My brewery is trying to become safer and I am reading a few articles that discuss OSHA compliance and safety culture. What does “safety culture” mean exactly? If you are OSHA compliant, does that mean you have safety culture?
The Safety Exchange Says: Having an OSHA compliant facility is one component to great safety performance – which focuses on physical conditions and written programs. Culture has more to do with behavior, and is more difficult to measure.
Your culture is the fabric of values that define coworker safety and wellbeing at your facility. It often starts by management empowering all employees to take ownership of a safe workplace. Training and positive reinforcement by coworkers fosters an attitude of engagement.
You know you are in compliance when you have written programs and SOPs and your coworkers are incorporating both into their work days. You know you have culture when your coworkers are actively improving those programs/SOPs and are proactively identifying risks/hazards to minimize near misses and injuries.