The term safety culture can be traced back to the 1986 nuclear explosion at Chernobyl. Today, we define safety culture around the shared systems of beliefs, values and attitudes in the workplace. The way organisations manage people is also evolving. Causing a move away from the traditional applications of safety culture to keep up with the new theories in management.

“A safety culture is an organisational culture that places a high level of importance on safety beliefs, values and attitudes—and these are shared by the majority of people within the company or workplace. It can be characterised as ‘the way we do things around here’. A positive safety culture can result in improved workplace health and safety (WHS) and organisational performance” – Worksafe QLD

We have had exposure to the internal workings of many businesses and organisations. From each, there is something to learn. Our whs software has helped us see firsthand what businesses with a great safety culture do differently to achieve their results. 

In this article, I will cover one fatal mistake that can break your safety culture. 

If compliance is the goal

There are many WHS functions that take place across all levels of an organisation. Out of all the functions, legal compliance is only a fraction of the total. Some businesses decide following WHS compliance is the easiest way to do business, sticking to the bare minimum to get past regulation. 

Because of this focus on compliance over impact and efficiency, key opportunities are missed which prevent the development of a strong safety culture. Think of the business that downloads a collection of WHS policies but rarely use them. Or the business that invests in a high-tech safety management system that is not used on a daily basis. Both check the box, but neither improve culture.  

“In order to improve safety culture maturity, organisations need to be working across all three aspects of safety culture: situational (what people have), behavioural (what people do) and psychological (what people feel)” – Brad Smith for AIHS 

Being only focused on compliance, you will be blind to the opportunities to create a stronger safety culture in the everyday actions of the business. 

It’s our belief that the goal should instead be focused on the primary goal which is to keep people safe and reduce incidents in the future. Exploring the uses for various leading indicators and constantly refining a better system for the business you work in. 

With a strong commitment to safety at all levels of the business, compliance becomes just part of the workload, not the focus.  

See It’s Time To Get Serious About Health and Safety in Australia 

Focus on people

“Management had to change to be more accommodating (making people happy), then change further to allow people to contribute intellectually and become part of decision making. 

 Nowadays, people want to feel involved and that they are collaborating with their organisations to achieve the organisation’s objectives. 

Collaboration and consultation are now a key part of any management system, at the centre of this are people.” – Klaus Hofer for AIHS

In order for employees to feel part of this involvement in safety goals, managers need to be quick in reviewing and acting on any issues raised. Especially when dealing with feedback given by a worker on their current psychological or physical state. Think of “How are you feeling today?” type questions. 

An individual’s safety culture benefits greatly from seeing their contribution have a meaningful impact. Or even simply, seeing that they contributed to the process of achieving the goal at all. This process of gathering and sorting information from all levels on issues relating to safety is key. For example, everyone on site is notified of a new risk on site for the day. This might have been triggered by a worker submitting a new risk assessment that creates a new risk on site for others.

To allow for such involvement at all levels, strong communication channels need to be used. It’s not just about direct communication between two parties, but also from one party to many. 

“Two-way communication and collaboration between those with responsibilities for OHS at all levels is also necessary to change and sustain a safety culture” – Brad Smith for AIHS