Walt Boyes and I did a podcast recently for Control magazine that focused on the issue of process safety. With all the technologies and services that are available to end users today, why do we still have incidents like the Bayer Crop Science fiasco in Institute West Virginia? Why did we have the BP Texas City incident?
As the old saying goes, "The fish rots from the head down." Lack of a good safety culture contributes significantly to incidents and puts people at risk every day. Safety culture is driven from the top levels of management on down.
So what does "Safety Culture" mean and how can it be implemented? Here is an excerpt from a report that ARC Analyst Asish Ghosh wrote last year on the topic:
"Safety culture," is a term that was introduced in 1986 by the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group in a report published after the Chernobyl disaster. A widely cited definition from the U.K. Health and Safety Commission is: "…the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organization's health and safety management." An appropriate measure of safety culture is how an organization behaves when no one is watching.
Safety culture is not only about improving safety attitudes in all levels of employees, but also about good safety management established by organizations with a holistic approach. Good safety culture implies a constant assessment of the safety significance of events and issues so that the appropriate level of attention can be given. Establishing and developing positive attitudes towards safety culture in a community is cost effective.
Every organization has a safety culture, operating at some level. Cultures are based upon shared values, beliefs, and perceptions that determine what is to be regarded as the norms for the organization. If the organization feels strongly about a particular behavior, there will be little tolerance for deviation, and strong societal pressures for conformance. Each individual in the organization has a role in reinforcing the behavioral norms.
When pressured by senior executives to reduce costs without increasing risks, managers in companies that manufacture and handle dangerous and flammable materials often find themselves between a rock and a hard place. The best way to reduce risk in a manufacturing plant is to design inherently safe processes. However, inherent safety is rarely achievable in today's manufacturing environments. Risks prevail wherever hazardous or toxic materials are stored, processed, or handled.
Industries, such as Oil and Gas, Chemicals, and Power are, by their nature, dangerous. There is no limit to what can be spent trying to improve safety. However, if there were no limits placed on spending, the products would be prohibitively expensive. To say that safety must always come first is to indulge in empty rhetoric, since it ignores the realities faced by today's businesspeople and regulators.
However, an organization with a vigorous safety culture is always in a better position to avoid accidents and is better prepared when such an incident happens. Management needs to determine the degree of safety culture they wish to achieve, and chart and navigate a path to get there. Management responsibilities include not only rigorous safety planning, but also instilling a strong safety culture within their organization. Only, a person working within a strong safety culture feels more secure and is motivated to make the work place safer for everyone.
There is a lot of inertia built into the way an organization currently operates. The challenge for the management is to overcome this inertia to be able to move the organization to a higher level of safety awareness and culture.
Some recommended actions to enhance safety culture in an organization follow:
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Articulate a fully defined safety culture, supported at the highest levels
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Instill safety culture among all employees, which include shared values, beliefs, and perceptions on safety; with clearly defined expectations and accountability
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Employ one or more full-time safety managers that report to the highest levels
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Set up procedures for reducing incidents, including proactive asset management and written SOPs that are followed and maintained
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Perform comprehensive hazard assessment after every incident or accident
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Encourage employees to report on hazard conditions and set up a safety blog website that is open all employees
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Actively encourage workers to participate in safety activities, allowing them to influence safety policy implementations
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Set up safety training and refresher courses for all new and veteran employees, on-site contractor personnel, and all other visitors
ARC emphasizes that safety lifecycle management is not a transitory function, but instead, requires constant and consistent adherence to the safety practices as specified in the standards. This is only possible when all the members in an organization follow a common set of rules and culture.