A Safety Culture

Creating a safe workplace

Presented by Craig Kime

» Developing a positive safety culture within any organisation starts from the top.

» Demonstrated management commitment and involvement by all staff are vital for successful health and safety performance. It must be:

» The benefits are evident

» Trust is an essential part of a good safety culture

» There are significant benefits of having a good workplace safety culture, including

» Benefits

» improved morale

» improved performance

» increased productivity

» reduced staff turnover and associated costs of recruitment and training

» work satisfaction

» empowered and committed people

» reduced injuries and the associated costs, including workers comp premiums and lost productivity

» good prospects as an investment opportunity

» flow on effects in continuous improvement across the organisation.

» The following definition of Safety Culture is

» A Safety Culture is the set of enduring values and attitudes regarding safety issues, shared by every member of every level of an organisation. Safety Culture refers to the extent to which every individual and every group of the organisation is aware of the risks and unknown hazards induced by its activities.

» A positive safety culture is one that, among other things

Encourages and retains learning

&

Promotes open & honest reporting

» The safety attitudes» Remember, attitude affects behaviour. If you

have a positive attitude, odds are you will do your job safely. A negative or careless attitude toward safety will only cause conflict, stress and quite possibly, an accident.

» What a safety culture is not. » A safety culture is not merely a collection of

policies and programs. Things like an Accident Prevention Program (APP), Injury and Illness Prevention programs.

» These tools can be vital in building and sustaining a safety culture. But tools alone do not make a safety culture.

» There are many obstacles to change, but the most common include the following.

» Supervisors are viewed as the safety police, patrolling the workplace and enforcing rules for reasons seen as sometimes disconnected from concerns about worker safety. Thus, safety is seen in a negative light.

» Supervisors and management cut corners and fail to adhere to the same safety policies that they punish workers for not observing.

» A lack of trust among workers, due to fear of whistleblowing or Big Brother.

» Safety efforts are reactive and dependent on the occurrence of injuries.

» Production is overemphasized and results are achieved at the expense of safety

» Building a culture of safety is not an individual effort, but one that spreads throughout the organization with the help of many people working together toward a common goal that underscores the importance of safety at your company.

Is Yours To Have