Chapter 1: Health & Safety Management Systems (SMS)

Leadership and
Organisational
Safety Culture
3

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Safety Matters! A Guide to Health & Safety at Work

Chapter outline
Leadership and Organisational
Safety Culture

> Introduction
> Definition of Leadership in terms of health
and safety
> 10 Principles of Safety Leadership Behaviour
> Safety Culture within an organisation
> Safety Culture and Adverse Events
> Barriers
> Assessing Safety Culture
> Improving Safety Culture
> Summary

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Chapter 3: Leadership and Organisational Safety Culture

Introduction

It is recognised that leadership is

important in the creation of a culture
that supports and promotes a strong
health and safety performance of an
organisation. The Manager and /or
the team leader are vital in inspiring
employees to a higher level of safety
and productivity, which means that
they must apply good leadership
attributes on a daily basis.

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Safety Matters! A Guide to Health & Safety at Work

Leadership in terms of important factor determining its

safety performance; for example
health and safety organisations with the lowest
lost-time injury rates have the
Ask yourself, do my managers/ highest level of management
team leaders: commitment and employee
involvement.
> Communicate safety standards
to their teams?
10 Principles of Safety
> Involve them in hazard Leadership Behaviour
spotting in the workplace?
Clear leadership is one of the top
> Prevent unsafe acts? priorities for the establishment
of a positive Safety Culture. Here
> Motivate staff to be safer? are ten safety leadership principles
that a leader should not ignore,
> Monitor safety standards on and which are likely to promote a
a daily basis? positive Safety Culture:

It is important that managers/ 1 Safety as a Top Priority

team leaders are trained in their
key role as safety leaders and In making every business decision
that they are free to implement there are a number of competing
these skills at every level. It is priorities e.g. cost, quality and
also critical that the application yield. It is imperative that senior
of these safety leadership skills management should give safety
is monitored. a high status in the business
objectives, and safety should be
Training managers/team leaders prioritised in all situations.
in safety leadership skills and
ensuring that they apply them 2 Visible Management
on the job has been proven to Commitment to Safety
greatly aid injury prevention, and
can also contribute to quality This is leading by example.
and productivity improvements. It is important that senior
management demonstrate
Creating a good Safety Culture visibility and repeat their
requires a common vision and commitment to safety throughout
effort from everyone in an all areas of the organisation. For
organisation. Research into the example, if senior management
subject has demonstrated that fail to challenge unsafe
the management philosophy behaviours they unwittingly
of an organisation is the most

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Chapter 3: Leadership and Organisational Safety Culture

reinforce the notion that this investigation of all reports

behaviour is acceptable to the (accidents/incidents/near misses),
organisation. Senior management identifying root causes and
decisions and actions must match implementing corrective actions.
their words – this creates a
shared vision of the importance This sends a strong message that
of safety to the organisation. knowing about anything that
goes wrong is vital to creating
3 Increasing Visibility around the conditions necessary to
Safety eliminating the next injury.
It also sends a clear message
It is good to develop a habit of that management view safety
personally conducting safety performance as important as
walkabouts. This demonstrates other business objectives.
commitment and managers will
become personally aware of the 5 Staff Involvement
real safety conditions in their
area. These walkabouts will Active employee participation
also provide an opportunity is a positive step towards
for managers to meet their preventing and controlling
teams in their work areas and hazards. Ownership for safety
to have proactive discussions can be improved by providing
regarding safety. effective training and providing
forums for employees which
4 Safety Reporting assist in getting them to be
personally responsible for areas
A positive Safety Culture requires of safety.
effective reporting from staff of
frontline safety issues and problems It should be made easy for staff
e.g. accidents, near misses and to report concerns about decisions
safety concerns. Communicating that are likely to affect them and
a problem or concern is only one feedback mechanisms should
step on the route towards a good be established.
Safety Culture. It is important
that feedback mechanisms should 6 Create a Learning Culture
be in place to respond to the
reporter (if required) regarding All employees should be involved
any actions taken. in learning by contributing ideas
for improvement, and should be
Effective safety leaders should encouraged to become aware of
respond to all incidents in a what a good safety performance
positive, learning way. They will actually means in terms of their
lead teams to prompt and thorough own jobs.

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Safety Matters! A Guide to Health & Safety at Work

The existence of a learning culture > The communication of major

enables the organisation to accidents
identify, learn and change unsafe
conditions and behaviours. Communication systems should
be in place within the organisation
7 Provide Recognition for the effective transfer of safety
and health information between
A safety leader will give individuals, departments, work
recognition to the delivery of good groups and teams.
safety performance e.g. recognise
the achievements of employees 10 Safety Management System
who improve safety in the
organisation, including those who Organisations should have
voluntarily contribute to safety. effective systems in place for the
management and co-ordination
8 An Open Culture of safety. This should be led by
the most senior person in the
Employees should feel that organisation, with the support
they are able to report issues or of the senior management team
concerns without fear that they and safety professionals (if
will be personally blamed or required). Objectives should be
disciplined as a result. Leaders set to monitor the performance
should demonstrate care and of the system. Outcomes should
concern towards employees and be communicated to all staff
should have an open door policy within the organisation at
in place to demonstrate this. regular intervals.

9 Effective Communication
Safety Culture within
Effective communication from an organisation
management to staff is vital for
the success of safety leadership. The term Safety Culture was
This can be achieved by: introduced by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
> A visible safety policy as a result of their first analysis
into the nuclear reactor accident
> Emphasis on safety related at Chernobyl:
issues and policies via staff
communication systems e.g. The Safety Culture of an organisation
memos, newsletters, messages is the product of the individual and
from top management, group values, attitudes, perceptions,
quarterly reports, annual competencies and patterns of
reports, safety sheets behaviour that determine the

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 Reviewing
performance
Feedback loop to
improve performance
Chapter 3: Leadership and Organisational Safety Culture

Safety Culture

“The product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies

and patterns of behaviour that can determine the commitment to, and the style
and proficiency of an organisation’s health and safety management system”
ACSNI Human Factors Study Group, HSC (1993)

Psychological Behavioural Situational

Aspects Aspects Aspects

‘How people feel’ ‘What people do’ ‘What the

Can be described as the Safety-related actions
organisation has’
‘Safety Climate’ of the and behaviours Policies, procedures,
organisation, which is regulation, organisational
concerned with individual structures, and the
and group values, management systems
attitudes and perceptions

commitment to, and the style and > Safety over Productivity/Profit
proficiency of, an organisation’s
health and safety management. > Learning Organisation

Put simply: The way we do things > High Participation in Safety

around here on safety! You can
judge whether a company has a > Sufficient Health and Safety
good Safety Culture from what its Resources
employees actually do rather than
> Low Level of Risk-Taking
what they say.
Behaviours
A large number of factors
> Trust between management
contribute to whether you have a
and frontline staff
good or a bad Safety Culture. The
list below covers the main factors > Good Contractor Management
to indicate whether you have a
good Safety Culture: > High Levels of Competency

> Visible Management A Safety Culture consists

commitment of shared beliefs, practices,
and attitudes that exist in an
> Good Safety Communication organisation. The culture is the

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Safety Matters! A Guide to Health & Safety at Work

atmosphere created by those > Failure to comply with the

beliefs, attitudes etc., which shape organisation’s own policies
our behaviour. Managers/team
leaders have a key role to play in > Management decisions that
developing such a Safety Culture. appear consistently to put
production or cost before safety
Safety Culture and > Managers/Team Leaders not
Adverse Events engaging in proactive safety
behaviours
Well publicised major accidents
such as Piper Alpha, Herald of In relation to major disasters it is
Free Enterprise and Kings Cross only the final outcomes that are
Station have highlighted the effect rare and the specific conditions
of organisational, managerial and which produced this final outcome.
human factors on safety outcomes. The individual casual factors are
Numerous reports of major usually present in the system all
disasters have identified Safety of the time. Removing a single
Culture as a factor that definitely causal factor from a system (e.g.
influenced the outcome. poor Safety Culture), or reducing
its frequency, will reduce the
Within the reports of inquiries likelihood of a disaster occurring.
into such major disasters as the
ones mentioned, observations
have been made that accidents
Sub-cultures
are not only as a result of human
Cultures are not necessarily good
error, environmental conditions
or bad, but they are good or bad
or technical failures alone, but
at achieving certain outcomes.
also they are as a result of a break
Cultures are learned by their
down in policies and procedures
members, so changing the culture
that were established to manage
requires a lot of discussion,
safety.
communication and learning.
Where incidents occur it is
Changing behaviours is difficult
important to identify what factors
because people have very strong
may have contributed to the
‘patterns’ that they follow
outcome in order to avoid similar
from habit, and are generally
incidents in the future. Common
unconscious of their own
symptoms of poor cultural factors
assumptions. Leaders change
can include:
culture by holding different
assumptions and by making them
> Widespread routine breaking
visible through words and actions.
of safety rules

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Chapter 3: Leadership and Organisational Safety Culture

Sub-cultures are present in every 4 The Regulatory Culture

organisation, large and small. In
order to change these sub-cultures, > Focuses on the role of
there needs to be an understanding authorities, the role of experts
of those sub-cultures that and the role of the public.
may exist. The list below are Other work organisation
categorisations of the most cultures are influenced by a
common sub-cultures that may regulatory culture.
exist in an organisation; typically
these may exist and differ from It is important to try to
department to department or from understand the various sub-cultures
working group to working group: in one’s own organisation,
particularly if evaluating a culture
1 The Executive Culture change programme.
> Focuses on money,
performance, measurement, Barriers
production, processes,
information and abstractions. There are a wide range of reasons
This is a directing and why some organisations may be
controlling culture. reluctant to assess their own level
of safety maturity, such as:
2 The Technology Culture
> Not perceiving there to be
> Focuses on science, equipment, a need
automation, information
technology etc. This culture > Worries about what might
type tends to want to eliminate be discovered
the human being as an
uncontrolled variable. This > Resource issues
type of culture is rational,
logical and resists the building > Difficulties associated with
of a real ‘culture’. signing up to long-term
commitments
3 The Operating Culture
> Belief that there is nothing
> Focuses on making things (positive) to achieve
work, accepting the
frustrations of ‘the way things > Concern that the results of
are’ and can sometimes be seen assessments may be markedly
as a group of people who ‘live worse than those of other
in the real world’. groups, sites or competitors

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Safety Matters! A Guide to Health & Safety at Work

Management/Team Leaders need If the senior management of the

to overcome the above possible organisation are serious about
reasons for non-engagement or culture change they must work hard
else it will be impossible to make to overcome the above barriers.
significant progress.

Panel 3.1

Barriers to Cultural Change

It is important to also recognise > Organisational bureaucracy
that barriers exist to achieving may often work against
long term cultural change. the Safety Culture.
Here are some examples to the Oftentimes routine tasks
barriers to effective change: become the causal factor
of human performance
> Management styles may errors because they are
be different between so routine that employees
departments. This may find ways to cut steps out
create inconsistencies in the of the process
right message been sent
> The formality of procedures
> There may be weaknesses and the clear lines of
in the communication authority also constrain
interface. Unclear lines of the competitive nature of
communication may cause empowering employees
confusion and a lack of
involvement in the process > Risk of recruiting people
who may not buy in to
> Management’s role in the organisation’s Safety
balancing the principles, Culture. It is important that
policies, objectives, and all new employees (at every
Safety Culture among the level of the organisation)
functional areas is often are trained in a timely
constrained by an inability manner and gain operating
to communicate between experience to match current
the top and bottom of the employees, thus having
organisation. The goal negative effects on the
should be to make safety a Safety Culture
value, not just a priority

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Chapter 3: Leadership and Organisational Safety Culture

Panel 3.2

Measurable Features of Safety Culture

The following are a list of > The current safety
Safety Culture features that may management system
be measured:
> Quality of data from
> Individual values, perceptions, reporting systems
attitudes and behaviours with
respect to safety > The use of reporting systems

> Group values, perceptions, > Quality of training

attitudes and behaviours programmes
with respect to safety
> Employee involvement
> Commitment of management
to having safety as a core > New idea encouragement
value, providing resources and capture
and visible support to safety
programmes > Accountability of individuals
and teams
> Clear mission statement
with commonly understood
and agreed goals

Assessing Safety Culture Because of its indefinable nature,

Safety Culture is difficult to
The Safety Culture of an observe or measure. In attempting
organisation is an important factor to measure or assess the Safety
in ensuring the effectiveness of risk Culture of an organisation it is
management. The health and safety necessary to identify what actually
related behaviour of individuals in constitutes Safety Culture.
an organisation is influenced by the
Safety Culture, and the behaviours Safety Culture assessments should
in turn determine the culture. concentrate on the people side
Therefore, measuring the Safety of safety, that is measuring the
Culture should form part of the cultural processes that enable the
overall process of measuring the health and safety management
health and safety performance of system to work – safety behaviours,
the organisation. communication, trust, leadership,

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Safety Matters! A Guide to Health & Safety at Work

commitment, group norms and 1 Obtain Top Management

organisational influences. Commitment

In assessing the Safety Culture of > This is vital, and it is very

the organisation, you can establish important that it is achieved.
where it currently stands and If top management in an
where the culture can be improved organisation does not buy
and strengthened. Surveys and into the development of a
questionnaires have been commonly good Safety Culture, safety
used to assess Safety Culture within will compete against other
organisations. Qualitative analysis business elements such as
can also be used, such as group production and costing –
discussions and case studies. this battle will not be won.
Top management need to
It is important that survey understand the requirement
questionnaires are designed to for change and be willing to
reduce the possibility of bias. support it. Being able to show
When conducting surveys ensure the direct and indirect costs
that a representative sample of of accidents/incidents can be
respondents is achieved and that a compelling argument for
respondents are allowed to give change in an organisation.
open and honest responses. Do
not repeat a Safety Culture survey 2 Describe the desired culture in
unless actions have been achieved a structured framework
from the previous survey.
> Policies, goals and operational
In conclusion, a Safety Culture plans must be defined. These
assessment can be used as a will guide individuals during the
starting point for change. It cycle of change, and allow the
will provide the leaders of the organisation to remain focused
organisation a realistic view of on the improvement process.
the organisation’s strengths and
weaknesses and this can often 3 Build a common understanding
trigger real change. of culture

Improving Safety > It is important that a shared

vision for improving safety be
Culture established. Top and middle
management need to set the
The following outlines the steps example and drive the change
that can be taken to improve process forward demonstrating
the Safety Culture in your this shared vision where
organisation: possible.

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Chapter 3: Leadership and Organisational Safety Culture

4 Assess the existing culture know about it. The entire

organisation needs to know
> To get where you want to go, and be involved in some form
you must know where you are or another. All those involved
starting from. (See our earlier must understand why they are
section ‘Assessing Safety being asked to change what
Culture’). they normally do and what
it will look like if they are
5 Communicate the assessment successful.
results
> Awareness training sessions
> Communicating results is should be held to inform all
an important method of staff of the new direction
maintaining the effort required the organisation is taking for
for change to happen, and for improving safety standards.
keeping everyone motivated. Additionally specific Team
Everyone needs to be updated Leader training courses
throughout the process. could be held to ensure that
Keep your communication Team Leaders are aware of
process simple and ensure the practical requirements
that everyone involved in the needed to drive and achieve
system has a voice, otherwise real change.
there will be a reluctance to
buy into the process. 8 Implement change

6 Identify gaps, root causes and > This will be achieved via
key initiatives to improve involvement of all interested
parties e.g. management,
> Develop an on-going unions (if present), contractors,
measurement and feedback and employees. The
system. Drive the system continuous improvement
with measures that encourage process will include:
positive change e.g. numbers of
i Planning -
hazards reported; numbers of
inspections/audits; number of The act of identifying
equipment checks; number of opportunities for improvement
safety suggestions reported. and identifying ways of
achieving these improvements;
7 Communicate the direction and
ii Doing -
engage Team leaders and staff
The actual implementation of
> The change process will not the actions needed to effect
work if only management the change;

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Safety Matters! A Guide to Health & Safety at Work

iii Checking - > Management/Team Leaders

The act of verifying whether need to identify, examine
the implemented changes and overcome the barriers
resulted in the desired to achieving an improved
improvements; and cultural change

iv Action - > Improving the Safety Culture

What one does in response to will take time and resources.
the effects observed. Commitment from Top
Management, Communication,
Assessing/Improving the
Summary of Chapter 3 existing culture are essential
in this process
> Strong clear leadership from
Management and Team
Leaders is essential in creating
a Safety Culture within the
organisation

> The Safety Culture describes

the management of safety in the
workplace, and often reflects the
attitudes, beliefs, perceptions
and values that employees share
in relation to safety

> Management Commitment,

Communication and
Competency are examples of a
positive Safety Culture

> Widespread failure to comply

with company safety policies
and rules creates a Poor Safety
Culture

> Studies have shown that a poor

Safety Culture contributes to
major accidents

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