I have used this tool, with some modern-day modifications, for years. When I was a safety manager of a facility I would constantly be looking for these indicators as a means to validate what I was “feeling”. As safety pros, we have a sixth sense of how things are going, but there are so many markers/indicators in measuring safety cultures that having a list like this comes in handy.
I have also used this in some workshops with my management teams so they can come to their own conclusions as to what phase the plant is in. These workshops are invaluable at allowing management to recognize they are somewhere they had not envisioned!
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Check if you believe it reflects the current state of safety |
Condition |
| Safety is defined in terms of technical and procedural solutions and compliance with regulations. | |
| Safety is not seen as a key business risk and the safety department is perceived to have primary responsibility for safety. | |
| Many accidents are seen as unavoidable and as part of the job. | |
| Most frontline staff are uninterested in safety and may only use safety as the basis for other arguments, such as changes in shift systems. | |
| The organization’s accident rate is average for its NAICS but they tend to have more serious accidents than average. | |
| Safety is seen as a business risk and management time and effort is put into accident prevention. | |
| Safety is solely defined in terms of adherence to rules and procedures and engineering controls. | |
| Accidents are seen as preventable. | |
| Managers perceive that the majority of accidents are solely caused by the unsafe behavior of front-line staff. | |
| Safety performance is measured in terms of lagging indicators such as LTI and safety incentives are based on reduced LTI rates. | |
| Senior managers are reactive in their involvement in health and safety (i.e. they use punishment when accident rates increase). | |
| Accident rates are relatively low, but they have reached a plateau. | |
| The organization is convinced that the involvement of the frontline employee in health and safety is critical if future improvements are going to be achieved. | |
| Managers recognize that a wide range of factors causes accidents and the root causes often originate from management decisions. | |
| A significant proportion of frontline employees are willing to work with management to improve health and safety. | |
| The majority of staff accept personal responsibility for their own health and safety. | |
| Safety performance is actively monitored and the data is used effectively. | |
| The majority of staff in the organization are convinced that health and safety is important from both a moral and economic point of view. | |
| Managers and frontline staff recognize that a wide range of factors causes accidents and the root causes are likely to come back to management decisions. | |
| Frontline staff accepts personal responsibility for their own and others’ health and safety. | |
| The importance of all employees feeling valued and treated fairly is recognized. | |
| The organization puts significant effort into proactive measures to prevent accidents. | |
| Safety performance is actively monitored using all data available. | |
| Non-work accidents are also monitored and a healthy lifestyle is promoted. | |
| The prevention of all injuries or harm to employees (both at work and at home) is a core company value. | |
| The organization has had a sustained period (years) without a recordable accident or high potential incident, but there is no feeling of complacency. | |
| They live with the paranoia that their next accident is just around the corner. | |
| The organization uses a range of indicators to monitor performance but it is not performance-driven, as it has confidence in its safety processes. | |
| The organization is constantly striving to be better and find better ways of improving hazard control mechanisms. | |
| All employees share the belief that health and safety is a critical aspect of their job and accept that the prevention of non-work injuries is important. | |
| The company invests considerable effort in promoting health and safety at home. |
Depending on which items you checked off, here is a summary of the phases businesses go through in their safety journeys. Where do you think we are at in our journey?
Level 1: Emerging
- Safety is defined in terms of technical and procedural solutions and compliance with regulations.
- Safety is not seen as a key business risk and the safety department is perceived to have primary responsibility for safety.
- Many accidents are seen as unavoidable and as part of the job.
- Most frontline staff are uninterested in safety and may only use safety as the basis for other arguments, such as changes in shift systems.
Level 2: Managing
- The organization’s accident rate is average for its NAICS but they tend to have more serious accidents than average.
- Safety is seen as a business risk and management time and effort is put into accident prevention.
- Safety is solely defined in terms of adherence to rules and procedures and engineering controls.
- Accidents are seen as preventable.
- Managers perceive that the majority of accidents are solely caused by the unsafe behavior of front-line staff.
- Safety performance is measured in terms of lagging indicators such as LTI and safety incentives are based on reduced LTI rates.
- Senior managers are reactive in their involvement in health and safety (i.e. they use punishment when accident rates increase).
Level 3: Involving
- Accident rates are relatively low, but they have reached a plateau.
- The organization is convinced that the involvement of the frontline employee in health and safety is critical if future improvements are going to be achieved.
- Managers recognize that a wide range of factors causes accidents and the root causes often originate from management decisions.
- A significant proportion of frontline employees are willing to work with management to improve health and safety.
- The majority of staff accept personal responsibility for their own health and safety.
- Safety performance is actively monitored and the data is used effectively.
Level 4: Cooperating
- The majority of staff in the organization are convinced that health and safety are important from both a moral and economic point of view.
- Managers and frontline staff recognize that a wide range of factors causes accidents and the root causes are likely to come back to management decisions.
- Frontline staff accepts personal responsibility for their own and others’ health and safety.
- The importance of all employees feeling valued and treated fairly is recognized.
- The organization puts significant effort into proactive measures to prevent accidents.
- Safety performance is actively monitored using all data available.
- Non-work accidents are also monitored and a healthy lifestyle is promoted.
Level 5: Continuous improvement
- The prevention of all injuries or harm to employees (both at work and at home) is a core company value.
- The organization has had a sustained period (years) without a recordable accident or high potential incident, but there is no feeling of complacency.
- They live with the paranoia that their next accident is just around the corner.
- The organization uses a range of indicators to monitor performance but it is not performance-driven, as it has confidence in its safety processes.
- The organization is constantly striving to be better and find better ways of improving hazard control mechanisms.
- All employees share the belief that health and safety is a critical aspect of their job and accept that the prevention of non-work injuries is important.
- The company invests considerable effort in promoting health and safety at home.
