Positive safety culture is the shared attitudes, values, and
beliefs of the staff within an airline, as they relate to safety goals. A
culture where airlines promote safety and involve everyone in solving safety
issues, is an essential part of an effective Safety Management System (SMS).
Developing a positive safety culture helps ensuring the staff in airlines can
make a difference and positively impact the level of safety.
In airlines, senior management should have the intention to
institute a positive safety culture, to accomplish this, all staff must act
responsibly, and consider the impact of, safety on everything they do. This way
of thinking must be so deep-rooted that it truly becomes "airlines'
culture." All decisions, whether by the top management or a new-hire
employee, must consider the implications on safety. Positive safety culture sets
the boundaries for acceptable behavior in airlines' daily operations.
"This is how we do things
here!"
An airlines' safety culture should consist of
psychological (how people think), behavioral (how people act), and
organizational elements.
A Strong Safety Culture Indicators
There are numerous indicators of strong safety culture:
1) Safety is top-of-mind for everyone
2) Employees at all levels feel responsible for the safety
3) There's open communication about safety issues
4) Safety is valued — employees and management believe It supports
profitability and morale
5) Efforts to maintain safety are organized and consistent
6) Effective programs ensure that everyone " walks the talk"
Learning About Safety Problems
Airlines should recognize that a punitive response to an
employee's mistake is more effective in stifling future news of problems than
in preventing them. Airlines' ability to detect and solve problems is crucial
to its ability to learn about them.
In a safety management system, failures must be exposed as
early as possible to enable learning efficiently. Airlines need to create a
safe environment for people to have an honest dialogue, especially if things go
wrong. Airlines should build a robust climate of psychological safety that is
the foundation of a strong safety culture. airlines that have a robust climate
of psychological safety are far less vulnerable to physical safety failures
that can harm customers, employees, and communities.
How to Develop a Positive Safety Culture?
If everyone in airlines is trained to do their job safely,
and is proactively looking for hazards and reporting incidents and near misses,
then airlines are approaching a level of safety that is behavior-driven. All
the components of a positive safety culture must be actively demonstrated by managers
regularly to encourage everyone to participate in this level of safety is to be
achieved.
The SMS policies in airlines' manuals should be designed to
promote a positive safety culture. Safety Culture is a complex notion,
ultimately reflected by patterns of behavior towards safety in operations, both
at the individual and the organizational level. For easier measurement and
understanding, Safety Culture can be regarded as a combination of seven
sub-cultures:
1) Priority Culture: Decisions, behaviors, and actions, at
all levels, confirm that safety is considered a priority.
Example
statement: " Safety is
given a definite priority when it conflicts with the airlines' other interests
e.g. economic."
2) Standardizing Culture: Everybody is willing and able to
comply with the airlines' regulations, rules, and standards because such rules
are complete, applicable, and kept up-to-date.
Example
statement: "The safety rules/regulations are relevant and applicable,
so there are effective rules for us to follow during the work."
3) Flexible Culture: Managers respect the knowledge of front-line
workers; front-line workers expect the company to adapt to changing demands;
there is a mutual belief that safety matters can be discovered and resolved,
and mutual willingness to do so.
Example statement. "l am given sufficient opportunities to make suggestions
and participate in the safe decision making and implementing a process."
4) Learning Culture: The organization and individuals
display positive and supportive attitudes and behaviors to all kinds of
learning, including education, training, and self-training; there is
willingness and competence to draw the right conclusions from the safety
information system.
Example statement:
" There is an active learning atmosphere
within my company."
5) Teamwork Culture: there is an attitude of trust and
cooperation among co-workers.
Example
statement: "Team spirit and
cooperation are well promoted in my company."
6) Reporting Culture: Individuals are willing to communicate
about their errors and near-misses, without fear of repercussions; the airlines
actively gather and analyze all types of safety information and provides timely
feedback.
Example
statement: "The company safety
reporting system is operated well and used widely."
7) Just Safety Culture: The system by which behaviors/actions
are evaluated and individuals rewarded or disciplined. It is operated with
fairness towards all; everybody is clear about where the line is drawn between
acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
Example
statement: "The rewards and
punishment measures of the company are fair, just, and open."
Summary
Culture of safety is defined as: "An organization's values, beliefs,
legends, rituals, mission goals, performance measures, and sense of
responsibility to its employees, customers, and the community."
A positive safety culture only develops with an aggregate
attitude that is manifested by a pervasive type of safety thinking. This type
of organizational thinking will permit airlines' employees to have an
inherently questioning attitude, a resistance to complacency, a commitment to
excellence, and a sense of personal accountability. Airlines' top management should
provide a vibrant, encouraging atmosphere in which individual growth is
recognized and rewarded.
A true safety culture exists when all employees work as a
team to:
- Maintain awareness of safety issues
- Quickly report any incidents/occurrences
- Anticipate risks to prevent accidents before they occur