Promote_a_Positive_Health_and_Safety_Culture

Candidate to produce a written report outlining how they will promote a health and safety culture within their organisation. It is generally recognised that the management of health and safety should encompass all interactions between the workers within an organisation, the systems and procedures used and what equipment is being employed by all employees. Companies these days are aware that having a positive safety culture can only benefit their organisations. There are several view points to what the definition of a positive safety culture is: • The avoidance, prevention and reduction of risks at work needs to be an accepted part of the approach and attitudes at all levels of an organisation and apply to all its activities, i.e. the existence of an active health and safety culture affecting the organisation as a whole needs to be assured. • The safety culture of an organisation is the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organisation’s health and safety management. • The characteristic shared attitudes, values, beliefs and practices concerning the importance of health and safety and the necessity for effective controls. • Organisations with a positive safety culture are characterised by communications founded on mutual trust, by shared perceptions of the importance of safety and by confidence in the efficacy of preventative measures. OVERVIEW Over the previous 35 years since the introduction of the Health & safety at Work Act 1974 and before, the construction industry has endeavoured to reduce accident rates. First by improving hardware, effective guards and safer equipment; then improved employee performance, selection and training, incentives and reward schemes; and more recently by the way companies are organised and managed especially the introduction of safety management systems. Each improvement reduced accidents down to a plateau where further improvements seemed impossible until the next improvement level was introduced. Since the last improvement of safety management systems was introduced there has been another plateau reached where the accident levels have not dropped significantly for several years. As most accidents stem from employee errors or violations the next major step is to develop positive safety cultures which influence human behaviour at work to reduce the errors and violations. This will hopefully reduce the number of accidents occurring and cause the accident rate to fall below the existing plateau level. For Cleve Hill 150kV Substation Construction Site to improve their health and safety record and have a positive safety culture the following is what we should be aiming for: A visible commitment to health & safety by management: Regular useful visits to site Discussion of safety matters with front line staff Stoppage of production for safety matters Time and money spent on training Improvement of systems Workforce participation: Election of safety representatives for site Consultation of health & safety matters Seeks workforce participation in policy setting etc Trust & Communication: Encourage employees to challenge about safety matters on site without fear of reprisals (No Blame Culture) Management treat the workforce with respect Management provides guidance Management and Health & Safety Department provides briefings on current and future health & safety issues Ensuring the entire workforce is competent on matters of health & safety SUMMARY So we can see that having a positive safety culture can only benefit Cleve Hill in the short and long term. If we can try to change the attitude of our senior and middle management to adopting a committed attitude towards health and safety in the same way as they have a committed attitude commercially then our safety performance can only improve more considerably than it has done previously. If we can significantly change the attitude of our management then the rest of the workforce can only follow suit; and hopefully we can then promote the following values: • Site Management are passionate about health & safety. • We should not accept that anybody should be hurt during our construction activities. • Safety should not be compromised by commercial demands. • If any worker feels that they are carrying out an unsafe activity they should be encouraged to stop and report to their supervisor. • We will support any employee that refuses to work unsafely. • All but the most reckless safety failures should be able to be reported without the fear of retribution. • We actively encourage improvement in safety performance through worker innovation. • We will listen to our people and will review any health & safety issues that are brought to our attention. We understand that our safety culture can only be changed slowly over time and that all our management and operatives should be given training to try and appreciate behavioural safety and the part it plays in Cleve Hill’s ongoing safety programme. The issue that we will try and promote firstly at Cleve Hill is adopting a Near Miss/Safety Watch Card for operatives to report near misses or any suggestions for improving site safety. This will be carried out by • Gaining the support of the client, principal contractor, main contractor and all workers on site. • The Near Miss Card must be discussed and agreed at the Weekly Site safety Coordination Meeting. • The card must be designed and printed. • A toolbox talk/presentation to be delivered to operatives on site. • Posters designed and printed to raise the profile of the card. • Inclusion on Site Induction. • Feedback to be provided at coordination Meeting and to workforce (posters in mess room). Supporting Evidence can be found at Evidence 2: • Toolbox Talks Presentations (plus registers) • Minutes of meetings where the promotion was discussed • Posters and leaflets produced • Weekly Report describing plans to Line Management