Building credibility by being honest, reliable, and treating other with dignity and fairness.Creating strong safety expectations and accountability.Leadership establishes and drives a positive safety culture through: Informal leaders are those who have cultivated leadership among their peers through longevity, knowledge, experience, credibility, and natural leadership skills.
Formal leaders are in identified positions, such as vice presidents, directors, and managers. So, what drives safety culture improvement? The answer is leadership, both formal and informal. Formal and Informal Leadership Makes All the Difference In this type of culture new members adopt the culture and take on the positive safety aspects and behaviors rather than being able to change the culture. Culture change experts say it takes five to nine years to create a lasting positive safety culture that can endure even when key leaders leave the organization. Safety culture is not static, it is either improving or deteriorating based primarily on the elements identified in the hidden safety culture. There’s No Status Quo with Safety Culture Unwritten norms, values and rules influencing decisions and behaviors, such as, “A respirator is required for this job, but it takes 20 minutes to go and get one and the job only takes 5 minutes, so just get it done quickly while holding your breath.”.Assumptions about safety shared across the organization, such as “Safety is important, but production takes precedence.”.Symbols and stories around how safety is valued compared to production and other priorities.The remaining 85% of safety culture is “below the waterline.” This invisible safety culture is developed over time and consists of: Invisible Safety Culture Makes Up the Other 85% These things are the visible part of the “iceberg” in regard to safety culture - about 15% of what truly makes up a culture. It’s more than the policies and procedures established to manage safety. Safety culture is more than the posters and slogans put up on the walls. Visible Safety Culture is 15% of the Picture In basic terms, safety culture is the “preferred way things get done with regard to risks and hazards.” Safety culture is the product of both individual and group beliefs, perceptions, attitudes and values, as well as competencies and behaviors, that employees share regarding health and safety. Safety culture and the desire to have a strong safety culture are often discussed, but what exactly is safety culture? A strong, positive safety culture results in reduced injuries and lost time by valuable resources, improved morale and productivity, and greater loyalty to the organization.
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