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What is Safety Culture?

Safety culture is determined by the values and priorities placed on all aspects of safety by everyone at every level of an organization, and how managers, supervisors and the workforce behave on a day-to-day basis.

Why is Safety Culture important?

Organisations with a strong safety culture have less accidents and incidents, as everyone's behaviour is aligned towards the common goal of avoiding harm to people. A weak safety culture can exist where, despite the presence of engineered and procedural safety controls, the behaviour of managers, supervisors and the workforce does not support working safely.

Assessing an organisation's current safety culture allows the understanding of:

• Why people behave safely or unsafely
• How managers and supervisors can influence safety behaviour more effectively
• Whether behavioural safety interventions are working effectively, or not
• How to improve safety behaviour and performance

The Keil Centre has considerable expertise in helping organizations assess and develop a strong safety culture. This includes:-

Safety Culture MaturityŽ

Developing and implementing an innovative method to assess safety culture - (see Safety Culture MaturityŽ Model )

On behalf of the UK Health and Safety Executive, the UK offshore oil and gas industry, and the Railway Safety and Standards Board, researching aspects of safety culture and producing practical guidance - (see Safety Culture Guidance Material)

Assistance with existing safety culture assessments

The Keil Centre has also provided further analysis and recommendations for companies who have already undertaken their own assessment of safety culture or climate, e.g. using the UK Health and Safety Executive's Climate Survey Tool.
For more information, contact chiara@keilcentre.co.uk