Whether you know it or not, you already have a Safety Culture. It is either strong or weak, but it is there, underlying everything your organization does and stands for.

Safety Culture continues to evolve at different stages geographically, between industry sectors, amongst companies and even within different parts of larger organizations. I believe that Safety Culture evolves through the following stages:

• Self-preservation
• Preventing Costly Incidents
• Safety Management Systems
• Safety Culture Realization

Safety Culture has been around since our ancient ancestors. The most basic and earliest form of which is self-preservation. Hazards back then which required managing one’s exposure to would have included everything from temperature extremes, jagged cliffs to sabre-toothed tigers. A basic sense of self-protection and risk minimization was critical to survival.

Later as the industrial age really took off, there became a realization that safety incidents actually cost money – sometimes big money! Workers and equipment may have to be replaced, with costly down-time and schedule delays.

What was needed was some type of integrated safety management system – something to tie together risk management and safe work practices. Most successful industries and organizations have some form of safety management system in place – be it formal or informal. OHSAS18001 and ISO45001 are great examples.

The culmination of all of these stages leads us to where we really need to be, and where many high reliability organizations already are – strong Safety Culture awareness which is embodied in everything the organization does and stands for.

These stages of Safety Culture, even presently, vary around the world (with Australia and Scandinavian countries being some of the best) and by industry sector (with aerospace and energy being near the top of that list). I experienced this evolution of Safety Culture throughout my own career.

I started my career as a light commercial diver, back when OHS regulations were just being formulated in that field – I learned about Safety Culture largely through Self-preservation! Around that same time, I was working on large marine construction projects, where I learned about the high costs of safety incidents in the form of damages and delays to expensive vessels and equipment. My experience with Integrated Safety Management Systems followed, as I got more involved in the offshore oil and gas industry with major companies in Southeast Asia, Middle East, Europe and North America. Early in my career my bosses were always either the VP of OHS, VP of Environment or VP of Quality. I started to see the trend of integration whereby the vast majority of big energy organizations now have a VP of QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety & Environment). These disciplines are naturally integrated – whatever order you see the acronym: QHSE, SHEQ, EHSQ, HSEQ – oh, and you may as well add Security… my last couple of energy positions were as the HSSE Lead.

My passion, present day, is Safety Culture – more specifically, creating and building a Safety Culture movement! A strong Safety Culture ensures that everyone can go to work, do their jobs well, and get home safe. By holding this belief, we can prevent worker injuries and all the shattered families that often go with them.