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The Influence of Culture on Safety : Culture, Organisational Culture and Safety Culture

Jason EdwardsWorkplace Health and Safety Queensland: Program Leaders Group – 4th of August 2011

Acknowledgements

Queensland TransportMain Roads

Workplace Health and Safety

Research Team:Prof. Jeremy DaveyDr Kerry ArmstrongDr Angela Wallace

Background• Transport and Storage Sector

– Identified as one of 4 primary targets in the National Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2002-2012 (NOHSS)

• The Heavy Vehicle Industry– 80% of the freight task– 29% of the employees in Transport and Storage

• 5 years on: – Transport and Storage - 22% reduction– Heavy Vehicle Industry - only an 11% reduction

• Intervention strategies that aren’t targeted to a specific audience may have differing levels of success due to cultural beliefs and values (McLeroy et al., 1994)

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Research Goal: To explore the influence of culture on safety

in the heavy vehicle industry

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Safety Culture (SC)• Many different definitions

• Few but vastly different models

• Two ways to look at it– Trace the origins and developments– From a cultural/organisational culture perspective

• Better viewed as a sub-component of organisational culture

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Organisational Culture• Organisational culture has multiple definitions

− Emphasis on shared beliefs and values− Which lead to behavioural norms

− Some definitions include behaviour

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Organisational Culture cont.

• Schein (1990,1992)– Rather than define org. culture, suggested that any group with a

significant shared history may have developed a culture– Culture is:

“(a) a pattern of basic assumptions, (b) invented, discovered, or developed by a given group, (c) as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, (d) that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore (e) is to be taught to new members as the (f) correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (Schein, 1990; p111)

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Levels of Culture (Schein,1992)

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So, If organisational culture is just the ‘culture’ held by an organisation, how does

the broader culture literature define culture?

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Culture Defined

• Again there are many definitions (over 100)– Common ground: Shared factors that

“…provide the standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, communicating, and acting” (Triandis, 1996; p408)

– Three common conceptualisations of culture (Brinkmann, 2001):

• Normative – ‘the cultured’• Anthropological – shared beliefs and values• Pragmatist – practices as key

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Culture is the underlying assumptions, beliefs, values and attitudes shared by members of a

group, which result in a set of external, readily-visible, practices.

Or in the case of an organisation, “shared by members of an organisation”

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The origins of safety culture• Chernobyl – lack of a safety culture nationally and in

nuclear power plants“Safety Culture is that assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organisations and individuals which establishes that, as an overriding priority, ... safety issues receive the attention warranted by their significance.” (p1; INSAG-4, 1991)

• Argued no academic background… academics free to work it out

• From the above discussions on org culture the definition shows:– Org. Culture Safety as overriding priority– Normative Conceptualisation

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Normative conceptualisation of SC

• When using a normative conceptualisation:Absent Create

Present Maintain

• Focus on creating safety culture in literature– INSAG (1992):

“...the need to create and maintain a ‘safety culture’ is a precondition for ensuring nuclear power plant safety” (p22)

– Geller (1994):“...a safety professional’s ultimate goal is to achieve a total safety culture (TSC) within his/her organisation” (p18)

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Models of safety culture

• INSAG (1991): – Process at a policy, management and individual level lead to SC

• Cooper (2000):– Three components (person, situation and behaviour) interact to

produce SC• Guldenmund (2000):

– No generally accepted definition (not even needed)– No satisfying model… which should include Cause, Content and

Consequence– Took Schein but…

• Replaced espoused values with attitudes• Replaced basic underlying assumptions with processes preceding

attitude formation

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Levels of Culture

(Schein,1992)

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Processes Preceding Attitude Formation (Guldenmund, 2000)

Underlying Assumptions

Espoused Values Artefacts

What’s the problem?• Strong focus on creating SC but they never stop to truly

work out what it is…– Assumption that:

• policies and procedures etc create SC • SC leads to safety outcomes

– Focus on: • policies and procedures • and safety outcomes

– SC becomes an unexplored mediator

• Need to re-conceptualise SC to allow a better understanding of it’s content

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Safety culture re-conceptualised• Agree with Guldenmund that if we use Schein’s definition

(or another suitable organisational culture definition) there is no need for a specific separate definition for SC.– But just for clarity:

Safety culture is the assembly of underlying assumptions, beliefs, values and attitudes shared by members of an organisation, which

result in those external, readily-visible, practices that influence safety.

• Need to create a new model

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Creating a model of safety culture

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Causal Factors Consequence

Safety Culture

• Guldenmund’s Cause, Content and Consequence

Creating a model of safety culture

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Causal Factors Consequence

Safety Culture

• SC as an ill-defined difficult to measure mediator

Creating a model of safety culture

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Causal Factors Consequence

Safety Culture

• Organisational safety models

Creating a model of safety culture

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Causal Factors Consequence

Safety Culture

• Putting the Culture back into Safety Culture

Creating a model of safety culture

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Causal Factors Consequence

Safety Culture

???

• Can you create a culture?

Creating a model of safety culture

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Context Consequence

Safety Culture

• Schein: – Behaviour caused by culture and context

Creating a model of safety culture

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Context

Consequence

Safety Culture

• To create the model we need to know – Context– The nature of safety (Rollenhagen, 2010)– How to operationalise the content of SC

Context

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• Ecological systems model - Bronfenbrenner (1989): 1. Microsystem - The setting in which the individual lives... family, peers,

school, and neighborhood 2. Mesosystem - Relations between microsystems or connections

between contexts... E.g. the relation of family experiences to school experiences

3. Exosystem - Links between a social setting in which the individual does not have an active role and the individual's immediate context. E.g. child's experience at home may be influenced by a mother's experiences at work.

4. Macrosystem - Describes the culture in which individuals live5. Chronosystem - The patterning of environmental events and transitions

over the life course

Context

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• Adapted Ecological systems model - Newes-Adeyi et al. (2000): 1. Individual - Beliefs, values, attitudes etc2. Interpersonal - Family, close colleagues, supervisors3. Organisational - Structures and processes4. Community or Cultural – the broader community they are situated

within 5. Policy – Different governmental policies etc

Context

Government

Organisation

Interpersonal

Individual

Global influence of National Culture

Road Culture/Industry

Context

• Government– Policy enforcement

• Industry-wide Road Culture• Espoused values and behavioural norms

• Organisation– Policy enforcement– Communication– Training

• Interpersonal– Espoused values and behavioural norms

• The individual– Knowledge, Skills and Motivation (Campbell, Gasser, & Oswald, 1996)

• Is there more? How do they influence safety?

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The Context Surrounding Safety in the Heavy Vehicle Industry

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General public:Electoral Power

Government:Enforcement, Permits and Licensing

Industrial Groups and Affiliations:Accreditation, ATA, TWU, External

Guidelines

Organisations:Policy Enforcement, Pressures, Selection,

Induction, Training and Payment

The Context Surrounding Safety in the Heavy Vehicle industry:

Customers:Policy Enforcement, Demands and

Pressures

Interpersonal:Peer Pressure, Support Family Pressures

The Individual:Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation,

Knowledge and Skills

Safety

• Road Safety (The usual suspects)– Fatigue– Speed– Seatbelts– Drugs and Alcohol– Driver errors

• Workplace Health and Safety– Danish Study: 92.6% of reported incidents occurred off the road– Musculoskeletal– Poor mental health– Obesity– Arthritis and Rheumatism– Lung disease– Cardiac disease– Intestinal problems

• Need to find positive safety measures…CRICOS No. 00213J

Operationalising the content of SC

• If the model is to be of any practical use in the industry there is a need for safety culture to be measurable– Doesn’t change what it is i.e. Beliefs, Attitudes, Values

• Culture and Organisational Culture lit– Dimensions

• Power-Distance, Individualism-Collectivism etc– Syndromes

• Beliefs and values centred around a key theme• Cultural Tightness, Collectivism, Individualism etc

• Need to identify them...

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Context

Consequence

Safety Culture

The Content of Safety Culture:Assumptions, Beliefs, Attitudes and ValuesCultural Dimensions:

And/Or Aspects:

Government:Policies and RegulationsInteractions with the IndustryOrganisation:Policies and PracticesTraining (Formal and Informal)Industry-Wide Road Culture:Beliefs, Attitudes, Values and Behavioural NormsInterpersonal:Beliefs, Attitudes, Values and Behavioural Norms

The Context Within Which the Organisation and Industry is situated:Suggested contextual influences...

Extrinsic Motivation

Knowledge and Skills

Intrinsic Motivation

Intentions

The Heavy Vehicle Operator:

Behaviour

Consequence

Outcomes:

Negative Safety Performance:Injuries/FatalitiesFinancial CostsLost ReputationRisk of Prosecution

Positive Safety Performance:Safe Workplace and WorkforceReduced CostsMaintained Reputation

A Normative Model of Safety Culture in the Heavy Vehicle Industry

Normative Model of Safety Culture in the Heavy Vehicle Industry:

Updated with Study One Preliminary Results

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The Content of Safety Culture:Potential Targets for Underlying Assumptions, Beliefs, Attitudes and Values

Enforcement is insufficiently appliedEnforcement is unequally applied across the industry‘Customers hold all the power’‘We are not as bad as people say’‘We should be able to regulate ourselves’Keeping up a tough image (pride/proving masculinity)Desiring the free lifestyleDesiring AutonomyMoney-Hunger‘Don’t want to let down my friends’Desire to be home earlierFatalism – Invulnerability – Safety

Outcomes:

Negative Safety Performance:Injuries/FatalitiesFinancial CostsLost ReputationRisk of Prosecution

Positive Safety Performance:Safe Workplace and WorkforceReduced CostsMaintained Reputation

Knowledge and Skills

Extrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic Motivation

Intentions

The Heavy Vehicle Operator:

Behaviour

Consequence

Habits

General public:Electoral Power

Government:Enforcement, Permits and Licensing

Industrial Groups and Affiliations:Accreditation, ATA, TWU, External Guidelines

Organisations:Policy Enforcement, Pressures, Selection,

Induction, Training and Payment

The Context Surrounding Safety in the Heavy Vehicle industry:

Customers:Policy Enforcement, Demands and Pressures

Interpersonal:Peer Pressure, Support Family Pressures

Aims• Research Goal:

– To explore the effect of culture on safety in the Heavy Vehicle Industry

• Aims:1. Explore the cultural context surrounding safety in the

heavy vehicle industrya) Explore the wider context within which the industry and

organisations are situatedb) Explore the industrial and organisational context surrounding

heavy vehicle operators

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Aims cont.2. Determine the nature of safety in the heavy vehicle

industry

3. Identify the content of safety culture in the heavy vehicle industry

a) Identify common procedures and practices regarding safetyb) Identify target underlying beliefs, attitudes and values which

influence safety

4. Validate the beliefs and values, and identify statistical relationships to behaviour

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Questions?jason.edwards@qut.edu.au

Mark your Diaries!

International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety Conference (T2013)

26-29 August 2013, Brisbane