Safety culture development: the journey and the paradoxes

THE MISPERCEPTIONS AROUND “SAFETY CULTURE” • Safety culture can be the new scapegoat during safety investigations. • Seen as sum or product of individuals, rather than a matter of interaction and sharing. • Measurement methods and tools: • Address dimensions (i.e. “what”) but do not uncover the underlying mechanisms (i.e. “why ” and “how”) if not followed by qualitative analysis. • Lack a valid reference point for comparison. • Do not explicitly explore how safety competes with other parallel organizational goals (e.g., production, security, quality).