5 frequently asked questions about Safety Culture

Some Frequently Asked Questions About Safety Culture.

1. What does Safety Culture mean?

According to the ACSNI Human Factors Study Group,definition of safety cultureis:

"[…] the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, the organization's health and safety management."

While organizational culture refers to the general culture of the whole organization, safety culture is only one aspect of organizational culture. For safety culture to develop, a strong and healthy organizational culture is required: a culture aligned with the company’s overall values and objectives.

Indeed, companies with a positive safety culture treat safety as a responsibility of both the collective and the individual. Safety attitudes and behaviors are encouraged from the top of an organization to the bottom through the leadership and role modeling of supervisors, managers, and the C-suite.

Employees across the company also feel they are taking part in a dialogue about safety through regular training on the importance of health and safety.

2. Does safety culture hinder or promote productivity?

At some point, all of us have to attend a health and safety briefing or a dry training session while overloaded with information.

Unfortunately, safety is dismissed by many workers with a skeptical attitude: it is often regarded as a compulsory exercise one must appear positive about, and as having little meaning in their daily work.

Moreover, in negative safety cultures, workers tend to bypass safety measures they feel may hinder their productivity.

In such cultures, there is often broad consensus that deadlines and commercial interests should take precedence over safety measures.

Although addressing workplace health and safety issues can be costly and time-consuming, a positive safety culture yields many business benefits:

• Enhance employee morale
• Increase employee productivity
• Accident / minimal injury
• Improve employee retention
• A stronger organizational reputation

In this respect, a positive safety culture is not only a legal requirement: it also helps businesses raise productivity and improve their profits.

3. What are the top 5 components of Safety Culture?

• Contact information:Regular communication should be carried out across the organization to alert employees to safety messages. There should also be a safety board that is updated frequently.
• Training:All employees must be trained regularly on Health and Safety procedures and policies. Steps also need to be taken to monitor the effectiveness of the training. Any gap or inconsistency needs to be addressed through further training or one-to-one support.
• Leadership from the top:Leaders at every level of the organization — team leaders, supervisors, managers, and C-suite executives — value safety and model safe behaviors for other employees. This encourages other employees to buy in, because safety culture has taken root in the company’s culture from the top.
• Hazard reporting:The company encourages employees to feel comfortable reporting hazards. A clear process for doing so is set out for employees through the Safety Committee and the employee intranet. Every reported hazard must be handled quickly and effectively. When hazards are handled properly, this reinforces the organization’s reporting culture.
• Engaging employees in the decision-making process:Employees' support for the safety culture grows when an organization gives them the opportunity to contribute views to decisions on workplace safety policies, training, and procedures.

4. At which level of the organization must safety culture implementation begin?

The employer's legal obligation is to manage the health and safety of employees in their organization. In this respect, employees do not have a responsibility to take preventive measures to stay safe at the workplace.

Instead, creating a safety culture must be guided – legitimately – from the highest level of an organization's hierarchy.

Theo Regulations on Health and Safety Management in the Workplace, the minimum you must do is:

• Implement measures to identify hazards
• Decide the likelihood that someone may be harmed in the workplace and, if so, how serious the impact may be
• Implement measures to eliminate hazards or mitigate risks

Beyond these minimum requirements, however, leaders at every level of the organization play an important role in promoting a positive safety culture through regular Health and Safety training, internal campaigns and, importantly, leading by example.

5. Does Safety Culture include mental health?

Yes, certainly! By law, the employer is responsible for assessing the risk arising from work-related stress and ensuring that appropriate measures are taken to address every risk and protect employees.

Why is it important? Preventing stress delivers valuable business benefits:

• Prevent poor health
• Reduce employee absenteeism
• Boost morale
• Drive productivity

HSEadvise that both employers and employees take proactive steps to recognize the signs of stress in themselves and in others. They say it is important to identify and treat stress in its early stage, because that is when it can be managed and controlled more easily.

Indeed, mental health is increasingly recognized by business leaders as a core aspect of organizational safety culture, and it is also important.

Compared with physical health. To create a positive safety and health culture, managers must promote a culture in which employees feel they can be honest and open about mental health.