Best Practices For Process Safety Culture 2016

The term "safety culture" was introduced in 1986 by the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group.  This appeared in a report published after the Chernobyl disaster.  A widely cited definition of safety culture 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. 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 social pressure for conformance.  Each individual in the organization has a role in reinforcing the behavioral norms. Like any other culture, there is a lot of inertia built into the way an organization operates, and safety culture is no exception.  The challenge for the management is to overcome that inertia by navigating the organization to a higher level of safety awareness and culture.

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. Regardless, an organization with a vigorous safety culture is always in a more secure position to avoid accidents and better prepared should an incident happen. Management needs to determine the level of safety culture it wants to prevail and decide where they wish to take it to, 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.  A person working within a strong safety culture feels more secure and is motivated to make the place safer for everyone. Key Performance Indicators, also known as KPIs, help an organization define and measure progress toward organizational goals.  Once an organization has analyzed its mission, identified all its stakeholders, and defined its goals, it needs a way to measure progress toward those goals.  KPIs are those measurements.

In 2007, ARC conducted an industry survey to peer into the prevailing currents of process safety culture.  After 10 years, ARC would like a fresh look into process safety cultures across the industry today to find out what has changed. If you or someone you know would like to participate, you can take the survey here. By taking this survey (and providing us with your e-mail address) we will send you a free copy of the results, enabling you to understand the industry safety culture best practices and how your company stacks up with the leaders in this field.  ARC will maintain complete confidentiality regarding individual respondents and their organizations.  The survey consists of 45 questions and should be completed within 15 minutes.