The Risk of An Insufficient Culture of Safety at CDC

anthrax200-4fb7972d257056ed1fd6aee68b38e0249028755f-s6-c30Government watchdogs have warned for years about weaknesses in federal labs dealing with dangerous bugs. The CDC’s own report on the June incident details four other times that pathogens inappropriately left high-security labs since 2006, including an earlier case involving anthrax. While investigating the latest mishap, CDC Director Tom Frieden also discovered that a contagious strain of avian flu was unintentionally shipped to a lower security Department of Agriculture lab in March.

“What we’re seeing is a pattern that we missed, and the pattern is an insufficient culture of safety,”

via CDC’s Tom Frieden Says Agency Culture Contributed to Anthrax Lapse – Businessweek.

Keys for Creating a Safety Culture

safety-culture-signvia 7 Keys for Creating a Safety Culture « Aubrey Daniels’ Blog Aubrey Daniels’ Blog.

Following are seven keys to an effective safety culture:

1. The entire workforce relentlessly pursues the identification and remediation of hazards. Correcting hazards as quickly as possible and maintaining good communications around hazards will not only create a safer workplace, it will improve your employees’ engagement. Frontline employees who believe management takes care of hazards are more willing to participate fully in safety initiatives.

2. Employees at all levels are equally comfortable stopping each other when at-risk behavior is observed and recognizing each other when safe behavior is observed. While good constructive feedback is important for improvement, positive reinforcement for safe behavior is essential for building safe habits.  The more actively involved all levels of the organization are in delivering positive reinforcement for behaviors consistent with the desired culture, the stronger the culture will be.

3. No one is blamed for near misses or incidents. Instead, systemic causes are pursued. Often when people engage in at-risk behaviors that lead to incidents, there are organizational systems and practices that inadvertently encourage those at-risk practices. It is important to uncover those and establish accountability for making the changes to the systems and practices to encourage safe behavior.

4. The fear of discipline which drives under-reporting and stifles involvement has been driven out of the culture. Discipline has a place, but most safety issues can be effectively dealt with without discipline, which has side effects that work against building a culture of safety.  When discipline is used disproportionately in relation to positive consequences it leads to lower morale, reduced trust, lower productivity, less teamwork and lack of engagement.  Equally disturbing is that it suppresses reporting incidents which cripples the organizations ability to learn from mistakes and become more proactive.

5. The workforce is characterized by good relationships at all levels. Trust is an essential component for an effective safety culture.  As noted above, mistakes and errors, while unfortunate, provide invaluable learning.  Employees who have good working relationships with management are more likely to speak openly and honestly about what is working, what is not and what still needs to change.  They are also more engaged in other aspects of safety.

6. Safety is integrated into day-to-day work. It is not treated as something separate to be discussed during a weekly safety meeting or only at shift change.  Safety should be part of every conversation and considered in every decision.

7. Successes are celebrated along the way. Pride shouldn’t be focused solely on a company’s safety record, but also in what is being done every day, all day to achieve that record.

Once you have defined the ideal safety culture for your organization, the science of behavior analysis can be used to develop behaviors consistent with that culture.  Targeted positive reinforcement of desired behaviors leads to rapid change and the effects multiply quickly as all employees begin to not only display desired cultural behaviors, but to reinforce those behaviors in others.

 

What is a safety culture?

Safety-CultureSafety cultures consist of shared beliefs, practices, and attitudes that exist at an establishment. Culture is the atmosphere created by those beliefs, attitudes, etc., which shape our behavior. An organizations safety culture is the result of a number of factors such as:

  • Management and employee norms, assumptions and beliefs;
  • Management and employee attitudes;
  • Values, myths, stories;
  • Policies and procedures;
  • Supervisor priorities, responsibilities and accountability;
  • Production and bottom line pressures vs. quality issues;
  • Actions or lack of action to correct unsafe behaviors;
  • Employee training and motivation; and
  • Employee involvement or “buy-in.”

via Safety and Health Management Systems eTool | Module 4: Creating Change – Safety and Health Program Management: Fact Sheets: Creating a Safety Culture.

What is a safety culture – how will it impact my company?

cute safety cultureSafety cultures consist of shared beliefs, practices, and attitudes that exist at an establishment. Culture is the atmosphere created by those beliefs, attitudes, etc., which shape our behavior. An organizations safety culture is the result of a number of factors such as:

  • Management and employee norms, assumptions and beliefs;
  • Management and employee attitudes;
  • Values, myths, stories;
  • Policies and procedures;
  • Supervisor priorities, responsibilities and accountability;
  • Production and bottom line pressures vs. quality issues;
  • Actions or lack of action to correct unsafe behaviors;
  • Employee training and motivation; and
  • Employee involvement or “buy-in.”

via Safety and Health Management Systems eTool | Module 4: Creating Change – Safety and Health Program Management: Fact Sheets: Creating a Safety Culture.

Creating a Safety Culture

SafetyCultureWhy do you want a strong safety culture?

It has been observed at the OSHA VPP sites and confirmed by independent research that developing strong safety cultures have the single greatest impact on accident reduction of any process. It is for this single reason that developing these cultures should be top priority for all managers and supervisors.

What is a safety culture – how will it impact my company?

Safety cultures consist of shared beliefs, practices, and attitudes that exist at an establishment. Culture is the atmosphere created by those beliefs, attitudes, etc., which shape our behavior. An organizations safety culture is the result of a number of factors such as:

  • Management and employee norms, assumptions and beliefs;
  • Management and employee attitudes;
  • Values, myths, stories;
  • Policies and procedures;
  • Supervisor priorities, responsibilities and accountability;
  • Production and bottom line pressures vs. quality issues;
  • Actions or lack of action to correct unsafe behaviors;
  • Employee training and motivation; and
  • Employee involvement or “buy-in.”

via Safety and Health Management Systems eTool | Module 4: Creating Change – Safety and Health Program Management: Fact Sheets: Creating a Safety Culture.