Behavioral Safety in a Dental Surgery

According to an analysis from Business Insider (based on data from the Occupational Information Network, a US Department of Labor database) the jobs of dentists, dental surgeons, and dental assistants are the most damaging to health. Employees in this field are exposed to contaminants and to disease and infections. Another health risk is the time spent sitting and in ergonomically unsafe postures. In the current study, a checklist with critical behaviors and behavioral products (results of behaviors) was used to assess the level of safety in a dental surgery with seven employees. After baseline observations and task clarification, verbal and graphical feedback, goal setting and tangible reinforcers were used to improve the safety related behaviors of the employees. For all items on the checklist, the %safe during baseline was 79.57%. During intervention, the mean %safe was 88.88%, whereupon the final level was 95%. Follow-Up observations showed a decline in %safe after the feedback ended. Three of the four partial indices of the checklist showed improvements of 12% to 33% in %safe.