Review of Theories and Studies on the Characteristics of Safety Culture

The concept of "safety culture" is notoriously nebulous! Over the last 30 years, researchers have proposed a wide range of definitions, ranging from simple ones, such as "the way we improve operations without sacrificing worker safety," to complex ones, such as "what people at all levels of an organization do and say when their commitment to safety is not being scrutinized." A robust safety culture is commonly seen as a prerequisite for a well-functioning safety management system; this implies that one cannot have an effective safety management system (policies, procedures, formal plans, dealing with risk and safety-related information) without a safety culture (shared values, beliefs, and attitudes regarding safety, etc.). Across all industries, cultivating a positive safety culture is becoming a major responsibility. This paper looks at what it takes to have a good safety culture and why it is so important