The Safety of Work Ep. 126: Is it time to stop talking about safety culture?
In this discussion, we dissect various models of safety culture, scrutinizing how organizations perceive, measure, and manage these concepts. From artifacts like management systems to individual attitudes and behaviors, we delve into the inconsistencies and challenges of these models. We also revisit historical perspectives, such as Dov Zohar's work, to understand their influence on contemporary safety paradigms. Our conversation critically examines the missteps of industries like nuclear and aviation, which have mandated the management of ambiguous concepts without solid scientific grounding. We advocate for a shift from vague cultural mandates to actionable strategies, offering insights into enhancing clarity and effectiveness in both regulatory practices and organizational improvements. This episode aims to inspire a reevaluation of safety culture, pushing for a more scientifically grounded and practical approach to safety science.
Some highlights from the paper:
- Safety culture as a concept is examined from scientific and pragmatic perspectives.
- The case is made for the removal of safety culture from the safety science lexicon.
- Much safety culture research is vulnerable to a fallacy of logic – we should not take a selection of parts to equal the whole.
- Robust research of the various individual ‘elements’ of safety culture, in methodologically appropriate ways, will enhance the field of safety science and better support improvements in practice.
Discussion Points:
- (00:00) Introduction: Rethinking Safety Culture - An overview of the conversation around safety culture and its evolving significance
- (07:04) Challenges in Defining Safety Culture - Exploring the difficulties in pinning down a clear and universal definition of safety culture
- (10:00) Safety Culture Research Models & Philosophies - different research models in safety culture, and the philosophy behind them, issues with lumping all safety-related terms together
- (17:00) Three Definitions of Safety Culture - Is it social, individual, or organizational? Each perspective offers a unique research approach
- (21:00) Perceptions of Safety Culture - The way we understand safety culture might differ greatly from someone else’s interpretation
- (22:00) Buckets of Safety Culture: Young vs. Mature Organizations
- (24:23) The Importance of Specificity Over Vagueness, difference between safety climate and safety culture
- (29:11) The One-Question Survey: Industry Perspectives and Practical Insights - Examining the one-question survey methodology, participant responses, and the insights gathered from industry perspectives.
- (36:00) Safety Performance vs. Safety Culture
- Discussing the distinction between safety performance and the broader concept of safety culture.
- (39:52) Clarifying Definitions: Drew and David’s Papers
- (40:25) Meta Takeaway: Defining 'Culture' Specifically - ask yourself what you actually mean and define it specifically
- Conclusions and Takeaways
- The final question: Is it time to stop talking about safety culture? The answer: "Yep."
- Like and follow, send us your comments and suggestions!
Quotes:
“The paper itself is very very stylish and self -aware and that's important not just for readability but for the state that this conversation is in...it's got all of these references that show that they're very aware of the landmines that people keep stepping on, in just even trying to write and untangle safety culture.” - Drew
“When someone uses the term ‘safety culture’, it's very common for them to be thinking about everything from commitment of people, compliance with procedures, level of resources, the balancing of goals, safety communication, leadership. All of these individual things just get lumped together into this term ‘safety culture.” - David
“The moment you start trying to turn it into practical actions, that's when everything starts to crumble - when there aren't good, agreed definitions.”- Drew
“You can't just wander into a company and say, ‘I want to study company culture.’ That's like a marine biologist going into the ocean and saying, ‘I want to look at things that live in the ocean’...Be precise, be narrow, be specific about what it is that you actually want to look at.” - Drew
Resources:
Ep.44 What do we mean when we talk about safety culture?
Dov Zohar’s Published Research