Jason Edwards Workplace Health and Safety Queensland: Program Leaders Group – 4 th of August 2011

1. The Influence of Culture on Safety : Culture, Organisational Culture and Safety Culture Jason Edwards Workplace Health and Safety Queensland: Program Leaders Group – 4th of August 2011 CRICOS No. 00213J

2. Acknowledgements Research Team: Prof. Jeremy Davey Dr Kerry Armstrong Dr Angela Wallace Queensland Transport Main Roads Workplace Health and Safety

3. Background • Transport and Storage Sector • Identified as one of 4 primary targets in the National Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2002-2012 (NOHSS) • The Heavy Vehicle Industry • 80% of the freight task • 29% of the employees in Transport and Storage • 5 years on: • Transport and Storage - 22% reduction • Heavy Vehicle Industry - only an 11% reduction • Intervention strategies that aren’t targeted to a specific audience may have differing levels of success due to cultural beliefs and values (McLeroy et al., 1994) CRICOS No. 00213J

4. Research Goal: To explore the influence of culture on safety in the heavy vehicle industry CRICOS No. 00213J

5. Safety Culture (SC) • Many different definitions • Few but vastly different models • Two ways to look at it • Trace the origins and developments • From a cultural/organisational culture perspective • Better viewed as a sub-component of organisational culture CRICOS No. 00213J

6. Organisational Culture • Organisational culture has multiple definitions • Emphasis on shared beliefs and values • Which lead to behavioural norms • Some definitions include behaviour CRICOS No. 00213J

7. Organisational Culture cont. • Schein (1990,1992) • Rather than define org. culture, suggested that any group with a significant shared history may have developed a culture • Culture is: “(a) a pattern of basic assumptions, (b) invented, discovered, or developed by a given group, (c) as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, (d) that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore (e) is to be taught to new members as the (f) correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (Schein, 1990; p111) CRICOS No. 00213J

8. Levels of Culture (Schein,1992) CRICOS No. 00213J

9. So, If organisational culture is just the ‘culture’ held by an organisation, how does the broader culture literature define culture? CRICOS No. 00213J

10. Culture Defined • Againthere are many definitions (over 100) • Common ground: Shared factors that “…provide the standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, communicating, and acting” (Triandis, 1996; p408) • Three common conceptualisations of culture (Brinkmann, 2001): • Normative – ‘the cultured’ • Anthropological – shared beliefs and values • Pragmatist – practices as key CRICOS No. 00213J

11. Culture is the underlying assumptions, beliefs, values and attitudes shared by members of a group, which result in a set of external, readily-visible, practices. Or in the case of an organisation, “shared by members of an organisation” CRICOS No. 00213J

12. The origins of safety culture • Chernobyl – lack of a safety culture nationally and in nuclear power plants “Safety Culture is that assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organisations and individuals which establishes that, as an overriding priority, ... safety issues receive the attention warranted by their significance.” (p1; INSAG-4, 1991) • Argued no academic background… academics free to work it out • From the above discussions on org culture the definition shows: • Org. Culture Safety as overriding priority • Normative Conceptualisation CRICOS No. 00213J

13. Normative conceptualisation of SC • When using a normative conceptualisation: Absent Create Present Maintain • Focus on creating safety culture in literature • INSAG (1992): “...the need to create and maintain a ‘safety culture’ is a precondition for ensuring nuclear power plant safety”(p22) • Geller (1994): “...a safety professional’s ultimate goal is to achieve a total safety culture (TSC) within his/her organisation”(p18) CRICOS No. 00213J

14. Models of safety culture • INSAG (1991): • Process at a policy, management and individual level lead to SC • Cooper (2000): • Three components (person, situation and behaviour) interact to produce SC • Guldenmund (2000): • No generally accepted definition (not even needed) • No satisfying model… which should include Cause, Content and Consequence • Took Schein but… • Replaced espoused values with attitudes • Replaced basic underlying assumptions with processes preceding attitude formation CRICOS No. 00213J

15. Espoused Values Underlying Assumptions Artefacts Levels of Culture (Schein,1992) Processes Preceding Attitude Formation (Guldenmund, 2000) CRICOS No. 00213J

16. What’s the problem? • Strong focus on creating SC but they never stop to truly work out what it is… • Assumption that: • policies and procedures etc create SC • SC leads to safety outcomes • Focus on: • policies and procedures • and safety outcomes • SC becomes an unexplored mediator • Need to re-conceptualise SC to allow a better understanding of it’s content CRICOS No. 00213J

17. Safety culture re-conceptualised • Agree with Guldenmund that if we use Schein’s definition (or another suitable organisational culture definition) there is no need for a specific separate definition for SC. • But just for clarity: Safety culture is the assembly of underlying assumptions, beliefs, values and attitudes shared by members of an organisation, which result in those external, readily-visible, practices that influence safety. • Need to create a new model CRICOS No. 00213J

18. Creating a model of safety culture • Guldenmund’s Cause, Content and Consequence Causal Factors Consequence Safety Culture CRICOS No. 00213J

19. Creating a model of safety culture • SC as an ill-defined difficult to measure mediator Causal Factors Consequence Safety Culture CRICOS No. 00213J

20. Creating a model of safety culture • Organisational safety models Causal Factors Consequence Safety Culture CRICOS No. 00213J

21. Creating a model of safety culture • Putting the Culture back into Safety Culture Causal Factors Consequence Safety Culture CRICOS No. 00213J

22. Creating a model of safety culture ??? • Can you create a culture? Causal Factors Consequence Safety Culture CRICOS No. 00213J

23. Creating a model of safety culture • Schein: • Behaviour caused by culture and context Context Consequence Safety Culture CRICOS No. 00213J

24. Creating a model of safety culture • To create the model we need to know • Context • The nature of safety (Rollenhagen, 2010) • How to operationalise the content of SC Context Consequence Safety Culture CRICOS No. 00213J

25. Context • Ecological systems model - Bronfenbrenner (1989): • Microsystem - The setting in which the individual lives... family, peers, school, and neighborhood • Mesosystem - Relations between microsystems or connections between contexts... E.g. the relation of family experiences to school experiences • Exosystem - Links between a social setting in which the individual does not have an active role and the individual's immediate context. E.g. child's experience at home may be influenced by a mother's experiences at work. • Macrosystem - Describes the culture in which individuals live • Chronosystem - The patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course CRICOS No. 00213J

26. Context • Adapted Ecological systems model - Newes-Adeyiet al. (2000): • Individual - Beliefs, values, attitudes etc • Interpersonal - Family, close colleagues, supervisors • Organisational - Structures and processes • Community or Cultural – the broader community they are situated within • Policy – Different governmental policies etc CRICOS No. 00213J

27. Context Global influence of National Culture Government Road Culture/Industry Organisation Interpersonal Individual CRICOS No. 00213J

28. Context • Government • Policy enforcement • Industry-wide Road Culture • Espoused values and behavioural norms • Organisation • Policy enforcement • Communication • Training • Interpersonal • Espoused values and behavioural norms • The individual • Knowledge, Skills and Motivation (Campbell, Gasser, & Oswald, 1996) • Is there more? How do they influence safety? CRICOS No. 00213J

29. The Context Surrounding Safety in the Heavy Vehicle Industry The Context Surrounding Safety in the Heavy Vehicle industry: General public: Electoral Power Government: Enforcement, Permits and Licensing Industrial Groups and Affiliations: Accreditation, ATA, TWU, External Guidelines The Individual: Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation, Knowledge and Skills Customers: Policy Enforcement, Demands and Pressures Organisations: Policy Enforcement, Pressures, Selection, Induction, Training and Payment Interpersonal: Peer Pressure, Support Family Pressures CRICOS No. 00213J

30. Safety • Road Safety (The usual suspects) • Fatigue • Speed • Seatbelts • Drugs and Alcohol • Driver errors • Workplace Health and Safety • Danish Study: 92.6% of reported incidents occurred off the road • Musculoskeletal • Poor mental health • Obesity • Arthritis and Rheumatism • Lung disease • Cardiac disease • Intestinal problems • Need to find positive safety measures… CRICOS No. 00213J

31. Operationalising the content of SC • If the model is to be of any practical use in the industry there is a need for safety culture to be measurable • Doesn’t change what it is i.e. Beliefs, Attitudes, Values • Culture and Organisational Culture lit • Dimensions • Power-Distance, Individualism-Collectivism etc • Syndromes • Beliefs and values centred around a key theme • Cultural Tightness, Collectivism, Individualism etc • Need to identify them... CRICOS No. 00213J

32. Context Consequence Safety Culture CRICOS No. 00213J

33. A Normative Model of Safety Culture in the Heavy Vehicle Industry The Context Within Which the Organisation and Industry is situated: Suggested contextual influences... The Heavy Vehicle Operator: Government: Policies and Regulations Interactions with the Industry Organisation: Policies and Practices Training (Formal and Informal) Industry-Wide Road Culture: Beliefs, Attitudes, Values and Behavioural Norms Interpersonal: Beliefs, Attitudes, Values and Behavioural Norms Outcomes: Negative Safety Performance: Injuries/Fatalities Financial Costs Lost Reputation Risk of Prosecution Positive Safety Performance: Safe Workplace and Workforce Reduced Costs Maintained Reputation Extrinsic Motivation Consequence The Content of Safety Culture: Assumptions, Beliefs, Attitudes and Values Cultural Dimensions: And/Or Aspects: Knowledge and Skills Behaviour Intentions Intrinsic Motivation

34. Normative Model of Safety Culture in the Heavy Vehicle Industry: Updated with Study One Preliminary Results The Context Surrounding Safety in the Heavy Vehicle industry: The Content of Safety Culture: Potential Targets for Underlying Assumptions, Beliefs, Attitudes and Values Enforcement is insufficiently applied Enforcement is unequally applied across the industry ‘Customers hold all the power’ ‘We are not as bad as people say’ ‘We should be able to regulate ourselves’ Keeping up a tough image (pride/proving masculinity) Desiring the free lifestyle Desiring Autonomy Money-Hunger ‘Don’t want to let down my friends’ Desire to be home earlier Fatalism – Invulnerability – Safety General public: Electoral Power The Heavy Vehicle Operator: Government: Enforcement, Permits and Licensing Outcomes: Negative Safety Performance: Injuries/Fatalities Financial Costs Lost Reputation Risk of Prosecution Positive Safety Performance: Safe Workplace and Workforce Reduced Costs Maintained Reputation Knowledge and Skills Consequence Industrial Groups and Affiliations: Accreditation, ATA, TWU, External Guidelines Customers: Policy Enforcement, Demands and Pressures Extrinsic Motivation Behaviour Intentions Organisations: Policy Enforcement, Pressures, Selection, Induction, Training and Payment Intrinsic Motivation Habits Interpersonal: Peer Pressure, Support Family Pressures CRICOS No. 00213J

35. Aims • Research Goal: • To explore the effect of culture on safety in the Heavy Vehicle Industry • Aims: • Explore the cultural context surrounding safety in the heavy vehicle industry • Explore the wider context within which the industry and organisations are situated • Explore the industrial and organisational context surrounding heavy vehicle operators CRICOS No. 00213J

36. Aims cont. • Determine the nature of safety in the heavy vehicle industry • Identify the content of safety culture in the heavy vehicle industry • Identify common procedures and practices regarding safety • Identify target underlying beliefs, attitudes and values which influence safety • Validate the beliefs and values, and identify statistical relationships to behaviour CRICOS No. 00213J

37. Questions? jason.edwards@qut.edu.au Mark your Diaries! International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety Conference (T2013) 26-29 August 2013, Brisbane