Barriers to Positive Safety Culture | Workplace Safety HSE
Barriers to Positive Safety Culture | Workplace Safety
The safety culture
of an organization depends on how each person thinks and feels about health and
safety and how it translates into their behaviour.
It is the result
of the mentality, beliefs, skills, perceptions and patterns of behaviour shared
in the organization that determines management's commitment to health and
safety management.
An organization
can have a positive or negative safety culture.
What is meant by a positive safety culture?
An organization
with a positive safety culture can be said, where most workers think and feel
that health and safety is important, and all of them work and behave safely
because they understand the importance of safety.
There is a robust
policy and clear leadership from management and it goes through the whole
organization from top to bottom.
Managers reflect
on the health and safety implications of their decisions and workers share the
same opinion and work safely.
People who do not
behave safely are a minority and are likely to leave because they do not feel
in their place or risk being dismissed for working in a dangerous way.
Barriers to a Positive Safety Culture
There are many barriers
to developing a positive safety culture in the workplace:
Barriers to a
Positive Safety Culture – Complexity
Solving specific
health and safety issues can be complex in the workplace, as it involves the
coordination of many people who carry out several different activities at the
same time and requires in-depth knowledge and experience of the possible risks
and consequences.
Barriers to a
Positive Safety Culture - Conflict requests
Conflicts of
interest between the objectives of the operation to obtain profits and, at the
same time, guarantee the health and safety of people by respecting different
types of standards / laws, as well as the law of protection of the 'environment.
Barriers to a
Positive Safety Culture - Behavioural problems
Sometimes people do not behave ideally and to
maintain the level of health and safety, the worker must perform his work
ideally. Sometimes they deliberately do something wrong and, therefore, health
and safety standards are affected by the behaviour of workers.
Simple things like
slips, trips and falls are the most common types of workplace injuries. These
incidents often occur due to the lack of adequate safety measures.
Many barriers in
the workplace arise from easily avoidable situations, often because people do
not take their jobs seriously. Peoples using shortcut to show their work performance
to their supervisors by compromising safety.
One of the biggest
barriers to workplace safety is dealing with lethargic associates or employees.
Workers often do not take their responsibilities seriously, so they take
shortcuts that lead to accidents, injuries or safety risks. Taking shortcuts
when working near dangerous machinery or deadly chemicals is irresponsible and
can quickly result in a safety hazard.
Barriers to a
Positive Safety Culture - Ineffective safety communication & Lack of knowledge
Organizations
develop their HSE rules, regulations, procedures and working practices as part
of the company's Safety Management System. Most organizations do not implement
their safety management system due to the lack of safety communication. Unless
these safety systems do not communicate well with workers, work activities
cannot be performed safely and have therefore resulted in injury. If workers do
not know the safe work method, they cannot do the work safely. Eg. Several
times peoples not laying down the portable/ temporary cables properly and thus
creating trip hazard. OSHA requires that extension cords be used only
temporarily and when used for weeks or months they are not considered
temporary. Extension cords may also be subject to traffic abuse if they are
crushed by vehicles or get damaged by mechanical impact or feet, which can damage
the insulation and create a risk of electric shock. Similarly, while floor
cleaning work, cleaners may not put caution boards and try to finish the work
quickly by ignoring the slip hazard. All above information must be communicated
to workers so that their competency can be enhanced to develop positive safety
culture.
Barriers to a
Positive Safety Culture – Substandard past experience:
The experience can
create a positive or negative state of mind. People compare things with their
past experience and try to adopt the simplest way of doing their work. People's
past experience affects their minds, if they have good experience and have done
their assigned work safely, then in the new job, they adopt the same methods
and do any job safely. But if they haven't worked safely in the past due to a
lack of a good safety culture in business, they also want to bring the same
culture to this new business. Sometime overconfidence may prohibit workers from
taking additional safety precautions, which may cause an accident. It is good
to be confident, but when it comes to safety in the workplace, it is also good
to be too cautious, prepared and informed about safety in the workplace. Always
consider what could happen. Negligence can lead to incorrect procedures,
methods or tools.
Barriers to a
Positive Safety Culture – Lack of leadership and commitments
Invisible
leadership from management, not demonstrating management's commitment to health
and safety means that management is seriously discussing the issue of safety in
the conference room but does not demonstrate the reality on the ground. This is
the biggest obstacle to improving an organization's safety culture. Lower
priority to health and safety than other business issues, frequent changes in
organization or poorly communicated changes make uncertainty. When a leader in
the workplace sets the standard for maintaining a good clean, it sets the bar
and sets a good example for everyone. Poor maintenance or lack of maintenance
can lead to blocked emergency exits and corridors, which would be very
problematic in an emergency and this becomes one of the barriers to develop
positive safety culture in workplace. Having a good cleaning in the workplace
is a good habit to maintain, which will encourage workers to follow OSHA
standards. Naturally, we feel more motivated when we work in a well-maintained
environment and a poorly maintained area presents safety risks. Laying products
in layers on racks that do not leave enough space between the product and a
fire extinguisher is a safety violation and should never occur.
Barriers to a
Positive Safety Culture – ineffective safety incident reporting system
All unwanted
incidents must be reported to properly investigate in order to find out the
root causes of the failure and decide the corrective actions. This is necessary
to avoid recurrences. But if there is no robust system for reporting incidences,
including near misses, workers do not report it and hazards cannot be dealt
with or can remain hidden, which can lead to a serious accident. Leaks that are
not fixed properly and standing water that is not cleaned can cause slips and
falls, which cannot only cause serious injury, but also lead to legal action
for a business if the victim decides to continue and this becomes one of the
barriers to develop positive safety culture in workplace.
Before leaving the
work, area ensure housekeeping, good cleaning practice is to clean and check
everything. Do not wait for a sanitation team or other colleague to clean it
for you. Cleaning/ housekeeping is one of the parts of permit to work system,
and unless and until you do not clean the work area before leave, permit must
not be closed by issuing authority. This little practice can prevent injuries
and deaths in the workplace. If a congestion or spill requires specialized
training to clean up, employees should know how to notify their supervisor
immediately. Lack of 5 S workplace management system may become one of the
barriers to develop positive safety culture in workplace.
Barriers to a
Positive Safety Culture – Lack of participation and consultation of workers
Risk assessment
and the decision to control hazards are very important processes in any
organization to do the job safely. But if workers do not participate and are
not even communicated, they may not know what safety measures they should take
while carrying out the work. Some organizations do not consult their workers
during the decision-making process, which can lead to ergonomic problems in the
workplace. By having all the desired information before starting a task and
asking questions that are not clear, the task is likely to be completed
correctly the first time, which will decreases chances of causing a major
incidents. Careless in starting a task in workplace without having adequate
information about risk and controls may endanger to all workmen.
Barriers to a
Positive Safety Culture – Workers with poor health and safety education
The lack of
organization of training, awareness and skills development modules in the
organization cannot implement a positive safety culture. If people are not
aware of safety procedures, work instructions, etc., they can ignore safety procedures,
and this is one of the most dangerous things that can lead to serious accidents.
Instead of not understanding the procedures, or having a safety risk due to an
accident, total negligence is a definite danger to workers and their
colleagues.
Oftentimes, people
just don't realize how dangerous it is to ignore safety rules. Generally, job
supervisor is conducting daily toolbox talk in morning before start of any
work. But sometime some workman not taking the things seriously and also
influencing other to breach the safety rule, disciplinary action should be
taken against such workmen. All supervisors must explain the importance of
safety procedures to all workers in workplace.
One of the biggest
barriers to workplace safety is being mentally distracted by something.
Sometimes external associated/ social influence can negatively affect the
workers feeling at work. Workers cannot let the distractions of their personal
lives affect their performance at work. A troubled mind can be dangerous at
work.
Unplanned job, lack
of communication, ignorance in risk assessment and failure to prepare for
projects and tasks can result in danger. Job safety analysis is an effective
method for discovering the best way to work safely and efficiently. Sometime
JSA prepared by only supervisors with involving workers and even nor
communicating to involved peoples may cause serious incidents. There are good
and bad ways to do everything in the workplace. The right forms guarantee
safety and prudence. Do not prepare for failure.
There are many
barriers to workplace safety. Lethargy in health and safety is unacceptable and
lethargic workers may become a hazard to others. Do not be a threat to the
people around you and encourage those around you to follow their example by
being aware of everything.Techniques for developing a positive safety culture in the workplace.
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| Concept of positive safety culture in workplace |
We have already
discussed the true meaning of the culture of positive safety and it is the
result of the mentality, beliefs, skills, perceptions and patterns of behaviour
shared in the organization that determines the commitment of the leadership
towards health and safety management. By ensuring below things, we can develop
a positive safety culture in workplace.
- Empowerment
- Participation and consultation: involving people / workers in HIRA, JSA, QCG, etc.
- Visible leadership and clear management commitment: involve senior management in workshop safety communication.
- Improve training, skills and knowledge: adequate training at the right time, for example, HSE initiation, emergency response plan, etc.
- Communication of safety information.
- Talk about the toolbox daily before starting any work
- The image / poster / visual aid is the best way to communicate the desired message because there are no language barriers.
- Safety signs must be posted in conspicuous places to warn or alert workers.
- E-mail / newsletter in local languages, bulletin board display, etc.
- Hold periodic meetings to share HSE information
- Organize the training with video aids
- Organized weekly / monthly motivation programs to reward with small tokens and communicate the desired messages.
- Perform routine inspections and advice on safe work procedures on site.
- Share incident / accident case studies
- Develop worker manual and distribute it during HSE induction
- Appropriate disciplinary measures such as the implementation of the disciplinary procedure, drug policy, travel policy, etc.
- Organize a motivation program
Techniques to change employee's safety behaviour
The behaviour of
each worker is of crucial importance for the management of the health and
safety of any organization. If a worker behaves in an ideal and safe way, but
not in another, and this dangerous behaviour can endanger himself and others.
It is a fact that
most accidents at work are caused by dangerous acts, that is, the dangerous behaviour
of a worker. We cannot blame the worker and conclude as negligence, but we must
identify the underlying causes, take corrective action and try to understand
how "human factors" influence work practices.
There are three
main important factors that influence the safety behavior of a worker:
Individual factor:
Linked to personal
characteristics (attitude, competence, motivation, perception, etc.).
Attitude, that is,
the point of view or the way of seeing the person; How they think and feel
about it. A good attitude should be encouraged, and a bad attitude should be
changed.
It seems very
difficult to change individual attitudes, but this can be done using different
methods, such as: training and education, high impact intervention,
application, participation and consultation, etc.
Job Factor:
Linked to the task
they perform.
Ergonomic design
can affect workers comfortably to complete the task.
Workload, that is,
the amount of work, the pace of work, deadlines and the variety of work.
Work environment,
that is, working conditions such as space, lighting, noise, temperature,
humidity, etc.
Screens and
controls, that is, designed screens, marking, coding, capacity, etc. visual
management
Procedures, that
is, the quality of the procedures, revised / obsolete, recoverability, complexity,
etc., the procedures must be precise, concise, in colloquial language.
Organizational
Factor:
Linked to the
characteristics of the organization for which they work.
- Organizational Safety Culture
- Safety policies and procedures.
- Safety commitment and management leadership
- Supervision Levels
- Peer group pressure.
Consultation and
involvement of workers in the management of health and safety issues.
Communication to
transmit messages and information about health and safety to staff and validate
the understanding of these messages.
Resources, that
is, availability of safe equipment, PPE, safety training based on gap analysis,
etc.
Work models, that
is, time shift model, etc.
Techniques to improve employee's perception of hazards and risks.
We can define
perception as the way in which a person interprets the information detected by
their senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste).
Certain hazards,
namely CO in the workplace, cannot be detected by the human senses, since this
gas is colourless, odourless and tasteless but deadly in relatively low
concentrations, so the risk associated with these hazards does not It will not
be perceived. Similarly, a person with visual impairment may not be able to see
the risks of traveling, a colour-blind worker may not be able to correctly
distinguish between red and green, PPE, such as hearing protection, reduces
sharpness. gloves reduce hearing sensitivity, loud noise in the workplace also
reduces a person's ability to listen well, which can cause risks to themselves and
others.
However, in
addition to the problem of "sensory impairment," a person's brain can
interpret the information sent by the senses differently. A person whose senses
are fully functioning can still make mistakes in the way he interprets sensory
information. There may also be other factors that can confuse a person's
perception. Previous experiences, Drugs and alcohol, Diseases, Stress, Fatigue,
Training and education, etc.
Techniques to improve employee's attitute.
Investigate and /
or collect information with personal discussions, try to understand the
problems and, therefore, plan corrective actions as follows:
Conduct safety
awareness campaigns using posters, toolbox discussions, safety workshop
meetings, etc.
Increase awareness
of the danger and its consequences.
Provide gas
detectors with alarm devices.
Highlight hazards
by displaying safety signs, such as hearing protection, danger warning signs,
warning signs, barrier tapes, etc.
Ensure adequate
lighting in the workplace.
Eliminate
distractions such as noise or excessive heat that can cause fatigue.
Implement the drug
and alcohol policy and communicate the disciplinary process.
Conclusion
The obstacles to
positive safety cultures are short cuts, overconfidence, lack of cleanliness,
negative mindset, ignorance of safety rules, group pressure, mental
distractions, stress, fatigue, lack of work preparation, unscheduled work
without adequate information and inadequate risk assessment. The culture of
positive safety is the result of the shared mentality, beliefs, skills,
perceptions and patterns of behaviour in the organization that determines
management's commitment to health and safety management. Barriers to a positive
safety culture can be removed through motivation, training, education and
empowerment.
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