Organisational and methodical results from a large scale assessment of safety culture

1. Organisational and methodical results from a large scale assessment of safety culture

2. The DNV Group 300 offices 100 countries 10,400 employees

3. > 2,300 Professionals in energy and sustainability • Our passionate professionals work in multidisciplinary teams to enable our customers in finding the optimal solutions. • Their impartiality, high-level expertise, and experience are widely recognized. • They understand the business consequences of a technical decision and the technical consequences of a business decision. • They are present at major conferences and seminars and participate in international advisory boards, associations, and standardization bodies to share knowledge and stimulate innovative thinking.

4. Rail in Norway • 4114 km of track • A mix of different companies providing passenger and freight traffic • The Norwegian National Rail Administration (NNRA) is responsible for the management of the national railway network, on behalf of the ministry of Transport and Communication • 3900 employees • Three division – Infrastructure construction, Infrastructure management and Traffic management

5. Our assignment In 2009, SJT, the Norwegian Rail Authority, being the National Safety Authority in Norway, gave NNRA a safety authorisation with a duration of three years. The safety authorisation was given on condition that NNRA improved their safety management processes and practices, including the organisations safety culture. DetNorske Veritas (DNV) was commissioned by NNRA to carry out an external assessment of the existing safety culture in the organisation. DNV was also asked to monitor the ongoing process of improving the safety culture, and to carry out a second assessment one and a half years after the first. DNVs assignment was mandated by the General Director in NRRA. The main purpose was to give her information about the current safety culture as well as to document if and to what extent organisational development activities gave desired results on safety culture.

6. Activities • Two surveys • 2010 and 2011 • DNV Management Safety Questionnaire / DNV Workforce Safety Questionnaire • High response rate (74% in 2010 and nearly 80% in 2011) • 225 interviews • Including all stakeholder groups • Semi-structured interview guide • Numerous presentations and workshops • The work is documented in two reports

7. Structure: Organisational map, governance, procedures, technical infrastructure, etc. Culture: Shared values (beliefs) and norms (accepted behaviour) System performance (output) Co-operation: Processes within/between organisational units; teamwork/collaboration, information flow/communication, conflict levels, etc. Safety culture: Three interacting main concepts

8. What we are looking for • Competence • Collaboration • Management of conflicting goals • Compliance • Rewarding systems • Organisational learning • Risk awareness • Resilience • Leadership

9. Main findings 2010 • NNRA is an organisation where managers and employees show a genuine dedication towards safe operations • There are important improvement potential in the way this dedication is transformed into daily work practices • Three examples: • Organisational learning • Compliance • Understanding of the concept of safety

10. Improve organisational learning (Reporting = squealing = nor reporting = no learning) • Incidents are reported • Feedback is given • The report is analysed • The analysis leads to measures for improvement • The measures are implemented and checked for effectiveness

11. Improve compliance • Procedures seen as “instructive” • The complexity of the governing system in combination with the amount of procedures made it difficult to have a complete overview • A deep-rooted opinion stating that it is not possible to follow procedures and get the job done • Difference with regard to compliance with procedures for train operations and individual HSE

12. Results from 2010 management questionnaire

13. Understanding that safety is dynamic Balanced performance • “DNV concludes that employees and managers in NNRA to a large extent have a static understanding of safety. This involves a fundamental organisational assumption stating that safety is something the NNRA has as a result of rules, procedures and barriers. The majority lacks an understanding of safety as a dynamic entity that constantly has to be established and developed.”

14. Questionnaires, interviews or both? • An important learning point based on this project: • Safety Culture assessments based on questionnaires alone should be avoided • Questionnaires can tell us about “what”, interviews about “why”

15. Questionnaire results 2011 compared to 2010

16. Measures for improvement • The process of finding and implementing measures for improvement was subject to the same weaknesses in the safety culture that they were seeking to address • Measures related to compliance was an example • We argue that changing the safety culture in NNRA is not about writing endless lists of plans and actions

17. Learning how to change – single vs doubled-loop learning Write a new procedure Write about the need for compliance on intranet A serious discussion with the boss Why do we solve the challenge like this? Can we solve it differently Write an e-mail to all Common ways of solving problems A challenge (Based on Argyris & Scön, 1978)

18. Summary • Safety culture assessments can give organisations valuable insights into practices and processes • Related to safety and safety management • Related to change and change processes • Using questionnaires alone when assessing safety culture should be avoided • NNRA is not an organisation that exists in isolation. The challenges faced by NNRA could be general charateristica for the railway industry To NNRA, the information and insight we have gained from this assessment has been nothing short of a gift.” - Elisabeth Enger, Director General at NNRA

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