Values and Behavior: Building a Culture that Promotes Safety

Terry E. McSween

We safety professionals often talk about the benefits of establishing safety as a basic value within an organization. Typically, we talk about wanting to move safety from a priority to a value, using the rationale that priorities change over time while values remain unchanged. The logic is simple and straightforward. But what do we really mean when we talk about wanting to establish safety as a value? Usually, that managers and employees never compromise safety for any reason, such as to maintain production or make a procedure more convenient.

Table of Contents

What are Values?

What is the Relationship Between Values and Behavior?

How Do We Establish Safety as a Personal Value?

How Do We Establish Safety as a Cultural Value?

• Overemphasis on Results
• Overemphasis on Process
• Other General Management Problems

The Special Role of Leaders

Conclusions

Bibliography

Published in Proceedings of ASSE's Professional Development Conference, American Society of Safety Engineers. Nashville, TX, June 2002, and also in the 2005 AIChE Spring National Meeting Conference Proceedings, available on CD-ROM from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).