According to Wikipedia, “Safety culture is a term often used to describe the way in which safety is managed in the workplace, and often reflects “the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values that employees share in relation to safety” (Cox and Cox, 1991).”
The safety of employees is a function of management, which is why OSHA holds the employer responsible for violations of OSHA regulations.
Therefore if safety is a management function, then why is it that unnecessary injuries and fatalities continue to occur in the workplace? In my opinion, the answer to that question is the lack of effective leadership by management and misplaced organizational priorities.
All organizations, whether they be for profit or not-for-profit depend on their employees for the efficient functioning of that organization. Employees are any organization’s most valuable asset. If that is the case, then management should ask the question, “How can we ensure that our employees work in a safe environment?”
Organizational safety does not happen by accident. Effective, ongoing organizational safety takes planning by management and commitment by both management and employees to ensure success. When the commitment to safety is real, and not some abstract concept, then the organization is on the way to developing a safety culture.
In my next blog, I will discuss some of the steps necessary to develop a safety culture.