"Safety culture" and its cousin, "corporate culture," are terms that often get overused. And their meanings tend to be blurred. Nevertheless, the culture concept is not without merit. Corporate culture, as discussed last week, affects behavior within organizations. As such, it represents the vital underpinnings of a successful safety program. Let's take a closer look at how the interplay between corporate and safety culture affects overall safety performance.

The Impact of Culture on Safety Performance

In their book, The Behavior-Based Safety Process, Krause, Hidley and Hodson devote considerable attention to culture. The book is subtitled Managing Involvement for an Injury-Free Culture. They note that accidents and incidents are endpoint, or downstream rather than upstream events. Accidents and injuries are only symptoms of a safety or prevention process gone wrong. The genesis of the problem occurs upstream, they argue. It is the result of the culture the organization has defined for itself, or as is more often the case, the culture which has been defined by default. Culture dictates management system and style, and as such, the activities associated with that style. This determines workplace behaviors and conditions, and thus the potential for high or low accident or incident rates.

The late Dan Petersen's Safety Management: A Human Approach, discusses the value of a positive corporate culture on safety performance. Petersen and others understand that the simple existence of a safety program does not necessarily guarantee safety success because there is no one right or wrong program. What works for one organization may not work for another.

Safety Doesn't Come in a Box

One of the most important aspects of the cultural approach is its reliance on the organization's having an honest and straightforward appraisal of its management style, safety philosophy and how that philosophy gets translated into day-to-day activities. There are too many safety systems out there which say all kinds of things on paper and in manuals, but practice something completely different. Your safety culture should match all other parts of your corporate culture.

The implication of this is that off-the-shelf, canned safety programs and packages marketed by safety vendors do not solve all your problems, regardless of what the slick, full color brochures may say. By way of example, Petersen cites the finding of a study performed by the Association of American Railroads of all major U.S. railroad safety programs. The study concluded that each safety program was different and that it succeeded or didn't succeed on the basis of circumstances unique to the company. In other words, each organization had its own culture, which dictated the type and degree of safety system that it instituted.

The 5 Elements of Corporate Culture

According to some researchers, there are five basic elements that shape corporate culture. They are:

1. Business environment: The reality of the marketplace in which that business operates.

2. Values: What is it that we stand for and believe in around here?

3. Heroes: Who are the role models and leaders, and what are the values and beliefs that they exemplify?

4. Rites and rituals: What are the systematic activities and programs that shape this organization?

5. Communication: How the organization communicates both formally and informally.

The 8 Elements of Excellence

The book, In Search of Excellence, provides an overview of those attributes which, in the opinion of authors Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, characterize excellent companies and form the basis of a successful culture. These characteristics are:

1. A bias for action: Get on with the job.

2. Close to the customer: Learn from the people you serve.

3. Autonomy and entrepreneurship: Encourage people to excel. Do it - don't just put it on paper.

4. Productivity through people: People are treated with respect. They are the source of excellent performance.

5. Hands-on, value driven: Stay close to the action (the real world) and live the values espoused by the organization.

6. Stick to the knitting: Do what you know best.

7. Simple form, lean staff: If you don't know what to do from day-to-day, what are you doing here?

8. Simultaneous loose-tight properties: Being flexible enough to be both centralized and decentralized, and to know the differences and importance of each.

Conclusion

Many safety people do not have direct input into what may or may not constitute a corporate culture. Some simply operate on the periphery of the business. However, successful safety pros have learned how to integrate and merge their ideas for a safety culture with other corporate culture issues. The important thing to remember is that "safety is not your number one job"; nor can we "keep safety uppermost at all time." We can, however, help to create safety as a corporate value which, when expressed in terms of operational activities, should get just as much respect and consideration as other operational areas.

MEMBER REPLIES

Another Perspective on Culture

By Tim Jones

I find it interesting that Mr. Pardy talks about "safety culture" and "corporate culture" as separate cultures. I believe that too many times we try to look at it as separate cultures - this is the "safety culture", that is the "corporate culture" and over there is the "quality culture," instead of realizing that they are different segments of the same culture. What we are dealing with is a single culture that encompasses production, quality and safety.

The Role of the Supervisor

One thing I've found is that if a supervisor's work product is poor when it comes to safety it is usually poor in the other areas as well. A huge thing that impacts a company's attitude toward safety is that they look at the supervisor being responsible for production and quality in his or her area but safety is somehow relegated to the "Safety Manager." The supervisor is responsible for making the day-to-day, minute-by-minute decisions on the floor concerning production and quality.

The Role of Senior Management

Senior management must recognize that, according to OSHA and case law, they are also responsible (and must be held accountable) for safety in their geographical area of control. In order to make lasting change in any culture the change has to take place at the point "where the rubber meets the road," as well as at the top or it will simply be the next "flavor of the month." A company must improve the decision-making abilities of its people. They must make better choices.

The Role of Safety In General

I'm not like most "Safety Guys." I look at things in a practical manner. I don't believe that safety has to be "number one" although it makes a good slogan. It simply must be given parity in the decision-making process. We can no longer trade risking a finger, foot or eye for getting another box of widgets out the door. As far as business professors and consultants "making corporate culture change into a complicated and expensive process," I'm a consultant and find that I am constantly struggling with senior company management to get them to understand that changing a culture is neither complicated nor expensive. It's just that it is a process that takes time and COMMITMENT. A big part of changing a culture is personal responsibility from the President/CEO to the line worker. When people accept responsibility for their actions and management is held accountable for results, change will occur. Thanks.

Tim Jones
Premier Consulting Services, Inc.
720 Richerson Road
Campbellsville, KY 42718
premier7952@alltel.net

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