Evaluation of the level of safety culture

II.8- Benefits of safety culture within organisations

Organisations will surely benefit the following situations below if a positive safety culture is existing within it.

ï Reduction of the direct and indirect costs of accidents. Fines, repair costs, damage claims, and increased insurance premiums are a few of the potential economic consequences.

ï Improved employee morale and productivity. Promoting communication between management and the rest of the organization prevents disenfranchisement and lifts morale.

ï Establishing a marketable safety record. A record of consistently safe operations can be used to attract new business and investment.

ï Logical prioritization of safety needs. SMS emphasizes risk mitigation actions that provide the biggest impact on both safety and the bottom line.

ï More ef?cient maintenance scheduling and resource utilization. Effective hazard reporting in SMS allows proactive scheduling of maintenance tasks when resources are available; increasing the likelihood that maintenance is performed on time and more efficiently.

ï Avoiding incident investigation costs and operational disruptions. Improved communication and risk mitigation will prevent many accidents from ever occurring.

ï Compliance with legal responsibilities for safety.

II.9- Health and safety policy:

The Health and Safety at work act (1974) requires all companies employing five or more people to prepare a safety policy. According to the ACSNI Study Group on Human Factors (HSC, 1993), a written corporate statement on the safety policy and organisation should be a crucial element in the promotion and maintenance of a positive safety culture within the firm. Its objective should be to establish the corporate attitude to safety and the organisational framework through which the safety objectives can be assured.

Thus we can say that a Safety Policy is a written document developed by the top management of an organisation or proposed by its representative, that is communicated to all employees as well as the other affiliated entities with a stake in organizational safety. The content of such a document should have vital topics like commitment to implementation of the SMS, assurance that executives are monitoring safety performance just as keenly as ?nancial performance, encouragement for all employees to report potential safety issues without fear of reprisal, establishment of clear standards for acceptable behavior related to safety, commitment to providing the necessary resources and finally indication of possibilities to review the policy statement so as to assure continual improvement. (see health and safety policy proposed in annex).

Duane et al (2007) states that having a safety culture means that all employees are responsible for safety. Such a culture is led by example expressed by top management, especially in the manner with which they deal with day-to-day activities. Employees must fully trust that they will have management support for decisions made in the interest of safety, while also recognizing that intentional breaches of safety will not be tolerated. The result is a non-punitive environment that encourages the identi?cation, reporting and correction of safety issues.

One of the primary workplace problems near miss incident reporting attempts to solve directly or indirectly is to try to create an open culture whereby everyone shares and contributes in a responsible manner. Near-Miss reporting has been shown to increase employee relationships and encourage teamwork in creating a safer work environment. http://www.clmi-training.com/safetyblog/near-miss-incident-reporting-its-about-trust/