clean audit data while practice quietly drifts away from procedure.
Blame culture
Fear-based policing erodes trust, drives good people away and hides the real risks.
Solution
A different control architecture: OBM
Organisational Behaviour Management applies behavioural science to how work is really done. It explains why people act the way they do at work, and how leaders can influence that deliberately, without blame, policing or extra bureaucracy. It is measurable, and it starts with the leaders.
A
Antecedent
What comes before: procedures, instructions, toolbox talks, signs. It triggers behaviour.
B
Behaviour
What people actually do, described so concretely you could film it.
C
Consequence
What follows: attention, recognition, criticism, nothing at all. It determines whether the behaviour comes back.
20% × 20% × 20% = 0.8%
Most effort goes into antecedents rather than consequences, into correcting rather than reinforcing, and into material rather than social rewards. Multiply the three and organisations get behaviour change right in a tiny fraction of cases.
Source: the KrsKrt "business = BEHAVIOR" course card, KoersKaart with OBM Dynamics.- Behaviour is triggered by what comes before, but determined by what comes after.
- Over time, positive reinforcement changes behaviour more than forcing, punishing or ignoring.
- Timely, sincere recognition from the direct supervisor works better than money.
- Consequences work best when they are immediate and certain.
Programme
From one hour to lasting change
Start with the free briefing. Bring your team to the masterclass. Build real capability with the foundation course. Delivered in the Netherlands, Europe and the GCC, in person or at your site.
Executive Briefing
Free
60 minutes online with both experts. The case for OBM in operational language.
- The ABC model on real site examples
- Why punitive control plateaus
- Leading indicators you can observe
The Consequence Gap
€1,495 per person, excl. VAT
An interactive day in small groups, built around a guided course card and two industrial cases.
- Up to 16 participants
- Leave with a 30-day plan for one team
- Certificate of attendance
Site Masterclass
On request
The masterclass for your own leadership team, at your site, with a guided observation walk.
- Tailored to your operation
- Assessor and committee sessions on request
OBM Foundation
€2,250 per person, excl. VAT
The full method, with book and exam, taught by the developer of the OBM Foundation training.
- Analysis, measurement, reinforcement
- Accredited exam via Trigono, an APMG International Accredited Training Organisation
- Practitioner track to follow
Prices exclude VAT. Travel and accommodation outside the trainers' home country are charged at cost. Group and in-company rates on request.
Inside the masterclass
A day of doing, not listening
Tables of up to eight work through a guided course card: they specify behaviour, analyse it with the ABC model, and rebuild consequences. In the afternoon the lessons meet real operations.
Played with the KrsKrt® course card "business = BEHAVIOR"
© KoersKaart, developed with OBM Dynamics and partners. Used unchanged under the Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0 licence.
- The audit question: what does your site really reinforce?
- Course card, part 1: specifying behaviour, the ABC model, four ways to influence
- Course card, part 2: rewarding, pitfalls and lessons, practising
- Case: permit to work during a petrochemical turnaround
- Case: behaviour in a logistics yard
- Leaders get observed too: feedback without blame
- Your 30-day reinforcement plan
Our no-blame commitment
Behavioural observation is for learning, never for discipline. Every programme we deliver starts from that rule, and we help leaders prove it on the floor, not just on paper.
About us
The science and the reality
Robert and Amador joined forces around one question: why do traditional safety rules keep failing despite heavy investment? The answer needed a bridge between behavioural science and frontline industrial reality.
The science · Trigono
Robert den Broeder
Founder of Trigono (since 2007) and certified OBM trainer and coach. Robert developed the OBM Foundation training and co-authored Organizational Behavior Management, een introductie. His style: practical, visual and without jargon, with room for your own cases.
The reality · Technique Works
Amador Brinkman
Founder of Technique Works, with more than 20 years in HSEQ leadership across high-risk industries in the GCC and Europe. Amador helps leaders move safety from a staff function into the core of operations.
"Together we move safety from an administrative burden to an operational strength."
Join us
Reserve your place at the next briefing
Free, online, 60 minutes. We send the date, the joining link and the "3 main pitfalls" briefing note.
- For operations directors, HSE managers and site leaders
- Petrochemical, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and logistics
- Places are limited so everyone can ask questions