So how can we influence Health & Safety…?

In our opinion it is no use trying to make our employees behaviour safer without making the necessary changes to their working environment. Behavioural change is not brought about by changing the person, but by changing their working environment. However, not all share the same view. Uri Geller a self-proclaimed Psychic, shares a different opinion and models a total safety culture in relation to the person, the behavior and the environment. This emphasises the importance of the individual and what he/she believes. Whereas, Remmington takes the view and stresses the commitment required by management as the primary ingredient. There is no single accepted definition of the term safety culture. However, the definition used by the HSC is;

“the safety culture of an organization is a product of individual or group values, attitudes, perception competencies and patterns of behavior that determine the commitment to and the style and proficiency of an organisations health and safety management”.

Organisations with a positive safety culture are characterized by communications founded on mutual trust, by shared perceptions of the importance of safety and confidence in the efficacy of preventative measures”.

Promoting/Influencing a Positive Safety Climate and Culture…

Developing an open style of management – Encourages Questioning, Learning & Communication that conveys the message to all employees that “Safety matters here” demonstrated in the safety policy and communicated by the Factory General Manager that safety must be our number 1 priority.

How long will it take to develop – HSE have said for most organisations it can take between 5 & 7 years to fully embed a positive safety climate and culture.

Learning the wrong way – We were to regrettably witness in the early 90’s when it became evident during the investigation into a fatality that, whilst senior managers were convinced that the business was safe and had a commitment to health and safety, the true reality at shop floor level was quite different.

Generating and Implementing a Positive Safety Climate and Culture…

The culture and inbreed attitudes back in the late 80’s early 90’s – Having realised to the companies cost not just in financial terms but also in human terms that the priorities had to change from the mind set of production, production, production, output at all costs. Plainly a poor health and safety culture had been allowed to develop and which, encouraged an atmosphere whereby not complying with safe working practices was seen as the norm. This, therefore, didn’t help the organisation to take any effective action in solving health and safety problems. In fact, the poor safety culture was having the same underlaying effect to all our processes and procedures. Evidence of poor product quality and financial control as well as poor health and safety.   

A step by step approach – What was clearly needed from top management was commitment, involvement of all workforce, and communication throughout the whole organisation. Not just a quick make-over or by just lip service alone.

The precise form of a safety program – As mentioned earlier, if we were to create a new management style that encouraged questioning and communication then, we believe it is NOT important which form of safety program is used, providing it is relevant and owned by the business as a whole. For example, ‘How are managers held accountable for their health and safety performance’? Because without such accountability there is unlikely to be proper ownership and control of safety.

Accountability and Ownership – Ownership is an important factor, proactive behaviour towards health and safety by employees is more likely to be displayed if they are consulted and involved. In our case this required us to reopen good communication channels.

Good practical examples – Some good examples were created from this such as:

• Honesty in the communication of problems and solutions;
• Goals must be a stretch and achievable (achievement of goals builds confidence and momentum);
• Employee suggestion programs especially where employees can implement own suggestions.

Reactive monitoring, Proactive measurement – Reactive monitoring was also used to measure events which, had already occurred. However, it is a measure of the failure rather than the effectiveness of risk control. Whereas proactive measurement of safety performance is more important.

Peters and Waterman refers to the following:

“The stronger the culture and the more it was directed toward the marketplace, the less need was there for policy manuals, organisation charts, or detailed procedures and rules”.

Kletz (1985) commenting on influences and morals:

“Fulfil men’s need for growth, achievement, responsibility and recognition. Give them a job with a definite aim or object rather than a collection of isolated tasks, involve them in deciding what that object should be and how they achieved, give them as much freedom as possible to decide how they achieve that object,  show them how their work fits into the wider picture, tell them when they have done a good job and make it clear that there are opportunities for promotion.”

Communication a Major factor – Communication, the definition in our view is to simply create a positive health and safety culture through good open Communication which will transfer ideas and knowledge from one person to another so that the message will remain in the memory and motivate certain actions.

We can’t however be expected to tell everybody everything otherwise work would be at a complete standstill but, we should in communicating at least know:

• WHO, we are aiming at;
• WHAT, we are trying to say;
• WHY, we are saying it;
• WHEN, is the best time to get it over;
• HOW, and at what cost;
• WHERE, it will take place.

Communication is a major factor in terms of creating a positive health and safety culture, what methods might be adopted in order to achieve the obvious benefits? Well in addition to the most common form of communication (namely speech) there are several ways in which these objectives can be achieved, these include forms of written health and safety communication such as:

• Company safety policy;
• Accident reporting;
• Permit to enter / Permit to work;
• Written system(s) of work;
• Inter-departmental memos;
• Minutes of meetings.
• Safety newsletters / Briefings
• Employee safety climate surveys

Finally, in conclusion, today’s safety culture is widely recognised as a major contributor to any organisations safe working practices. It is a concept which has been incorporated into legislation via directives including Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (MHSWR). Clearly though, the term “safety culture” is not only difficult to define but is also something that can be difficult to achieve in a positive manner. SPECIFIC, MEASUREABLE, and coherent goals are needed in order to move towards improvements. Culture is not enough on its own. These measures need to be constantly Monitored and Reviewed in order to maintain a positive safety culture.