Safety Culture ToolKit

Why is safety culture important?

Today, it has generally become accepted that a high proportion of accidents, incidents and near misses on the railways follow unsafe acts (behaviours) by people, for example, improper equipment use, not following procedures, positions/reactions of people, housekeeping. But, rather than being the instigators, it is typically the case that unsafe (organisational) conditions, that have been long developing and that have been inherited by people, represent the root cause(s) of accidents and incidents. Examples of systemic organisational weaknesses include lack of supervision, ill-defined roles and responsibilities, inadequate training/assessment/procedures/instructions, poor leadership and safety communications, competing job demands, ineffective planning and safe systems of work. Such examples are often cited as symptoms of a poor safety culture.