How to improve Safety culture
How to Improve Safety culture
Article by the late George Robotham
A good safety culture is an elusive thing those responsible for safety management systems struggle to achieve. Culture is often defined as “The way we do things around here”. Schein (1990) defines organisational culture as the system of shared beliefs and values that develops within an organisation and guides the behaviour of its members.
Senior managers are the key to a successful safety culture. A true safety culture is established when safety is valued as highly as productivity. Managers and supervisors need to be held accountable for safety in the same manner as production.
Like many things in safety and business generally, leadership is the key.
How to improve safety culture
Development of a robust Safety Management System guided by the lessons from the paper “What Makes a Safety Management System Fly”
- Using industry data on Class 1 personal damage occurrences to guide your safety efforts
- Recruitment, selection and retention of safety-focused staff
- Excellent leadership / build trust between all levels of personnel/ Rewards for excellent performance and lesser rewards for those that are really trying
- Excellent teamwork
- Excellent communications, employees really value face to face communications from their supervisor
- Role modelling by supervisors and managers is important
- Clearly defined responsibilities and accountabilities that are reinforced
- Regular, rigorous audits of key functions
- Short, succinct written procedures for key tasks (use diagrams, pictures, flow-charts wherever possible)
- Written management plans for key performance areas
- Benchmarking against the excellent performers
- Excellent learning programmes guided by a detailed Learning Needs Analysis
References
Schein E.,1990,Organizational Culture, American Psychologist, vol 45,no.2 ,pp109-19
George Robotham
George was a Legend in the Safety World who passed away in Sept 2013 but left us with a great legacy
Latest posts by George Robotham (see all)
- What It Takes To Be An Excellent OHS Professional - October 3, 2025
- Icebreakers and Games that Safety Trainers Play - September 8, 2025
- Critical Safety Reflection or thinking about stuff - August 28, 2025
- Quirky Things That Work When Trying To Help Others - March 26, 2025
- The Things You Need To Know About Health and Safety Leadership - September 8, 2024
I have worked in OHS for most of my working life, many years in the mining industry including over 10 years in a corporate OHS role with BHP. Since leaving the mining industry I have worked in a variety of safety roles with a variety of employers, large & small, in a variety of industries.
I was associated with my first workplace fatality at age 21, the girl involved was young, intelligent, vivacious and friendly. Such a waste! I was the first on the scene and tried to comfort her and tend to her injuries. She said to me “George, please do not let me die” We put her on the aerial ambulance to Rockhampton base hospital where she died the next day. I do not mind telling you that knocked me around for awhile.
Since then I have helped my employers cope with the aftermath of 12 fatalities and 2 other life-altering events. The section "Why do Occupational Health & Safety" provides further detail but in summary, poor safety is simply very expensive and also has a massive humanitarian cost.
My qualifications include a certificate I.V. in Workplace Training and Assessment, a Diploma in Frontline Management, a Diploma in Training & Assessment Systems, a Bachelor of Education (Adult & Workplace Education) , a Grad. Cert. in Management of Organisational Change and a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Hazard Management. I am currently studying towards a Masters in Business Leadership.
Up until recently I had been a Chartered Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia for 10 years and a member for about 30 years.
My interest is in non-traditional methods of driving organisational change in OHS and I have what I believe is a healthy dis-respect for many common approaches to OHS Management and OHS Training. I hold what I believe is a well-founded perception that many of the things safety people and management do in safety are “displacement activities” (Displacement activities are things we do, things we put a lot of energy into, but which when we examine them closely there is no valid reason for doing them).
My managerial and leadership roles in OHS have exposed me to a range of management techniques that are relevant to Business Improvement. In particular I am a strong supporter of continuous improvement and quality management approaches to business. I believe leadership is the often forgotten key to excellence in most aspects of life.
I hold the Australian Defence Medal and am a J.P.(Qualified).
I have many fond memories of my time playing Rugby Union when I was a young bloke.