Over 100 people attended Costain's Behavioural Safety Conference in Leamington.

This is the 3rd time the conference has taken place.

Attendees ranged from internal staff, external clients and guests from across a range of industry sectors. Delegates listened to a wide range of presentations, each bringing a new and unique blend of behavioural science to the event.

The theme, 'Staying Ahead of the Game', saw each presenter share their tools, knowledge and expertise to help stamp behavioural science into project and site management.

Guests such as Drax and Jaguar Land-Rover attended the event, representing some of the country's biggest employers. Alan Cheung, Director of Behavioural Management for Costain, explained that not only does the company use behavioural science on its own projects, but undertakes consultancy work for external organisations.


A 5 year pilot programme began in 2006 investigating using behavioural science, which increased significantly in 2010.

Mr Cheung said: "We were delighted to host this year’s free event for an ever-increasing number of people. It’s a testament to the team and to some of the fantastic site projects that we are increasingly attracting other companies to our events, many of whom are expressing genuine interest in our approach to safety and management."

Investigations into using behavioural science started as long ago as 2006 with a five-year pilot programme, and really got underway in 2010. While it was difficult to say definitively that behavioural management had been directly responsible for the continuing reduction in site accidents or incidents, there had been a reduction in both the number and severity of accidents since the programme got underway, said Alan.

The conference inspired positive feedback from several participants. One delegate said: "I really enjoyed being around like-minded people, inspirational people within our business, so networking and general discussions were my favourite parts of the day."

With the event growing ever larger, both in audience numbers and presenters, the behavioural management team is using delegate feedback to ensure the conference improves from year to year.

Mr Cheung said: "Feedback from delegates is warmly welcomed and will help to ensure we continue to stay ahead of the game."

(LM/CD)