How to know a Safety Culture when you see one

While an exact definition of a safety culture does not exist, at Safety Concepts we believe that organizations with effective safety cultures share an enduring commitment to safety. This commitment is reflected in certain behaviours…

• The company acknowledges a high risk, error-prone nature of the organization’s activities,
• There is a blame-free environment where individuals are able to report errors or close calls without fear of punishment,
• There is an expectation of teamwork across ranks to seek solutions to exposures and a willingness to honestly identify the bad news and deal with it, and
• A willingness on the part of the organization to direct whatever resources are needed to address safety concerns.

If you are trying to enhance your own company culture and increase its focus on safety, use the above as guiding principles to seek change. Openly talking about these components of your culture, or the lack of them, will show interpersonal responsibility, feelings of credibility that these values are desirable, and eventually you will also see stronger levels of interpersonal trust. It’s a big job, but that only means it must be worth doing!