Is safety culture a result of the environment we work in or the behaviour of those who work within it?

The term ‘culture of safety’ or ‘safety culture’ was introduced after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. The International Atomic Energy Agency identified a “poor safety culture” as a contributing factor.

Since then, a number of definitions of safety culture have been published. The U.K. Health and Safety Commission developed one of the most commonly used definitions of safety culture: “The product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organization’s health and safety management.”

Most companies have a safety culture that is the result of the training, attitudes, behaviour, and enforcement. However; is it enhancing the health and safety of the worker or is it promoting poor behaviour and adding to the risk factors on site?

Although there is some uncertainty in defining safety culture, there is no uncertainty over the relevance or importance of the concept. Safety culture is an important concept that forms the environment within which individual safety attitudes develop and persist and positive safety behaviours are promoted.

How do we go about developing and implementing a safety culture in the workplace? By determining what the company safety culture should be in terms of commitment, trust, benchmarks, training and implementation.

Key Factors:

Buy-in: The organization must establish a shared vision of health and safety goals and objectives vs. production. Management must be willing to support by providing time resources, and holding managers and supervisors accountable for doing the same. The entire management and supervisory staff need to set the example and lead the change. It is more about leadership than management.

Trust is a critical part of accepting change and management needs to know that this is the bigger picture, outside of all the details. Trust will occur as different levels within the organization work together and begin to see success.

Self-assessment: Utilization of program and tools already in our industry can provide effective means of benchmarking. A variety of self-audit mechanisms can be employed to compare site processes with other recognized models such as the COR or SECOR programs supported by certifying partners and Alberta Occupational Health and Safety.

Training and leadership: Provide health and safety training and any needed management, team building, hazard recognition, or communication training, etc. This creates a core group of people to draw upon as resources and also gets key personnel on board with needed changes.

Safety management system: This is the development of key policies, goals, measures, and strategic and operational plans. These policies provide guidance when determining if a new product or process can detract from the intended safety and health improvement process. This system is a living document that is a key factor in the ongoing development and improvement of the organization’s safety culture.

Accountability and enforcement: Development of an ongoing feedback system that measures compliance is important in evaluating the effectiveness of your system. Developing the expectation that all employees, despite position or job description, comply with the safety system and are accountable for their areas of responsibility is critical.

Communication to all levels of the organization: It is important to continually measure performance, communicate results, and celebrate successes. Publicizing results is very important to sustaining efforts and keeping everyone motivated. Everyone needs to be updated throughout the process.

The dissenting voice will come through at these times. Everyone needs to have a voice otherwise they will be reluctant to buy-in. It is imperative to address the voice and find a solution that all agree upon.

On-going support: Reinforcement, feedback, reassessment and on-going training is vital to sustaining continuous improvement. Remember a proactive program is much more effective than a reactive one.

A company with a strong safety culture typically experiences fewer at-risk behaviours, and consequently they also experience lower accident rates. This in turn also results in less absenteeism, and higher productivity.

Creating a safety culture takes time. It is frequently a multi-year process. Employer and employee commitment are hallmarks of a true safety culture where safety is proven an integral part of daily operations.

Keep in mind that any process that brings all levels within the organization together, to work on a common goal of high value, will strengthen the organizational culture.

Georgina Nicholls is an occupational health and safety practitioner. She holds a Professional Gold Seal Safety Coordinator Designation and has over a decade of experience in residential and commercial construction. She currently is employed with Stepper Custom Homes Inc. She can be reached at gnicholls@stepperhomes.com