Professional Documents
Culture Documents
0 Introduction
Rapid economic growth has given not only a significant impact in terms of income
distributions and quality of life, but it also resulted in increasing number of accidents at
workplace. In reducing risk at the workplace, Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is an
important aspect. It is a standard which are set in legislation with the aim to eliminate and
reduce hazards at workplace. Besides OSH, the term of ‘SAFETY CULTURE’ is also an
important aspect in reducing risk and accident at workplace
Safety culture is part of the overall culture of an organisation. The term first became
popular following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster when it was suggested that organisations
can reduce accidents and safety incidents by developing a ‘Positive Safety Culture.’ The
notion of safety culture has been used extensively in the oil, gas and energy industries, the
transport sector, aviation and military, amongst others.
Organisations with a positive safety culture have communication based on mutual
trust, shared perceptions of the importance of safety, confidence in the effectiveness of
preventive measures and support for the workforce.
Safety culture incorporates the values and norms and beliefs of a particular company.
Safety culture is a group’s initiatives, actions, exercises, processes, habits, training
and education and relationships, etc., that pool to establish the core principles and
values of the group.
Safety culture is the overall mind set of what folks think about safety on the job site,
that yes, we want to be a safe company.
Safety culture is how people act when nobody’s watching.
Safety culture is a subset of the culture of the organization. It represents not
necessarily well articulated expressions of how and why things are done within the
organization.
The safety culture of an organization is 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. Organizations with a positive safety culture are characterized by
Understand your
culture
Find believers,
people willing to try
DO IT
13 strategies that will move safety culture forward in a positive direction. The 13 elements
that will be explored are:
Workplace systems are defined as those elements of the workplace that are
not specifically designed to have an impact on safety but are obviously very important
to the safety performance of any place of work. Workplace systems that impact safety
include such component as housekeeping, preventative maintenance, workflow and
product distribution, and staffing levels. Although these elements are not established
specifically for workplace safety, their impact on safety and safety culture is
undeniable.
Specifically, if a store has poor housekeeping the likelihood of slip, trip, and
falls for both associates and customers increases significantly. If a store has poor
staffing levels then both customer service and safety can be negatively impacted.
Employees are tempted to lift more and are less likely to seek help if they are working
When employees are empowered they believe that they have the ability to
meaningfully contribute to the success of safety in the workplace. This concept is the
polar opposite of “Employee Engagement” as employee engagement describes the
willingness of employees to make a difference to the safety process. Employee
empowerment evaluates the ability that employees have to contribute to the safety of
the workplace in a manner that makes a real and profound difference.
It is important to also recognise that barriers exist to achieving long term cultural
change. Here are some examples to the barriers to effective change:
a) Employees
• Time and funds
• Job feedback
• Healthy and safe work environments
• Improved scheduling
• Control over workloads
• 2-way communication
b) Employers
• Increased capabilities
• Improved productivity
• Reduced costs
• Reduced turnover
• Higher trust
• Higher commitment
• Good reputation
7.0 Conclusion
Safety culture is now generally accepted as a “good thing” to have, and there is a
growing consensus about the main features of a positive safety culture. The links between
safety culture and organisational and occupational accidents are becoming increasingly clear.
A local plant’s safety culture is likely to be influenced by national cultural differences, but
this does not mean incoming organisations cannot develop their own safety cultures. Rather,
they will have to take into account existing national cultural influences as they develop their
own. There are a range of methods available to assess safety culture. A reciprocal relationship
exists between safety culture, behavioural safety and team working. Behavioural safety and
team working both can support the development of a mature safety culture with high levels of
employee involvement. Similarly a strong safety culture allows team working and
behavioural safety to flourish.
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