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SAFETY FOCUS

What Is A Safety Culture? By Christopher Locke, Manager Field Safety

Safety culture is defined as the way in which safety is managed in a workplace. It is the combination of beliefs, per-
ceptions, and attitudes of employees toward the safety of workers and the overall safety of the work environment.
A positive safety culture is the culture of a workplace in which all the employees think of safety as an important
thing and behave in a way that prioritizes their own safety as well as the safety of those around them. This includes
using proper personal equipment, following the safety protocols, and just generally being conscious of safety and
safe practices at all times.
Last month marked my 10 anniversary working here at LORAM. Taking a retrospective look at LORAM Safety
th
Culture during my tenure as a field employee for my first 5 years, and the last 5 years as a member of the EHS de-
partment was very enlightening. From my perspective, we have taken major steps moving away from reactive safety
towards interdependent safety. The evidence of this is within our recordable injury rate. (Down from over 7.5
to approximately 1.5 currently over that 10 year period.) Now, how do we get to zero?

Safety Culture Definitions:

Reactive - The predominant behaviors are silo-based and corrective after an event;

Dependent - Strong supervision drives behaviors by telling people what to do and when;

Independent - People start to think and act for themselves in doing the right thing;

Interdependent - People and processes are aligned to make the sum of the whole greater than the sum of the
parts. Teams feel ownership and responsibility for safety culture. They believe zero injuries is an attainable goal

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