[SystemSafety] Safety Culture redux

Andy Ashworth andy at the-ashworths.org
Wed Jan 17 01:08:48 CET 2018




	
		
		
	
		
		That’s all well and good where there’s a healthy engineering culture that recognizes safety and other attributes. In a number of major so-called engineering projects that I’ve worked on recently, engineering is subordinate to both project schedule and project costs. I am aware of a major transit project here in Canada where safety assurance was not carried out until after design completion contrary to the requirements of the contract - all because the project managers simply repeated a previous project approach on the basis rather than apply any critical thinking to the project during the early phases of design. 
I believe that safety has actually gone backwards of late in certain industrial areas (rail and transit being a particular case) and that engineers are being put under immense pressure to work in ways that are contrary to current best practice. This is not healthy and is not sustainable.
Andy
		

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On Tue, Jan 16, 2018 at 6:31 PM -0500, "Les Chambers" <les at chambers.com.au> wrote:

























Hi



Given the recent interest in human factors and safety
culture there is an excellent article in the January-February 2018 edition of
the Harvard Business Review entitled, The Leader's Guide to Corporate Culture.
It summarises decades of thinking on the subject. It resonated with me because
I've lived through some of these highly practical initiatives and seen them
work on me and others.



I sense a degree of helplessness in  "... You can
say it over and over again for three decades ...". But the reality is we
aren't helpless, we just need to try harder. Human factors need to be embodied
into the engineering education and then reinforced in the workplace. It needs
to be embodied in the engineering culture not characterised as someone else's
responsibility. This article is a good starting point. After reading it I
jotted down my thoughts on culture - relating to safety. Firstly what is it?
See below. The how-to comes next. I'm giving it some thought.



Cheers



Les



------------------------------------ on safety culture
------------------------



A safety checklist is a useless object
if the person performing the work is not motivated to use it. 



A safety checklist is one
outcome of a safety management strategy but without the other essential
outcome: motivation, it will not make you safe.



Motivation is an outcome of a
strong culture. All effective safety programs pour energy into aligning
organisational culture with safety strategy. Everyone's heart must be in it.
>From top to bottom. Without cultural acceptance, a safety program will have no
energy and no outcome.



What is culture?



Culture is the social order of
things in any society. It manifests in generally accepted attitudes, belief
systems and behaviours. It determines what is encouraged and what is
discouraged.



A belief, an attitude or a
behaviour is part of a culture if it is:



Shared. It is accepted by
everyone. It is not valued by one or a small group within an organisation.



You enter a restricted area without
the required personal protective equipment. You are turned back by the first
person you see (be they ever so humble) without regard to your standing in the
organisation.



Pervasive. It is present
either explicitly or implicitly in collective behaviours, physical
environments, rituals, symbols, stories and legends.



Everyone in the organisation attends
a safety meeting once a week. Safety incidents are analysed in detail
regardless of how trivial they may seem.



Enduring. It influences
thought and action in the long term. It remains fundamentally intact through
changes in technology, organisation structure, political and regulatory
environment, wars and pestilence. It endures through like-minded people
grouping together. Refer the attraction – selection – attrition
model first introduced by organisational psychologist Benjamin Schneider.
People are naturally attracted to a community that shares their values. People
in a community naturally welcome like-minded people. People who join a
community only to find their belief systems do not align, typically leave. 



I spent the first 10 years of my
engineering career in a strong safety culture were unsafe acts were a clear and
present danger to life and property. As a consultant I don't back off on safety
issues. It makes me unpopular and has cost me consulting income. I am happy
with that.



Reinforced. It is
actively reinforced by the elders in a community.



A manager has explicit responsibility
for safety. There is an active safety program. The program's effectiveness is
regularly evaluated.



Embodied. Behaviours are
often instinctive. Responses are conditioned. The trigger for a thought process
becomes subliminal. 



I descend an air
bridge into an aircraft. I smell hydrocarbon, I hear a turbine winding up, I
instinctively reach for my safety helmet.



 



 



 



-------------------------------------------------

Les Chambers

Director

Chambers & Associates Pty Ltd

www.chambers.com.au



Blog: www.systemsengineeringblog.com



Twitter:
@ChambersLes

M: 0412 648 992

Intl M: +61 412 648 992

Ph: +61 7 3870 4199

Fax: +61 7 3870 4220

les at chambers.com.au

-------------------------------------------------



 











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