Director’s Briefing

October 2019

Safety Culture
Organisational culture is the “way things are done” within an organisation. A poor safety culture has been
attributed to the cause of some major accidents. The Chernobyl disaster highlighted the
importance of safety culture and the effect of managerial and human factors on safety
performance. The term ‘safety culture’ was first used in INSAG’s (1986) ‘Summary Report
on the Post-Accident Review Meeting on the Chernobyl Accident’ where safety culture Poor safety culture
was described as:
Staples Disposables had three accidents at
“That assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organizations and individuals which their factory near Grantham. One required
establishes that, as an overriding priority, nuclear plant safety issues receive the attention
the worked to have his left thumb amputated
warranted by their significance.”
after his hand was drawn into and crushed
by rollers of an unguarded machine. A month

Key aspects of an effective safety culture later a worker cut their finger on a napkin
folding machine where the electrical interlock
Management commitment: This commitment produces higher levels of motivation and
had been removed and then a further
focus on health and safety throughout the organisation. This can be seen through the
incident occurred where a worker lost all
proportion of resources (time, money, people) and support allocated to health and safety
management and also by the importance given to health and safety against production, four fingers form their right hand after it was
cost etc. It is important that senior management take an active involvement in the health caught between unguarded rollers. The firm
and safety system. pleaded guilty and was fined a total of £85k
and costs of over £30k. the HSE said that
Visible management: Managers need to be seen to lead by example with health and
the company had a poor safety management
safety. Managers should appear regularly throughout the workplace , talk about health
and safety and demonstrate their commitment by their actions – such as wearing the system and had failed to supervise and
correct PPE, stopping production to resolve issues. It is important that management monitor operations within the factory. The
commitment is sincerely meant, if not, employees will assume that they are expected to judge said that senior managers within the
put commercial interests first. company had been aware of the culture in

Communication between all levels of employee: In a positive culture questions about the company and rebuked it for its poor safe-
health and safety should be part of everyday work conversations. Management should ty record. The HSE had previously served
actively listen to what they are being told by employees, and take it seriously. Improvement Notices on the company,
which had experienced accidents before. He
added there had been a “profit motive” at the
Why safety culture is important company.
There is a direct link between the number of unsafe acts and the number of accidents.
Depending in which studies you look at the relationship of the numbers I different but
Heinrich’s original triangle suggested that there are on average 300 unsafe acts per
accident and recent HSE figures suggest two million unsafe behaviours per fatality. The exact ratio does not
matter though – it is the fact that unsafe acts are an indication that incidents will happen.

“Company values are vital in

setting the direction and tone of
a company’s health and safety
culture”
Safety Culture
Just and fair culture?
A just and fair culture is defined as an environment of trust and fairness where it is d-safe to report and lean form mistakes and system flaws.

A just and fair culture has to be applied with the knowledge that:

• all management systems can be improved

• people can and do make mistakes

• people/groups at all levels may develop unhealthy/unsafe patterns of behaviour, and

• reckless conduct will not be tolerated.

Principles of a just and fair culture:

• balances the need to have a no blame reporting and continuous learning environment (i.e. an environment that is not focused on attributing
blame), with the need to hold persons accountable for their actions

• behaviours may fall below expectation however employees may not always be in the wrong as there may be underlying work culture factors or
system deficiency affecting individual or group decision-making

• recognises that there will be situations where safety behaviours fall below expectation and it provides a managed process (with appropriate
support) for dealing with such issues transparently and equitably

• seeks to improve the overall organisational culture and the safety performance of the organisation by means of behavioural and/or system
modification, also encouraging employees to take greater personal responsibility for their actions

• recognises that firm actions might need to be taken in circumstances where, despite the knowledge of company safety practices and/or clear
instruction given, inappropriate behaviours are still evident.

Safety culture at the Olympic Park

The HSE publication Safety Culture at the Olympic Park describes how the Olympic Park project demonstrated that it was possible to develop high
standards of health and safety and a culture that supports this in the construction sector.

A number of elements contributed to the development of an effective safety culture on the Olympic Park site, including:

• The strategic role of the ODA across the Park, with safety being set as a priority and integrated into the companies from the outset through
standards and requirements.

• The clarity throughout the supply chain of the organisational standards and requirements,
including the desire for cultural alignment (i.e. consistent commitment to the same Health
Safety and Environment standard).

• The empowerment of Tier 1 contractors to develop their own processes and systems to
deliver the ODA’s objectives. The ODA focused on engaging contractors, enabling them to
develop their own good practice and drive their own performance. This allowed contractors
to use and develop their own company processes.

• Recognition of the prestige of working on the Olympic Park and striving for excellence in all
activities, including health and safety.

• The scale of the project and the length of the construction phase meant that there was sufficient time for initiatives to become embedded, and
could be tailored to ensure their efficacy and success.

• Belief by workers in the genuine commitment within organisations, as the message was consistent and reiterated across the Olympic Park over
time.
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