System

Developing a Strong Safety Culture

Caterpillar Safety Services

What Is Safety Culture?

There’s more beneath the surface of an organization’s safety record than what you see in lagging indicators. Many organizations face similar “aches and pains,” such as repeat incidents, plateaued results, equipment damage and complacency, to name a few.

Considering why these issues happen is an important step in making progress. Some of the reasons could be linked to training gaps, a “production-over-safety” mentality, or a culture of fear, among other reasons. How do you improve safety?

Since the 1970s, Caterpillar Safety Services has worked with hundreds of organizations – including our own operations – striving to build the strongest safety culture possible to keep people safe. We’ve learned that the key to sustainable success is resilience.

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A resilient safety culture:

Resists Internal and External Pressures – like pressures from production rates, schedule, customer demands, environmental factors, organizational restructuring – that could cause people to compromise their commitment to safety.
Adapts from Challenges – has an ability to “bounce forward” from challenges by continuously improving instead of blaming and shaming those who make mistakes.
Is Proactive in Anticipating Challenges – learning from expert employees in the field and putting safeguards in place to prevent serious incidents before things go wrong.

How do Organizations Develop a Strong Safety Culture?

A strong, resilient safety culture takes time to develop and embed. Organizations that succeed in building a resilient safety culture are rewarded with improved engagement, reduction in incident rates, and increased productivity. An organization that is recognized for being the safest in its industry attracts and retains the best talent and enjoys a preference over competitors in the eyes of its customers.

In any industry, resilience is attained through a constant focus on these interdependent components: System, Mindset, Leadership and Ownership. These components interact with and impact one another. They also continue to change and develop over time. You must consider the current state of each to build a strategy for improvement.

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What Are the Components of a Resilient Safety Culture?

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An organization with a solid safety management system has a strong foundation to build resilience. A good safety system includes clearly defined expectations embedded in its policies and procedures, as well as appropriate controls to manage risk and prevent serious incidents.

The best safety systems include regular assessments of their effectiveness, training for employees and leaders, with accessible and useful tools and technologies. But an excellent system alone isn’t enough to build resilience if it’s not supported by the other components.

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A resilient safety culture requires a “people-first mindset” that starts at the top and is reflected at every level below. It requires knowing oneself, understanding how people work, and functioning as a team.

A team demonstrates care for each other, drives accountability, communicates effectively, responds well, and learns as much when things go right as they do when things go wrong.

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The mindset of a resilient safety culture will only be sustained with specific, consistent leadership behaviors that positively influence people. Leaders must drive accountability, create connectivity, demonstrate credible consciousness, and build trust.

When leaders create an environment where people feel safe speaking up, employees will be more likely to share their struggles, mistakes and uncertainties so issues get addressed before an incident occurs.

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True ownership of safety occurs when all levels of an organization fully engage in the creation and continuous improvement of safety activities to promote and elevate the culture.

With the collective mindset established and demonstrated leadership behaviors embedded, employees’ engagement in the safety system will build lasting resilience

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