Does Leadership Affect Safety Culture - Essay Example

This is a crucial topic in every work environment particularly the industrial set up where operational risks are higher, involves a high level of regulation & rules and work is mostly of physical nature. The definition of safety culture by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (ACSNI, 2010) is the result of the group and personal values, mindsets, acuity, aptitudes and blueprints of demeanour that establish the commitment to, and the approach and expertise of, a firms health and safety running.

Safety culture associate with salient attributes such as job satisfaction, responsibility both at personal and management levels, style of leadership, communication methodologies, risk and business continuity plans. Safety culture can be said to be a part of organizational culture; meaning that the latter determines how subordinates view or perceive safety in an organization (Elkins and Keller, 2003 p. 590). Although there are some ambiguity and vagueness in defining safety culture, there is no doubt over the importance or worth of the conception.

The happening of incidents, accidents and disasters at the workplace is highly dependent on three key factors namely; human, technical and organizational. The focus of controlling or managing safety concerns has largely been addressed from the technical and human perspectives disregarding the organizational aspect that involves leadership, policy and procedures and is equally key in improving work place safety (Reason, 1997, p.37). The challenge of leadership, in this context, is the ability to create and manage culture as well as perceive the shortcomings of a certain culture with an aim to grow it and appropriately manage change as it happens.

It is necessary for the organization to uphold sound positive safety culture because substantial losses in finances, lives, and resources (such as time) would occur if safety values at the workplace fail the prioritization test. It also helps