Regional Basic Professional Training Course in Korea

Regional Basic Professional Training Course (BPTC) on Nuclear Safety
interactions between individuals, collective social and organizational processes,
and managerial policies and practices. Psychologists speak, e.g., of
“supraindividual and self‐regulating structures” and “behaviour settings”; in the
nuclear industry, we have introduced the term “safety culture”.
The organized process to improve the safety culture is the “management of safety”. The
“management of safety” shapes the environment in which people work and thus
influences their behaviour and attitudes to safety.
The “management of safety” is an integral part of the quality assurance program of an
organization. It comprises all the organization’s arrangements for safety. Like safety
itself, the “management of safety” is the responsibility of the operating organization
(“self‐regulation”, no dilution of responsibilities).
21.4.2. Objectives of the management of safety
The IAEA has defined “Safety culture” as follows:
“Safety culture is that assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organizations and
individuals which establishes that, as an overriding priority, nuclear plant safety issues
receive the attention warranted by their significance”.
A shorter definition comes from the Confederation of British Industry:
“Safety culture is the way we look at things and the way we do things around here”.
An important factor of safety culture is that it is more than the sum of its parts; it is a
collective commitment to safety. Therefore, the “management of safety” must not focus
only on individuals, but rather on the organization as a whole. The general objective of
safety management, to enhance safety culture, is too abstract to be operable. It can be
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