Culture is the key. Or said another way, perception of culture (which cements your culture) is what makes or breaks safety. The success or failure of any element of your safety and health process hinges on how it is perceived.
Management — through its vision, honest real values, systems of measurement and reward and daily decisions — lays the foundation for organizational culture. In that culture, various safety and health-related processes and procedures attempt to operate. Their intent is to control losses. Some are overall (system-wide) — for example, whether people are held accountable for performance. Some are specific — for example, how a supervisor’s training is selected.