Some Thoughts About Energy-Based Safety

I’ve been reading the book Energy-Based Safety: A Scientific Approach to Preventing Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIFs)¹ as well as a few recent articles by Matthew Hallowell and thought I’d share a few impressions. 

Overall, EBS is compelling because it grounds SIF prevention in scientific research while offering practical tools that can be strengthened further through a clearer understanding of human behavior.

This review considers four connected strengths of the book: its scientific foundation, its treatment of hazard recognition, its focus on controls for high-energy hazards, and the opportunity to integrate behavior science more explicitly into EBS practice.

Rather than providing a detailed recap, I’ll simply tell you what I liked about the book and some possible jumping off points the book prompted during my reading.

Scientific Foundation

The title, or subtitle in this case, captures what I see as key feature of the approach and the book: EBS is based on scientific, peer-reviewed research about SIF prevention. And in this vein, Hallowell is relentless about the need to standardize definitions of terms to gain consensus in the field, including  serious in the acronym SIF, energy controls, both direct and alternative, and change that should prompt someone to exercise their stop work authority. Without agreement on terminology and how certain phenomena are being measured, there can be no meaningful path forward that allows for effective communication or replication of findings in research or practice. 

I also appreciated that Hallowell is transparent about the primary influences that serve as the foundation of his approach. Hallowell cites the work of Gibson and Haddon (i.e., injuries result from the transfer of energy) and Conklin (i.e., Human and Organizational Performance or HOP) and Hollnagel (i.e., Safety II). If readers are familiar with these sources, then the direction Hallowell takes may be better understood, and Hallowell shares this early in the book. 

The book itself is laid out in two parts, the first being the theoretical foundation of EBS, including its four core principles and associated topics (e.g., definition of terms, recognizing hazards, the energy wheel, direct and alternative controls). The second part provides the reader with guidance in the practice of EBS, with an emphasis on integrating EBS into existing activities such as pre-job briefs. Finally, Hallowell closes out with some tips and take-aways. 

Here are other standouts that I really liked about the book.

Hazard Recognition

In Part I, Hallowell dedicates a chapter to hazard recognition, explaining the research in this area and framing hazard recognition as fundamental to EBS. I agree that hazard recognition deserves more attention. In the work we do at ADI, hazard recognition comes up regularly as a skill gap for people at all organizational levels and as an overlooked piece of many organizations’ Safety Management Systems (SMSs). In my experience, hazard recognition skills vary greatly across individuals, and guidance for safety professionals is lacking. 

The energy wheel tool is also included in this chapter. I’ve seen the wheel deployed across several client organizations with varying outcomes. Just because some clients have reported more success than others with the energy wheel in no way diminishes its value in improving hazard recognition when implemented well (e.g., training and follow-up in the field). This could be said of any tool when it’s used properly or poorly. In fact, I’ve shared some of Hallowell’s research in this area with safety professionals, which they’ve found helpful.

Controls and Human Behavior

Another element of the book that really strikes a chord with me is Hallowell’s approach to focusing on high-energy hazards (or the “Stuff that Kills You” or STKY) and his discussion of direct and alternative controls. Hallowell describes the difference between the two types of controls and methods for differentiating whether a control is direct or alternative. What I find most refreshing about this important aspect of EBS (i.e., controls for high-energy hazards) is the acknowledgment from a proponent of HOP that all controls are “vulnerable to mistakes (p.53).” Stated another way, controls rely on human behavior.  Even though one of the criteria for a control to be considered direct vs. alternative is that it must work even when there is human error, Hallowell is clear that mistakes in the design, installation, and verification stages can still limit or cancel out their effectiveness. Controls rely on behavior.

Behavior Science as a Complement

I highlight this point about the critical role of human behavior in EBS because many in the HOP camp seem reluctant to talk about behavior explicitly, or they diminish the central role behavior continues to play in safety (see my article, Context and (not vs.) Behavior, which discusses systems or context and behavior). An ideal complement to HOP and EBS (and any approach to safety) is the science of behavior, which predates these approaches and is more expansive than just its applications to safety. HOP correctly adopts as one of its fundamental principles the idea that context (i.e., environment) influences behavior. The science of behavior fills in the blanks about how the environment affects behavior. And as long as humans are involved at any level (C-suite through frontline) in designing, planning, allocating resources, managing, and doing the work, the science of behavior will continue to offer conceptual and practical advantages to organizations that understand and apply its methods, lessons, and tactics.

Conclusion

In the end, EBS offers a useful and research-based path for improving SIF prevention by helping organizations identify high-energy hazards and strengthen the controls that matter most. Its value may be greatest when paired with behavior science, which can help explain why controls are designed, used, verified, and maintained effectively—or why they are not.

References

¹ Hallowell, M.R. (2026). Energy-based safety: A scientific approach to preventing serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.