Building a Safety Culture

Earl Bennett, Safety Director, Bowman Consulting Group

When people hear the word safety they may picture a jobsite filled with employees wearing hard hats, safety glasses, and other personal protective equipment (PPE).  Most of us have a built-in instinct to keep ourselves safe, but instinct is not enough.  In a perfect world, no one gets hurt and everyone goes home at night.  That’s where the “safety gets me home” mindset comes into play.  Safety is a learned behavior.  It must move beyond instinct and become a behavioral mindset deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of every employee.  Typically, as individuals begin to move in this direction, the entire organization begins to shift into a collective mindset.  When this happens, it is what is known as a safety culture.

When the collective effort spills into a culture of safety, it never happens randomly or by accident.  There are stages of change and growth. As a company expands its safety consciousness, along with compliance with client safety requirements, each stage is layered with behaviors and points of action that underscore and reinforce the overall establishment of the safety culture

Working within a culture of safety is desirable and conducive to health and well-being, but how does a company build a culture of safety? 

It begins with an unfortunate event or incident that requires attention. The driving force for safety starts with an employee getting injured, losing workdays, and workers' compensation insurance costs going up!  In this early stage, a company is reacting to costs that have a negative effect on the bottom line. As management looks for ways to bring these costs in line a new awareness of safety emerges.  Safety professionals agree there is a method that enlarges the scope of safety awareness, one that cultivates a safer workplace.  A safety professional named Berlin Bradley developed a model that explains how to create such an environment. 

 In it, he identified the four stages of safety behavior that lead to a change in company culture. These are reactive, dependent, independent, and interdependent stages. 

The first stage is reactive, and it’s based on the instincts of the employee.  Behavioral theorist, Abraham Maslow identified safety as the second level of the Hierarchy of Needs  Humans instinctively know we need to protect ourselves from harm.  But a safety culture based solely on this reactive stage will eventually incur injuries and incidents because instinct is not enough to motivate us to work safely.  Other factors come into play that may compromise an individual’s basic instinct to work safely. These include distractions, deadlines, and multiple other concurrent variables.  When these are addressed reactively, awareness begins to emerge, but the company eventually will continue to incur expenses related to accidents. Embracing the next stage will help to mitigate this problem. 

The second stage of the Bradley Curve involves rules and policies.  At this stage management makes the rules and employees are expected to follow them.  When the rules are broken punishment ensues.  Unfortunately, safety management that is dependent on discipline for poor performance does not change unsafe work behavior.  While safety policies may have an initial effect on job site safety, the long-term goal of zero accidents will be stifled.  From my experience, this model of “fear of punishment” does not change human behavior and is not sustainable.  Even if the company grows a huge safety department that enforces compliance with the rules each day, it will not get the necessary buy-in from the workforce to create a safe workplace. 

The Bradley Curve returns to the individual in the third stage, the independent phase.  During this stage, behavioral change occurs when employees understand safety’s “wider picture.” Emphasis here is on the greater reason to work safely, which benefits each person’s well-being.  Awareness of a safe work environment increases when we realize we are responsible for our well-being. Here employees are encouraged to speak up about hazards discovered and take corrective actions for their safety and others.  Behavior changes as the employee understands their responsibility for preventing accidents. Management drives home the mindset of zero harm, welcomes participation in hazard assessments, and shows the employee that their well-being matters to the company.  This establishes a culture of safety and well-being.

The final stage of the Bradley Curve is interdependent.  A mindset of “shared responsibilities” infuses the organization. Safety is understood as something that is a companywide value and imperative.  Awareness becomes the norm as managers, staff and administrators are in accord.  In this stage, employees understand they look out for each other and are concerned about the common good of all.  Management reinforces their concern for the employee’s well-being and “zero harm” to every employee.   Being safe is a way of life on the job and at home.

“Safety is a learned behavior.  It must move beyond instinct and become a behavioral mindset deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of every employee”

At Bowman, interdependence is a shared safety responsibility reinforced by company-designed safety training that each employee participates in from day one of their career.  It is strengthened by weekly “toolbox safety talks” that management engages in with employees. Employees are encouraged to share a “safety moment” that uncovers real work experiences such as near misses, and unsafe acts that occur every day on job sites.  When a coworker shares a real-world hazard experience, those listening can learn from each other. Employees are more likely to “stop work” and less likely to take risks when management demonstrates they care about their well-being and safety.  This participatory culture empowers employees to function at optimal productivity.

At Bowman, we have a tiered approach to promoting a safety culture that starts with CORE field safety training and defensive driving for all field employees. This establishes a baseline for an interdependent safety culture for all employees from the first day.  The second tier is weekly participation in safety calls for all field employees and management conducted by the safety team. These weekly mandatory calls reinforce the message of no accidents, identifying hazards, safety awareness, and personal responsibility for returning home each night.  The third tier is documented job hazard analysis (JSAs) for every job by every crew.  Identifying job site hazards, and discussing ways to eliminate risks before starting a job is essential to recognizing a culture of safety and well-being.  The last tier is empowerment, health and well-being – a work environment for which everyone has responsibility, and all have a role in maintaining.