Page 46 - IGC BOOK

3.1 The Concept and Significance of Health and Safety Culture

Health and safety culture

"A system of shared values and beliefs about the importance of
health and safety in the workplace”.

The following definition by the UK’s Health and Safety
Commission (HSC) Advisory Committee on the Safety of
Nuclear Installations:

"The safety culture of an organisation is the product of
individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions,
competencies, and patterns of behaviour that determine the
commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an Organisation’s health and safety
management.

Organisations with a positive safety culture are characterised by communications founded on
mutual trust, by shared perceptions of the importance of safety and by confidence in the efficacy
of preventive measures”.

Relationship between Culture and Performance in Health and Safety

The health and safety culture of an organisation comprises “the characteristic shared attitudes,
values, beliefs and practices of people at work concerning not only the magnitude of risks that
they encounter but also the necessity, practicality, and effectiveness of preventive measures”.

Whilst these are not easy to pin down, it is relatively easy to identify the relationship between
these features and safety performance. When an experienced safety practitioner carries out a
safety audit or inspection of a company, he/she can often gauge the standard of safety
performance on a superficial walk-round and the first impressions gained.

Positive Safety Culture

An organisation with a positive health and safety culture,
will consist of competent people with strongly held safety
values which they put into practice. This will go through
the whole organisation’s hierarchy from top to bottom. It
starts with an organisation’s statement of policy and this
policy will be reflected at all levels in both the attitudes of
management and employees, and the working practices
and safety measures applied. This clearly determines to
control hazards and risks, to make the workplace a safe
place.

ENSIGN| Unit IG1 – Element 3 – Managing Risks – Understanding People and Processes 1