The five necessary characteristics or qualities of
an injury-free culture:
At the company level, this is something that all can see.
We can actually do this. It is within our grasp. Safety
can be continuously improved. It ought to be. This is
something essential for us to do.
There is consistency between what we say about safety and
what we do about safety. At all levels, our practices are
in line with our vision of continuous safety improvement.
The shared values of the group look to behavior as the
focal point for managing continuous improvement. Behavior
(versus incidents) is what we look at to find out how we are doing.
Maintain upstream systems that tell company personnel at
all levels how we are doing prior to any injury. These
systems can be behavior-based safety, the systematic use
of near-miss information, or the use of management audits,
or other systems. These s ystems are by nature proactive.
Make feedback the norm. Feedback must become common.
Feedback is valued. Feedback flows at all levels, between
levels, up and down the organization. While there is formal
safety observation, feedback takes place without the formal
observation systems.