When I hear of safety culture, what I means to me as the Author is:
1. The way we do things around here in relation to the attitude, perception, behaviors and actions & control that either make us & the team safer or not.
2. It also reflects the level of relationships, communications, mindset and heart set.
3. It’s what we do in relation to Safety when no-one is watching and, when someone is watching.
4. It is an energy or state that has the above aspects, that can be measured, but is the combination of a number of things above, a bit, like the sound of a band when all the band is together playing. The ‘song’ sounds good or needs some work.
When we talk about Safety culture to staff it is important that we frame it e.g. What I mean by that is…….
How we take personal responsibility…
How we show, visibly, what it means to be safe…. e.t.c.
It is important that the abstract term is defined clearly for staff to have a meaningful outcome.
How “safety culture” came about in the 1970’s.
It originally came from management theory and that organizations had personalities. E.g. What is Shell like? What is IBM like….
What Chernobyl has to do with safety culture?
After Chernobyl it was mandated for the industry to have a ‘safety culture’ and global audits were instigated. The Chernobyl accident was analyzed by the International Atomic Energy Agency‘s International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG):
“INSAG concluded that the need to create and maintain a ‘safety culture’ is a precondition for ensuring nuclear power plant safety. The concept of ‘safety culture’ relates to a very general concept of dedication and personal responsibility of all those involved in any safety related activity at a nuclear power plant.
Inculcation of a safety culture requires that, in training personnel for nuclear plants, particular emphasis be placed on the reasons for the establishment of safety practices and on the consequences in terms of safety of failures on the part of personnel to perform their duties properly. Special emphasis must be placed on the reasons for the establishment of safety limits and the consequences in terms of safety of violating them.
Safety culture presupposes total psychological dedication to safety, which is primarily created by the attitude of the administrative staff of the organizations engaged in the development and operation of nuclear power plants.
In INSAG publications, the concept of safety culture has been extended beyond the purely operational aspects to cover all types of activities at all stages in the lifetime of a nuclear power plant which may affect its safe operation. It even covers the highest spheres of administration, including the legal and governmental ones which, according to the concept, must create a national climate in which attention is paid to nuclear safety on a daily basis.
If the Chernobyl accident is assessed in terms of this safety culture concept, it can be seen that not only those involved in the operational stage lacked an adequate safety culture, but also those involved in other stages of the lifetime of a nuclear power plant (designers, engineers, constructors, equipment manufacturers, ministerial and regulatory bodies, etc.).”
Safety culture vs. safety climate.
You may have heard the term safety climate that is associated with Safety Culture and we offer a simple explanation below:
– Culture is deep seated behaviour, practices and rituals e.g. the ‘Season’
– Climate, is the current state in transition, e.g. what we try to measure and change.e.g. the “Weather this week”
These two concepts are very much linked:
Culture influences climate and Climate influences Culture.
E.g. the tail wagging the dog and the dog wagging the tail.
Climate known?
If you don’t know your safety culture, climate of your business, finding out, using professionals is a great place to start. This is isn’t always a survey, it is engaging with people that can help you understand the underlying beliefs, hearts and minds, the ‘vibe’…….
Three key pillars
Safety management system, Leadership and the Culture ‘vibe’ are three key pillars in Safety management.
And Lastly what it may mean to your business?
– The level of safety performance of your business
– The level of productivity, unsafe businesses are less productive long term.
– The happiness and engagement of your employees and retention
– The cost of not having a strong safety culture has massive implications as we have seen with Chernobyl.
Edward Foord is a Sustainability Strategist at Brisbane’s You3. He has 14 years of national and international experience with large and small businesses.