Mining

 Safety  Culture  A1ributes  

Research  and  anecdotal  evidence  is  becoming  clearer:  there  is  a  strong  correla4on  between  companies    
with    certain  (organiza4onal)  culture  a;ributes,  or  “enablers”,  and  safety  performance  excellence.  While  
it  is  not    certain  whether  good  performance  promoted  these  a;ributes  or  if  development  of  the  
a;ributes  results  in  performance  improvement,  many  believe    the  la;er    scenario  to  be  true.  The  14  
most  commonly  reported  a;ributes  associated  with  strong,  posi4ve    safety  cultures  in  U.S.  mining  
include,  but  are  not  limited  to:  accountability,  adaptability,  awareness  ,  communica4on,  competency,  
discipline,  empowerment,  engagement,  jus4ce,  learning,  leadership,  repor4ng,  trust  and  vigilance.  

It  is  possible  to  determine  if  these  a;ributes  are  strengths  or  weaknesses    in    each  organiza4on    using  
employee  percep4ons  derived  from  confiden4al  feedback  surveys.  Surveys  are  constructed  using  
statements    that  are  representa4ve  of  each  a;ribute.    The  cumula4ve  score  for  all  employees  
in  an  organiza4on  indicates  the  rela4ve  strength  of  that  enabler.    It  is  not  necessary  for  everyone  to  use  
the  same  survey;  however,  it  is  important  for  everyone  to  use  validated  statements,  i.e.,    different  
people  at  different  levels  of  the  organiza4on  will    understand  the  meaning  of  the    statement.    

Culture  is  one-­‐third  of  the  founda4on  for  safety  and  health  excellence:  culture,  systems,  leadership.  
However,  it  is  not  more  important  that  systems  or  leadership.    The  rela4ve  importance  of  the  three  
elements  is  company-­‐specific.  

Accountability  
“Everyone  is  accountable     Vigilance  
for  their  safety  responsibili4es”   “Don’t  trust  good  performance”  

Adaptability  
“No  autopilot  here.   Trust  
I  think  about  change”   “I  trust  my  supervisor,  
my  supervisor  trusts  me”  

Awareness  
“Mind  on  task,  
but  thinking  ahead”  
Repor4ng  
“I  report  everything.  
It’s  the  right  thing  to  do”  
Communica4on  
   “Safety  lives  in  conversa4on.  
We  are  our  brother’s  keeper”   Leadership  
“We  always  walk  the  talk,  
even  under  pressure”  
Competency  
       “Properly  trained,  always  retained”  
Learning  
“We  learn  from  all  incidents.  
Avoid  second  errors”  
Discipline  
         “Consequences  for  
 inten4onal  unsafe  acts”  
Jus4ce  
Empowerment   Engagement  
“I’m  treated  consistently  fairly”  
“I  can  change  things  here.”    
“I  like  what  were  doing.  
I’m  a  team  member”