Creating Workplace Safety Culture: Key Steps

The worldwide public health crisis of 2020 has renewed the interest in organizational safety, with businesses and nonprofits being forced to invest in new equipment and policies. However, it soon became apparent that piecemeal solutions are the least cost-effective from the strategic perspective. Creating workplace safety that is both efficient and sustainable is only possible with the organization-wide commitment to the cause. Below is an overview of key steps for creating the culture of safety along with the common challenges organizations can face in the process.

What is Safety Culture?

In the broadest sense, safety culture is a way of doing things that brings down the number of potential risks to a minimum. It can be considered as an integral part of the organizational culture – a set of rules, procedures, and beliefs shared by all employees that pertain to workplace safety. The easiest way to describe safety culture is in terms of rules and policies. However, the term is actually more encompassing and includes many subtle components:

– Beliefs – Values – Behavioral patterns – Knowledge and experience – Attitudes – Decision-making

The concept came to prominence in the late twentieth century in parallel with risk management. It also became clear that all major accidents in the workplace are usually not due to unlucky coincidence but rather the lack of coherent effort to achieve safety systemically. In other words, safety culture is about fostering commitment to safety within the organization rather than enforcing rules.