Safety culture and professional conduct
Responsible behaviour
Seven ways to behave responsibly at work.
- Follow regulatory requirements and workplace procedures
- Know adjacent sectors/units and attend operational meetings
- File reports to identify potential gaps
- Contribute to the development of good practice
- Go on study visits
- Show positive attitudes
Positive attitudes
Three positive attitudes, and what each one means.
Disposition or tendency to look on the more favourable side of events or conditions.
Willingness to disclose or reveal one’s knowledge, thoughts, feelings; receptive to input from others.
Truthfulness, sincerity or frankness.
Benefits of positive attitudes
Four benefits, for you and for the team.
- Foster self and team discipline
- Foster trust among team members
- Increase personal confidence
- Increase team confidence
Six bad attitudes
Six attitudes to recognise. Each has a typical line, and ways to cope with it.
- Anti-authority
- Impulsiveness
- Invulnerability
- Machismo
- Resignation
- Complacency
Don’t tell me what to do!
Some people have a problem with being told what to do.
- Stems from a lack of knowledge or preparation.
- Stems from a feeling of his/her authority being challenged.
- Understand that you do not know everything and that you cannot attend to everything by yourself.
- Understand that the other team members are there to help.
- Do not take offence if someone questions your actions.
- Explain your thoughts if time permits.
I don’t need to think about that!
An impulsive person acts without thinking or analysing a situation.
- Impulsive people may believe they have enough information to make a decision (when they perhaps do not).
- People who are normally not impulsive may act impulsively when hurried or pressured for a response.
- Do not rush unnecessarily: take time to consider the situation.
- Maximise information through detailed preparation and data collection.
It could never happen to me!
Invulnerability is the belief that nothing can go wrong or that you are immune to harm.
- Often due to overconfidence in one’s ability or technology.
- May stem from a failure to understand surrounding hazards.
- Increase knowledge and risk-assessment training.
- Identify opportunities for error, even in routine tasks.
I’m in charge!
Machismo involves being overly assertive and domineering; feeling the need to prove oneself or to impress others.
- Although machismo is generally associated with men, both men and women can feel the need to prove themselves and engage in risky behaviours.
- Machismo can lead to characterising important information from others as unimportant and ignoring it.
- Request and consider information from fellow co-workers.
- Learn from others, instead of competing.
- Realise that working safely is proof enough of your skills.
Nothing else can be done!
Some people feel that nothing more can be done to improve a situation.
- Resignation is marked by a sense of helplessness and a belief that fate/chance will determine the outcome.
- Train for as many scenarios as possible.
- Seek input from other team members.
- Never give up.
We don’t need to worry!
Complacency can be associated with boredom and attitudes of machismo and invulnerability.
Novices are at risk because they do not understand risks.
Experts are at risk because of overconfidence.
- Try to learn and understand hazards.
- Anticipate potential challenges.
- Constantly assess the status of the operational environment.
Four parts of a safety culture
A safety culture in four parts, along one path.
- Just culture
- No blame culture
- Reporting culture
- Learning culture
Regulation (EU) No 376/2014Front-line operators and others are not punished for actions, omissions or decisions that match their experience and training. Gross negligence, wilful violations and destructive acts are not tolerated.
What a safety culture looks like
Six elements, each with what it means in practice.
Cooperation and coordination between team members (within teams and across teams).
People are willing to report safety occurrences, without fear of being blamed and the organisation having the will and capacity to learn from safety occurrences.
Employees’ and managers’ participation in safety discussion, activities and improvements.
Acceptance at the organisational and individual levels for the responsibility for safety.
Priority is given to safety in organisational planning and day-to-day operations, both on the management and operational levels.
Vertical and horizontal communication channels are efficient, and people have faith in the processes, their peers and managers.
The safety culture ladder
Five steps up, from pathological to generative: Patrick Hudson’s ladder, after Ron Westrum.
- Pathological
We don’t care as long as we don’t get caught.
- Reactive
We take action only in response to incidents.
- Calculative
Our approach to safety is systematic, through an established bureaucracy.
- Proactive
We take steps to deal with issues before incidents occur.
- Generative
Safety is how we do business.