Let the official record show… the term “just culture” originated in 1990’s from none other than Dr. James Reason. So all of these consultants using LinkedIn as their marketing platform, decrying a “just culture” is nothing new! Most of us have been simply managing our safety and health efforts with the WORKERS who do the dirty and dangerous work AS OUR FOCAL POINT, and this creates a “just culture”. Please be careful of magic pills, snake oil, and other gimmicks. A culture of safety comes from hard work, consistent leadership, and ensuring safety is about the workers, for the workers, and by the workers.
When our safety process/SMS has:
- a continuous process to identify hazards (physical and behavioral),
- a means to analyze those hazards using a recognized hazard analysis methodology,
- a means by which we assess and assign a quantified risk level to those hazards so that they are put into proper perspective, and
- we MITIGATE the risks associated with those hazards using the Hierarchy of Controls
we will build a “just culture.” No need for special programs or gimmicks in our attempt to build a “just culture,” as this safety process does it for us! If we can build around these four (4) core principles AND do it with the workers we have the privilege of protecting; amazing things will happen to safety performance and the organization’s culture.
