Kevin Ian Schmidt

As a safety professional, your commitment to fostering a safe workplace is unwavering. You are well-versed in identifying potential hazards, implementing the latest safety protocols, and ensuring compliance with industry regulations. But while your expertise is crucial, it’s important to remember that not everyone in your organization has the same depth of understanding when it comes to workplace safety. The reality is, even the most advanced safety measures and equipment will fall short if the entire workforce isn’t aligned with the same commitment to safety.

Understanding the True Essence of Safety Culture

Many organizations make the mistake of equating a strong safety culture with the presence of top-tier personal protective equipment (PPE) or the existence of comprehensive safety programs. While these elements are undoubtedly important, they are only pieces of a much larger puzzle. A true safety culture goes beyond the tangible aspects of safety; it is rooted in the collective mindset and behaviors of every individual in the organization.

Simply put, having the best PPE and the most well-designed safety programs means little if the people they are meant to protect aren’t fully engaged, aware, and motivated to use them correctly. Without a culture that genuinely values safety—where every employee feels a personal responsibility for their own safety and that of their colleagues—those efforts can become ineffective, even pointless.

Check out the information I have available on PPE here

The Heart of Safety Culture: Caring and Accountability

At the core of a strong safety culture is a deep-seated care for the well-being of everyone in the organization. It’s not enough to have policies and procedures in place; what truly makes a difference is fostering an environment where employees inherently understand and appreciate the importance of safety.

In a thriving safety culture, employees don’t just wear PPE because it’s mandated by policy; they do so because they care about their own safety and the safety of those around them. They recognize that every task, no matter how routine, carries potential risks, and they take proactive steps to mitigate those risks. This mindset doesn’t come from top-down directives alone—it comes from a shared understanding that safety is a fundamental value, integral to the way the organization operates.

So, how do you go about establishing a safety culture?

Traveler’s Insurance says there are 4 steps to starting a successful safety program, they are as follows:

1. Evaluate risks. To understand how to create a safer workplace, you must first understand the risks you face every day. Each task and associated risk should be properly evaluated, and safety-based changes should be considered.

• Analyze past incidents and near misses.Understand that past incidents can help you identify root causes and identify risks and exposures that threaten the safety of your employees and the success of your business.
• Identify the risks before they result in loss. Review your work policies and procedures, buildings and equipment, employee work practices and behaviors and geographic location to determine if there are opportunities to prevent or mitigate loss. And hold people accountable to the practices.

Check Out: How to Improve Your Safety Culture

2. Design a plan to keep safe. A good plan is the best place to start, but it is only the beginning. Once you have a plan, you must act to eliminate or minimize risk.

• Get commitment. Your management team should be committed to a safety culture from the beginning.
• Stay focused. Keep focused on the risks and exposures identified during your evaluation.
• Prioritize your efforts. Focus on the risks that pose the greatest threat. You should consider frequency and severity of the loss potential, and/or the opportunity to prevent or mitigate risks.
• Identify solutions and resources.Your solutions can vary from implementing engineering controls to creating administrative policies and procedures. These can help create positive changes in safety attitude, commitment and culture.

3. Implement your plan. Implementation entails communication of the plan and its details, training, regularly scheduled practice and drills, and ongoing review. A thorough plan will cover a number of potential risk areas, including buildings and equipment, the environment, employees, customers and vendors.

• Communicate and train – the real test of a safety program and culture is not what is written down on paper, but rather how well it actually works. How well your plan works is often dependent on what your employees know and what they do at the time of an incident.

Check Out: SMART Goals Guide

4. Monitor, evaluate and improve your plan. As your business environment changes, so should your safety program. Regularly test your plan to determine if it fits the changing business environment and reflects changing accountabilities.

• Monitor the plan and collect feedback to determine the effectiveness of the plan.
• Regularly compare your safety performance against the plan’s expectations.
• Make adjustments when necessary.
• Recognize success. Be sure to communicate and celebrate your safety successes.

–Source

As you see, the steps towards building a safety culture according to Traveler’s Insurance are simple, and should be followed in order.

Once you’ve surpassed the basics of a safety culture in your workplace, consider building a sustainable safety culture. Do you know what steps to take concerning doing that, do you know the steps? The foundation of a sustainable workplace safety culture according to EHS Today:

There are four cornerstones on which an effective safety culture can be built:

• leading indicators,
• accountability,
• good relationships
• and discretionary effort.

Safety culture is not about compliance; it’s about commitment. It’s about creating a workplace where safety is ingrained in the fabric of the organization—where every employee, from the CEO to the newest hire, understands that safety is not just a policy but a shared value.

When employees work towards their own safety, when they wear PPE not out of obligation but out of care, and when they approach each task with an understanding of the risks involved, that’s when a true safety culture is born. It’s not just about having the right equipment or the best programs; it’s about fostering a culture where safety is everyone’s responsibility and everyone’s priority.

As a safety professional, your role is not only to implement safety measures but to inspire and cultivate this culture of care, awareness, and commitment. When this culture is fully realized, the impact is profound—reducing incidents, protecting lives, and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive.

This pamphlet presents to you 6 Steps towards improving your safety culture, no matter where in the process you are. So start working towards a safer workplace today!

Download the pamphlet 6 Steps to Improving Your Workplace Safety Culture

View the pamphlet 6 Steps to Improving Your Workplace Safety Culture