Safety culture
4.4 How to assist in the development of a positive safety culture within an
4.4.3 Communication
Successful organisations have an effective communi-cation strategy, which in turn enhances and improves the pervading safety culture. In its guidance HSG65 (successful health and safety management) the HSE propose that effective communication within an organi-sation relies on the management of information; coming in, fl owing within and leaving the organisation.
Figure 4.2 Cooperation – the key to success
Safety culture
Communication is defi ned as:
The imparting, conveying, sharing and exchange of ideas, knowledge and information.
taking part in fi re safety tours of the workplace, chairing safety committee meetings, being actively involved in safety event investigations and responding positively to suggestions made by staff.
As important as the visible behaviour of senior managers is the information that is communicated in writing. In many cases there is a legal duty to produce written documentation, for example there is a require-ment to have a written health and safety policy and written records of the signifi cant fi ndings of fi re risk assessments (see Chapters 1 and 2). What is absolutely crucial is that written communication is clear, concise and understood by those it is provided for.
Examples of the range of written communication:
➤ Policy documents
➤ Notices
➤ Posters
➤ Newsletters
➤ Electronic information via e-mails or intranet
➤ Handouts at training programmes.
In addition to formal written policies, success-ful organisations will use a range of other media to communicate the safety information. The information may be supported with photographs, diagrams and cartoons. It will also be provided at strategic locations in the workplace that is convenient to view and be provided in a language that will be understood in the workplace.
The language used in some cases will be other than English, particularly when the workforce is composed of differing nationalities. Written communication may also need to use the relevant vernacular to gain acceptance and understanding of the target work group.
A key component, for instance, with regard to communicating fi re safety arrangements is the need to provide safety signage to direct people along an emergency escape route. In this case the written communication takes the form of internationally recognised pictograms.
The provision of some very specifi c information for employees is required by current UK legislation (see
‘Summary of key legal requirements’ at the rear of the book). The main requirement is for the employer to display prominently an approved poster or to issue each employee with a leafl et.
The poster and the leafl et contain the relevant information relating to the HSWA, and providing the name and contact address of the relevant enforcing Inputs
The fi rst step of effective safety management is to formu-late policy. It is vital for good sources of information to be readily available and to be used when developing safety policies and practices. This can only be achieved if an organisation monitors the changes of health and safety legislation together with any associated guidance; devel-opments in technology that are relevant to risk control systems; and the application of good management prac-tices that have been demonstrated to enhance safety performance.
Internal fl ow of information
The type of information that has to be communicated internally includes:
➤ The health and safety policy and practices
➤ The level of commitment by senior management to the policy and its implementation
➤ What the safety objectives are and how they are to be achieved
➤ How performance is to be measured and the out-come of that measurement
➤ The outcome of the investigation of any safety events including fi re incidents and personal injury accidents or near misses and false alarms.
There is a wide range of methods for communicating safety information within an organisation. Successful managers will adopt suffi cient methods to ensure that safety information is widely known and understood.
Key to effective internal communication is the visible behaviour of senior managers; the quality of written information and face to face discussion.
Managers will need to lead by example, for instance if there is a requirement for fi re doors to be closed in specifi ed locations on site, senior managers will always be seen closing them. Similarly if the policy of the organisation is to encourage the active participation of employees the senior managers’ behaviour will refl ect that policy in their dealings with staff.
Senior managers will also take an active interest in safety matters and be directly involved in, for example, Figure 4.3 Diagram of effective organisational communi-cations
Inputs Internal flow Outputs
only the technical content, but also the more subtle messages relating to the importance of the informa-tion and the people it is being communicated to. The opportunities to reinforce safety messages in this way are extremely valuable, as they will often allow for the fl ow of information in a number of directions, e.g. from shop fl oor to stores, and from sales to management.
Face-to-face communication will also reinforce the successful organisation’s ethos of employee involvement at all levels which directly affects the safety culture.
Figure 4.5 Health and safety poster
Examples of opportunities to achieve all the benefi ts of effective face-to-face communi-cation of safety information include:
➤ Safety tours and inspections
➤ Team briefi ngs
➤ Management meetings
➤ Tool box talks by supervisors
➤ Problem-solving workshops
➤ Appraisal interviews.
A common problem with face-to-face communication results from the communicator simply passing the mes-sage without stopping to check that it has been received and understood. This can result in confusion and inevit-able confl ict where the communicator thinks that they have passed the message, the receiver thinks that they have received the message but the message has been confused in the processing stage. To avoid the harmful effects of misinformation it is useful to build in a feed-back loop, where the person receiving the information explains what he/she has understood.
Outputs
It is necessary for safety information to be communicated to external bodies. For example, certain specifi ed work-related injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences must be notifi ed to the enforcers as soon as practicable after they occur (see Chapter 12). Other information relat-ing to the safety performance of an organisation will need to be provided to insurance companies and potential cus-tomers. In the public services, information has to be pro-vided to governing bodies or other government agencies responsible for monitoring public sector performance.
It is a requirement of current UK legislation that employers ensure that they make arrangements with external services, in particular with regard to fi rst aid, Figure 4.4 Typical example of a fi re alarm call point notice
authority and the local offi ce of the Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS).
In addition to written material, the fl ow of informa-tion within an organisainforma-tion is supported by face-to-face communication. Face-to-face communication is said to be a ‘rich’ source of information, in that it conveys not
Safety culture
emergency medical care and rescue work. It is therefore necessary to communicate with those external bodies that will provide assistance in the case of emergencies including the police, fi re and ambulance services.
Further examples of information that should be communicated outside an organisation include:
➤ Details contained within the health and safety fi le produced upon completion of construction oper-ations under CDM
➤ Hazards associated with a particular site, e.g. chem-ical or biologchem-ical risks
➤ Environmental management systems including facil-ities for hazardous waste disposal
➤ Emergency procedure for visitors and contractors
➤ Hazard information to prospective customers as part of the supply chain management.
Again, a variety of media is used when communicating information to external parties. Increasingly the use of electronic communication technology is simplifying and accelerating the fl ow of information. An obvious dis-advantage of the level of use of electronic media is the possibility of information overload, where safety critical issues can be lost in a plethora of trivial information.