THE SAFETY CULTURE AWARD - A WAY TO ENCOURAGE CULTURAL CHANGE FOR A SAFER ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Safety culture and the environment are closely linked. In companies, they are very often managed together within the HSE department. In most major industrial accidents that have had a catastrophic impact on the environment one of the causes has been a poor safety culture. The very definition of safety culture originated in the investigation of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986. Another example of an accident caused by a poor safety culture was the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in 2010, which is one of the largest environmental disasters. Orders and regulations do not have the power to change safety culture. Changing the culture is much more difficult and cannot be done with conventional techniques. Management has a key role to play in this process. It is important that its members realise that promoting a safety culture positively impacts productivity and efficiency. It is useful to reward companies that are among the best in this area, to raise awareness of the importance of safety culture and to encourage sharing best practices. This was the aim of the Safety Culture Award project. The results showed that companies in the Czech Republic have very different levels of safety culture. It also showed that some companies have invested a lot of energy in developing safety and environmental protection because they consider it an important part of their business and a way to prevent accidents and incidents.