[SystemSafety] Safety Culture redux

[Les Chambers]

Hi

Given the recent interest in human factors and safety culture there is an
excellent article in the January-February 2018 edition of the Harvard
Business Review entitled, The Leader's Guide to Corporate Culture. It
summarises decades of thinking on the subject. It resonated with me because
I've lived through some of these highly practical initiatives and seen them
work on me and others.

I sense a degree of helplessness in  "... You can say it over and over again
for three decades ...". But the reality is we aren't helpless, we just need
to try harder. Human factors need to be embodied into the engineering
education and then reinforced in the workplace. It needs to be embodied in
the engineering culture not characterised as someone else's responsibility.
This article is a good starting point. After reading it I jotted down my
thoughts on culture - relating to safety. Firstly what is it? See below. The
how-to comes next. I'm giving it some thought.

Cheers

Les

------------------------------------ on safety culture
------------------------

A safety checklist is a useless object if the person performing the work is
not motivated to use it. 

A safety checklist is one outcome of a safety management strategy but
without the other essential outcome: motivation, it will not make you safe.

Motivation is an outcome of a strong culture. All effective safety programs
pour energy into aligning organisational culture with safety strategy.
Everyone's heart must be in it. From top to bottom. Without cultural
acceptance, a safety program will have no energy and no outcome.

What is culture?

Culture is the social order of things in any society. It manifests in
generally accepted attitudes, belief systems and behaviours. It determines
what is encouraged and what is discouraged.

A belief, an attitude or a behaviour is part of a culture if it is:

Shared. It is accepted by everyone. It is not valued by one or a small group
within an organisation.

You enter a restricted area without the required personal protective
equipment. You are turned back by the first person you see (be they ever so
humble) without regard to your standing in the organisation.

Pervasive. It is present either explicitly or implicitly in collective
behaviours, physical environments, rituals, symbols, stories and legends.

Everyone in the organisation attends a safety meeting once a week. Safety
incidents are analysed in detail regardless of how trivial they may seem.

Enduring. It influences thought and action in the long term. It remains
fundamentally intact through changes in technology, organisation structure,
political and regulatory environment, wars and pestilence. It endures
through like-minded people grouping together. Refer the attraction -
selection - attrition model first introduced by organisational psychologist
Benjamin Schneider. People are naturally attracted to a community that
shares their values. People in a community naturally welcome like-minded
people. People who join a community only to find their belief systems do not
align, typically leave. 

I spent the first 10 years of my engineering career in a strong safety
culture were unsafe acts were a clear and present danger to life and
property. As a consultant I don't back off on safety issues. It makes me
unpopular and has cost me consulting income. I am happy with that.

Reinforced. It is actively reinforced by the elders in a community.

A manager has explicit responsibility for safety. There is an active safety
program. The program's effectiveness is regularly evaluated.

Embodied. Behaviours are often instinctive. Responses are conditioned. The
trigger for a thought process becomes subliminal. 

I descend an air bridge into an aircraft. I smell hydrocarbon, I hear a
turbine winding up, I instinctively reach for my safety helmet.

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------
Les Chambers
Director
Chambers & Associates Pty Ltd
 <http://www.chambers.com.au> www.chambers.com.au

Blog:  <http://www.systemsengineeringblog.com/>
www.systemsengineeringblog.com

Twitter:  <http://www.twitter.com/chambersles> @ChambersLes
M: 0412 648 992
Intl M: +61 412 648 992
Ph: +61 7 3870 4199
Fax: +61 7 3870 4220
 <mailto:les at chambers.com.au> les at chambers.com.au
-------------------------------------------------

 

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