Diverse Problems Call for Diverse Analyses and Interventions in Behavioral Safety

Boyce and Geller (2001) have set their teeth firmly into one of the most critical issues in organizational behavior management (not just behavioral safety)the durability of intervention-generated effects. As the authors illustrate, the implications of this issue for behavior analysts cover both conceptual and empirical terrain . . . and it is a rich and varied terrain indeed! The issue of maintenance also has implications for our applied work with consumers of behavioral safety. Management interventions abound in the industrial/organizational marketplace. Some persist, based on their merits, while others disappear, branded as ‘‘fads.’’ What outcomes will ensure that behavioral safety thrives as a respected force in occupational safety and health? Response maintenance is certainly one. Boyce and Geller proposed a conceptual foundation for understanding response maintenance and reviewed a subset of the extant literature on behavioral safety interventions, including only studies in which the interventions were withdrawn. My hat is off to the authors for this important undertaking, but I also believe that the analysis of response maintenance is a more complex undertaking than is implied in the paper. Diverse safety problems and organizational contexts should cause us to draw on our full complement of behavior analytic skills for conceptualizing and promoting response maintenance. My comments address three specific topics: (a) the definition of mainte-