Phrase of the month – safety curve

To create an injury free workplace, we must strive to build a culture where we are all responsible for our own safety and the safety of those around us. This is known as an interdependent safety culture.

The safety curve (pictured below) contains four key stages and illustrates the steps people and organisations must go through to reach the optimal stage.

These stages are:

1. Natural instincts

There is no pressure on companies or by companies to keep employees safe. People just accept that incidents occur – that’s just part of the industry. Employees rely on their own instincts and survival skills to keep safe and continue in employment. At this stage, if a worker is injured, there are plenty of other people who are keen to take over their job.

2. Dependent

Over time, society loses tolerance for injuries and deaths, so companies and governments are pressured to keep employees safe. Companies initially respond to these pressures by relying on safety leaders to keep employees safe. Leaders are directive and employees are seen as dependent on leaders for their safety. Incident investigations lay blame on individuals without really learning from mistakes.

3. Independent

After a while, there is even more pressure on companies to provide a safe workplace, but the pressure to compete in the market remains strong. Strong engineering and safe systems are all in place. All staff are aware of making good personal safety choices. Supervision is no longer the principal safety tool. Instead, strong engineering and systems approaches are introduced.

As safety equipment and safe work procedures are provided, employees are increasingly held accountable for their own safety. Employees often operate without direct supervision and they rely less on their managers.

4. Interdependent

People realise that the majority of incidents are due to the behaviours of people, not equipment failures or lack of systems. This last stage builds on all of the good work done in previous stages. Supervision and leadership are still important elements, systems are in place and used, but more importantly, the focus shifts to how people use the system and its elements.