Corporate Safety Culture
Corporate safety culture is a critical factor in preventing workplace incidents. It is accepted that an organisation with a positive culture of safety is likely to be more effective in incident prevention. A positive safety culture alone is not enough to achieve Zero Harm, but if complemented by a robust Health and Safety Management Systems and incentives it is impactful.
What is Corporate Safety Culture?
A culture is the result of a set of core values and behaviours. Corporate Safety Culture can be part of the overall culture of the organisation that affects the attitudes, behaviours and beliefs of its members and sets safety as the priority.
It can be further expressed as:
- Norms and policies related to safety.
- Joint values, attitudes, competencies and behaviours towards safety.
- Organisational commitment, style and proficiency of a safety programme.
- Communication and engagement practices on safety matters.
It extends to consider the psychological engagement of employees regarding:
- Feelings and attitudes towards safety and management systems.
- Employee behaviour and actions.
- Situational response to organisational polices, systems, procedures.
The culture of an organisation can be a very difficult asset to change. Even more, a strong positive safety culture once achieved can be difficult to maintain. Yet it is accepted that creating a positive safety culture has the most significant impact when reducing the number of workplace incidents and injuries in the workplace.
How to Create a Positive Safety Culture?
Leadership from the Top – Support through the provision of resources as well as walking the talk please a big part in influencing the attitudes of the employees. If management regularly and consistently engage employees on safety related topics such as reporting on incidents, hazard identification, investigation outcomes, completion of actions, employees are more likely to get on board.
Communication – The desired culture must be communicated consistently and well spelt out. Do not assume that the implied intentions will be understood. Formalised communication is more likely to be accepted. A good example of such communication is the Policy Statement and Policy Manual that outline the beliefs, expectations and requirements of an organisation.
Training and Coaching – An important conduit to culture change. It is one thing to say work safely or practice best practices. But these must be defined and taught. With the diverse backgrounds that employees come from as well as the outside influences, training not only informs but also imparts consistency across the organisation.
Incident Reporting – Employees must be comfortable in reporting incidents, whether they are involved or witnessed. Implementing a reporting system is the best means of influencing the safety culture of an organisation. However, you are likely to win employees over by emphasising that the incident reporting and investigation process is not about apportioning blame, but it is about identifying the root cause and most importantly determining appropriate actions to prevent reoccurrence.
Celebrate the Good – It is always important to recognise employees that demonstrate and go above and beyond when it comes to safety. Equally so there must be group recognition in the positives and success of the organisation. For example, a drop in Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR). Take care not to influence bad behaviours due to offered incentives.
Trust, Respect and Confidence – Workers must be able to speak up on safety without fear of retaliation and retribution. Respect for one another at all levels builds confidence and comfort. Were safe behaviours are observed workers should be encouraged to recognise and praise others.
Disciplinary Action – Were serious breaches to safety are made, appropriate disciplinary action must be undertaken. It is fair to say, fear of being disciplined tends to drive unwanted behaviours such as not reporting incidents, not telling the full story of what transpired, nn cooperation and resistance to change. This works against the culture an organisation may be trying to establish. Setting the ground rules and ensuring engagement and consistency brings understanding to the importance of disciplinary action amongst the work force.
A strong safety culture is created when all employees and contractors are actively engaged in upholding the set standards. They recognise safe behaviours and equally so will stop unsafe behaviours.
Positive corporate safety culture stimulates
In an organisation with a strong safety culture, everyone must be comfortable with communicating and contributing on safety. The behaviours that would be observable in such an organisation include:
- Reporting of hazards, near misses and incidents.
- Compliance to safety rules and procedures.
- Positive behaviour towards safety.
- Reduction in unsafe acts.
- Management commitment to safety.
- A sense of belonging and togetherness.
A positive safety culture in an organisation is a key conduit to achieving Zero Harm.
If you would like to know more, contact us at Fanira. We are here to help.