OSHA has an actual policy of “Corporate Name Shaming.” It is a horrible practice and harms OSHA’s credibility, as all “shaming” programs do. But they continue it as if it makes a difference. What amazes me is that some companies still do the same thing to their employees. As the title of this article makes clear… the FIRST and possibly the most critical to creating a “Just Culture. A “Just Culture” refers to
a system of shared accountability in which organizations are accountable for the systems they have designed and for responding to the behaviors of their employees in a fair and just manner.
It involves management getting the balance between how UNINTENTIONAL ERRORS and WILLFUL VIOLATIONS are addressed in the organization. Ideally, there should be zero tolerance for reckless conduct balanced by widespread confidence among managers that the vast majority of unintended unsafe acts will go unpunished as honest errors. Here are the suggested actions needed to begin to build a “Just Culture of Safety”:
1) Stop naming, blaming, shaming, and retraining individuals for honest errors.
Remember, an error is an unintentional departure from an expected behavior—it is something the performer did not intend to do. There is an overwhelming tendency to point fingers at people based on the consequence of their actions and not on the intent of the action.
If either the VIOLATION or ERROR they committed causes an accident or an event of some kind, they are disciplined. Still, the same actions (violations and errors) that have NO CONSEQUENCE are ignored or allowed to slide. This means that someone who INADVERTENTLY errs is held accountable for their actions, like an individual who intentionally performs work that violates policy, procedure, or standard.