Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Safety culture
4.1 Introduction
The culture of an organisation is said to have a signifi -
cant impact upon performance. Organisational culture
is manifested in behaviours and attitudes of both workforce
and management. Often diffi cult to defi ne and
measure it is widely accepted that the prevailing culture
within an organisation is an important factor in order to
achieve successful management of any safety issues.
The ‘safety culture’ of an organisation is a concept
that describes the attitudes and beliefs of an organisation
in terms of its safety performance. It must be
recognised that the so-called safety culture within which
a company operates is driven by the pervading culture
within the wider organisation. The safety culture will
impact upon the effectiveness of all safety functions
including the management of fi re safety matters.
This chapter discusses the following key
elements:
➤ The concept of safety culture and its various
components
➤ How to assist in the development of a positive
safety culture within an organisation
➤ Factors promoting a negative culture
➤ External infl uences on safety standards
➤ Internal infl uences on safety standards
➤ Human factors
➤ Human error
➤ Affecting cultural change.
This chapter explores safety culture and examines
key factors that affect the culture, both positive and
negative, in order to understand how better to manage
both general safety and fi re safety within the workplace.
4.2 The concept of safety culture and its
various components
4.2.1 Defi ning safety culture
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In terms of safety culture, there is a range of defi nitions
cited by public enquires and research bodies. These
defi nitions invariably cite poor management control as a
key factor leading directly to serious accidents or disasters.
For example, the absence of a safety culture is said
to have played a major part in the nuclear reactor disaster
at Chernobyl in 1986.
The team in control of the reactor, being infl uenced
by the need to complete an unusual test quickly, removed
layer after layer of the safety controls – introduced
to keep them safe – in order to carry out a test. This
resulted in the reactor being operated under conditions
which gave rise to serious instability in the reactor, resulting
in the disaster.
The subsequent enquiry found that ‘the control team
operated in a managerial culture that failed to discourage
the taking of risks where other priorities intervened,
e.g. the need to complete the test quickly’.
In order to be truly effective in the management of
fi re or health and safety, the organisation must develop
what has become known as a positive safety culture
based on proactive management of safety issues.
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