Safety Culture

Safety culture is the shared values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours within an organization that determine the commitment to and effectiveness of its health and safety management.

What Is Safety Culture?

Safety culture describes "the way we do things around here" when it comes to safety. It encompasses the collective attitudes, perceptions and actions of everyone in the organization - from the CEO to the newest hire - regarding workplace safety.

Characteristics of a Strong Safety Culture

  • Leadership commitment: Senior management visibly prioritizes safety in decisions, resource allocation and personal behaviour.
  • Worker engagement: Employees actively participate in safety activities, report hazards and near misses and feel empowered to stop unsafe work.
  • Open communication: Safety concerns are discussed openly without fear of reprisal.
  • Just culture: Errors are treated as learning opportunities; reckless behaviour is addressed fairly.
  • Continuous learning: The organization learns from incidents, audits and industry best practices.
  • Accountability: Everyone understands their safety responsibilities and is held accountable.

Measuring Safety Culture

Safety culture can be assessed through perception surveys, behavioural observations (BBS), leading indicator trends and audit findings.

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Related Safety Terms

JHSC (Joint Health and Safety Committee)

A Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) is a legally mandated workplace committee composed of both worker and employer representatives that identifies and resolves health and safety concerns.

Workplace Violence

Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other disruptive behaviour that occurs at the work site, ranging from verbal abuse to physical assault.

Ladder Safety

Ladder safety refers to the practices and standards designed to prevent falls when using portable, fixed and rolling ladders in the workplace.

JHA (Job Hazard Analysis)

A Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) is a systematic technique that breaks a job into individual steps, identifies hazards at each step and determines preventive measures to reduce risk.

Corrective Action

A corrective action is a specific measure taken to eliminate the root cause of an identified nonconformity, hazard, or incident to prevent its recurrence.

MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet)

An MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) is the predecessor to the modern SDS, used under the original WHMIS 1988 system. It has been replaced by the 16-section SDS format under WHMIS 2015/GHS.
View All Terms

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