Safety culture is a component of organisational culture that places a high level of importance on safety beliefs, values and attitudes towards safety—and these are shared by the majority of people within the company or workplace. It can be characterised as ‘the way we do things around here. A positive safety culture can result in improved workplace health and safety (WHS) and organisational performance.

Companies with positive safety cultures recognise that safety is an integral element to the functioning of their business. They develop and promote managers with the right knowledge, skills and attitudes to successfully undertake the responsibilities of safety.

Safety climate refers to employees’ perceptions of how much safety is valued in an organisation. These perceptions are formed over time as people use safety systems, listen to what others say, and particularly what they do when it comes to safety. When positive perceptions of safety are consistent across the organisation, a positive safety climate exists and employees are more likely to act safely.

Safety climate is usually measured by a survey that asks employees about their safety experiences within the organisation. The ultimate purpose of the safety climate survey is to help identify areas of strength and improvement opportunities within the orgaisation’s safety systems and safety practices. Safety climate surveys are designed around common topics. These topics may have different names depending on the assessment tool being used, and some common topics may include:

– management safety commitment – which looks at areas of priority of safety and credibility of the commitment
– effectiveness of safety systems – which looks at ease of use of safety procedures.
– the quality of tools, equipment, and machinery to work safely – which looks at the appropriateness of PPE and other safety equipment.

Current research suggests that organisation’s should conduct safety climate surveys regularly and benchmark attitudes towards safety in th eorganisation. The shelf life of a safety climate survey’s data is typically around three months, so consider measuring your safety climate every three to six months.