Safety at a high level is one of the few business concerns that applies unilaterally to everyone. Unlike other business metrics, safety can impact our lives both on and off the job. Humans have evolved and flourished based on the safety of their family, friends, and communities. To flourish in the business world, great organizations need to also evolve and elevate their cultures by making safety more than just a metric on a scorecard.
Culture is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. Our belief system is influenced by multiple factors such as where we were raised, our experiences, our family’s influence, and the society in which we were born. Being born in India, I have often witnessed safety taking a back seat. When I first entered the safety management world, I had to unlearn many of the beliefs and perceptions acquired while living in India.