I would think the main points that i would adopt for a positive safety culture in any company i'm working for would be..

• Visible leadership and commitment from all levels in the company.

• Visible evidence that investment is made in health and safety including providing adequate resources, training, etc.

• Good knowledge and understanding of health and safety throughout the company.

• Clear definition of the culture that is desired and what is required of everyone to achieve it.

• Acceptance across all levels that it is a long term strategy that requires sustained effort and interest.

• Managing competing priorities with health and safety (eg production, quality, etc).

• Good communication, up, down and across the company, at all levels

• Existence of a good learning culture — the capability and willingness to learn from experience within 

• Setting realistic and achievable targets and measuring performance against them.

• Ownership of health and safety across all levels in the company.

The attitudes and behaviour of Health and Safety Managers is critical in setting the priorities of the company. Some of the ways by which managers can help to promote positive approaches to health and safety include leading by example, effective communication and engagement with staff, encouraging a learning culture, promoting a “just, no-blame culture”, and tracking and monitoring progress to fight complacency.

Managers acting as leaders and facilitators encourage suggestions and motivate and engage with their staff to solve health and safety challenges.

The guidance document HSG65 Successful health and safety management, published by the HSE, defines the safety culture of an organisation as “the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organisation's health and safety management”.

It’s a journey where you take people with you by leading them not pushing them. Start with those at the top if you can, it will be easier in the long run. However, if there are some stubborn types, get middle managers on side. Find out who supports your actions and who does not, get the supporters to help convince the others. People tend to be competitive, use that.

Always be approachable. Stop and ask them how they are doing, don’t always talk about H&S. Be seen. Discuss with others what you can see unfolding, ask their opinion “does what those guys are doing, look safe to you?”, “shall we go and help them”, What shall we do to prevent this lack of planning again”. Deliver on anything you commit to at all levels in the organisation. Be consistent. Be realistic. Get an offender for something and make them responsible for ensuring everyone does that thing correctly (poacher turned game keeper). Generally, make people responsible for their part of the system, get them to define it, make it their baby. Be creative. Make things as simple as possible. Try doing whatever yourself, including completion of any generated documents, do you really need to sign it 20 times.

It’s the company’s management system not yours, you just oversee and guide.

Remember “Right is Might” (but you make have to show proof).

Chris

Some companies see H&S as something to plug a gap, Its far more than that, its about instilling a safety culture, and seeing the rewards it brings, I remember a few years ago i was hauled up to the manahing directors office for taking a sign down saying 73 weeks without a recorded incident.

I explained i don't belive in that as they often stop people from reporting work based injuries and even near misses, Imagine going to the management saying you've done your back in lifting something, wont go down well as the person that blew away their safety record!

He still insisted we continue with it, even though it was misleading

The Management need just as much training as the workforce and you'll find they are harder to win round as they are stuck in their ways

Thanks for the great points everyone. I guess my question was a little mis-phrased or mis-read, what I am trying to get an idea is HOW others actually acheive things like manager engagement. For clarity, where I am working now we have a good Health and Safety culture and I am having good success with implementing schems which help to encorage people to think and do naturally rather than me taxing their working day so to speak. 

To give an example of what I mean, I am implementing a safety feedback form across the organisation, across the ~250 staff to ensure good engagement I am giving away a £200 gift voucher in a lottery drawn from all the respondants. This gives me a massive amount more feedback than if i had just sent the form out and demanded them do it as part of their job and will cost less than £1 per person, I justified this fee to senior management by showing how having to chase people would cost more than that in wages. 

Examples like this is what I am interested in hearing, how you practically implement things on the ground? 

Edited by user 20 February 2017 08:53:05(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified