Culture Based Safety Management (CBSM)
The standards for safety management systems have been in place for decades and most companies have implemented one. Policies and procedures are in place, incidents are investigated and people are using their PPE’s, yet accidents still occur.
We know that between 80% and 90% of accidents and incidents are attributed to unsafe behaviour amongst employees (Cox, Jones, & Rycraft, 2004).
We believe that the next step change in safety management is understanding human behaviour and the effect on safety. If we understand why certain teams are more resilient than others and have a better safety performance, can we copy that
behaviour to the rest of the organization?
behaviour to the rest of the organization?
Culture Based Safety Management (CBSM) puts the safe(ty) culture at the heart of the safety management system.
Understanding both the national culture as well as the organisational culture is essential to understanding why incidents can be persistent or certain teams prove to be very safe.
Figure 1: CBSM puts the safe(ty) culture at the heart of the safety management system
80%
80% of Fatal Occupational Injuries (FOI) show a clear correlation with masculine, hierarchical and collectivistic cultures
(ILO - International Labor Organization, data 1979 - 2008)
80% - 90%
Between 80% and 90% of accidents and incidents are attributed to unsafe behaviour amongst employees
(Cox, Jones, & Rycraft, 2004)
What makes Culture Based Safety Management (CBSM) unique?
- CBSM measures both the national and the organisational culture, using renowned organisatonal measurement models such as Hofstede's model on National Culture
- CBSM focusses on Team or Organisational Safety and is Team or Organisation specific
- CBSM aligns your existing safety management system with your safety behaviour AND strategy
- CBSM allows to predict human behaviour of a specific team or organisation
- CBSM can be applied worldwide and across all industries
- CBSM is a logical addition to the already existing safety management system
What is the best route towards a Safe Culture?
Where you think you are, or Perceived Culture is about the atmosphere of the organization, the perception, impressions and feelings regarding the culture. This can be subject to change however with the direct influence of top management or specific occasions.
Where you really are, or Current Safe Culture measures the actual cultural values and organizational cultural norms via
- Indirect questions by which respondents don’t know what we are looking for
- A generic organizational and national culture survey in which safety norms and values are hidden in subdimensions
Where you'd like to go, or Safe Culture Paradise is also measured and reflects respondents working paradise. This is essential in order to know which resistance or support in change can be expected.
Where you should go, or Strategic Safe Culture is determined in a workshop with key safety stakeholders and visualizes the behaviour, attitude and beliefs that are needed to succeed in realizing the safe business goals.