Safety Culture Plus

While climate is difficult to define, it is easy to see and feel. According to Dan Petersen, “Probably the best definition I’ve ever heard on culture came from a worker I interviewed who stated, "Culture is the way it is around here". It’s the unwritten rules of the ballgame that the organization is playing. Culture is what everybody knows, and therefore it does not have to be stated or written down."

Safety climate reflects if safety is perceived by all employees to be a "key value" in the organization. The term "climate" and "culture" are both used here. The question is: has a safety climate (culture) been created that is conducive to adopting safe work attitudes and habits?

The concept of culture had been around long before "In Search of Excellence" was published. Dr. Rensis Likert wrote a book called "The Human Organization," where he described his research on "trying to" understand the difference in "styles" of different companies, and how these "styles" affected the bottom line. Dr. Likert coined the term "Organizational Climate”. We now call it culture.

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As the change process continues, personal successes become more apparent. Injuries will decrease and attitudes will become more positive. This is where employees begin to understand the change. Observable behaviors indicate a change in the norms. Employee participation increases. Companies begin to move from a reactive to a proactive state, with increasing enthusiasm for safety. One important thing to remember is that management needs to be aware that newly developed safety management systems are very fragile and can be damaged easily. Step out of line one time and you will have to prove you self again.

Note: You can 100 things right and one thing wrong, what are people going to remember?

Constant attention is needed to unsure that the right values (not priorities) are being promoted and demonstrated. As this new way of thinking and acting about safety takes hold, stronger roots take hold. If nurtured with positive emotions, the safety management system continues to grow, expands, matures, and will outlive many changes, good and bad. All employees and the organization start to become a fixed asset of the organization. The system will begin to sustain itself.