Cooper is the CEO of B-Safe Management Solutions. With more than 25 years practical hands-on experience, and a past Professor of Safety and I/O Psychology at Indiana University, Bloomington he is an award winning author, a Chartered Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS), Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH), a Member of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and a Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). Dominic has written extensively on the measurement of safety performance and safety culture in both academic and practitioner journals. A world renowned behavior-based safety expert with some 160 publications to his credit, he works as a professional advisor and as a project manager for single and multi-site projects on safety culture improvement initiatives.
People are hard-wired to take shortcuts due to the balance between energy intake (i.e. food) and energy output (i.e. effort spent on an activity) which means we automatically take the “path of least resistance.”
Heinrich’s1 Injury Triangle asserted that minor injuries predict serious injuries, and by controlling the causes behind minor injuries, serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) will also be controlled.
Competence is defined as “the ability of an individual or organization to do a job properly.” Competencies comprise of a set of defined behaviors (i.e. standards) that provide a structured guide enabling the identification, development and evaluation of specific behaviors so people can do their job properly.
Improving a Safety Culture requires a set of change management processes to be employed to ensure that any significant change initiatives are rolled-out in a controlled and systematic manner.
Trust is one of the fundamental aspects contained in the British Health & Safety Executive’s ubiquitous definition of Safety Culture, which states “organizations with a positive Safety Culture are characterized by communications founded on mutual trust, by shared perceptions of the importance of safety, and by confidence in the efficacy of preventative measures”[i].
If, after reading this, you have identified that you may have some features of a broken Safety Culture, or you just want to enhance your existing efforts, you may want to consider the following:
Without clear, strong sponsorship from executive leadership and other management teams, a change process is unlikely to [a] secure the necessary resources, [b] have the means to obtain and retain the support of others, and/or [c] overcome the tendency of many to resist change.
