Safety culture

Let me talk about ours: 1. Conduct on-the-job training (technical quizzes once per shift, with random selection of staff for on-site assessments)； 2. Conduct team safety training (mainly on accident cases) once a month ； 3. Accident drills are conducted once a month ； 4. Safety Month and Week for all employees (essay writing, speeches, quizzes). 5. Training on safety knowledge and skills (tests consist of written examinations and practical drills), held once per quarter.

The Time Glory course, taught by Professor Luo Yun from China University of Geosciences, focuses on the construction of corporate safety culture. It’s shared here for everyone’s use; it cannot be uploaded. This post was last edited by Zheng Shu on 2008-3-2 at 17:22

Safety culture – Floor 13: Definition of safety culture; Floor 14: Practical steps for establishing a safety culture. Please share your definitions and approaches to corporate culture. Corporate culture – Floor 18: The foundation for building corporate culture: standardizing employees’ habits; Floor 19: Examples of “true” corporate culture (still being organized), [Personal views on the connection between individual opinions and safety culture]. Last edited by Striving for victory in solitude on 2008-11-4 22:10

Every enterprise has its own safety culture; although these cultures may vary, they all share the same goal, which is to ensure safe production. Employees’ regular awareness of safety (not during \"Safety Month\" or when safety activities are organized) determines whether the company’s safety culture development is successful.

A safety culture is an important part of corporate culture

Agreed. Our safety philosophy is “Safety is everyone’s responsibility every day.” Only by developing good safety practices can a company ensure safe production.

How to organically integrate an enterprise’s safety culture with its corporate culture? What is the role of leadership? Departmental communication? Do companies have other cultures, such as those related to products, medicines, integrity, etc.? I have only heard of a safety culture and a corporate culture. There is no other culture for enterprises

I’ve seen an internally compiled employee training manual for companies, which covers topics such as the company’s culture as perceived by the union, knowledge about equipment and machinery, knowledge of production processes, safety guidelines, and environmental considerations. So does the union represent the entire corporate culture?

Safety culture building is part of corporate culture and is an essential component

Since the original poster has already mentioned safety culture and corporate culture, they should be aware that corporate culture encompasses many aspects. Moreover, \"culture\" is something that develops over time through accumulated experience in safe production; it cannot be created simply by decision. Just as there are \"century-old cultures\" and \"thousand-year-old civilizations\", the same principle applies here.

Safety must be ensured by everyone, throughout the entire process, around the clock, and in all aspects

A safety culture is part of corporate culture, and it is manifested through various safety-related promotions, organizational activities, training programs, and the like. The formation of culture requires time to develop, and the safe behaviors of people in a company can be regarded as a safety culture.

That’s perfectly put. Culture is something that accumulates over time, it is the result of gradual development, and it represents an atmosphere that emerges from the sum of experiences across generations.

The two are interrelated and inseparable; the ultimate goal is to ensure safe production and enrich spiritual culture

Definition: A safety culture is a set of values and behavioral norms with a positive guiding function, based on material culture; safety awareness and safety concepts are its main manifestations. It is crucial not to misunderstand the safety culture as merely psychological awareness and behavior, thereby ignoring its important material foundations and formation process. Otherwise, the safety culture becomes a tree without roots and water without a source.

1. Thoroughly investigate potential hazards and focus on rectification to build a solid material foundation. (1) Create the basic conditions for a safety culture. (2) Ensure the rectification of potential accident hazards. (3) It is necessary to ensure proper implementation of the \"three simultaneities\" principle in construction. (4) Efforts should be made to develop and utilize new equipment, new processes, and new technologies. (5) Eliminate outdated processes, technologies, and equipment. 2. Establish systems across entire chapters, strengthen education, and forge strong bonds for development. (1) **It is necessary to vigorously strengthen the construction of the safety legal system.** (2) Enterprises must make significant efforts to improve their organizational structure. (3) Strengthen the training of safety management personnel. (4) Strengthen training for practitioners. 3. Expand channels for promotion and actively foster a modern safety consciousness. (1) Foster a sense of responsibility for training. (Safety responsibilities are of utmost importance.) (2) Train awareness of the legal system. (Nothing can be accomplished without rules.) (3) Awareness of investment in training. (A skillful cook can’t cook without rice.) (4) Foster awareness of technology. (Science and technology are the primary productive force)

Logically, corporate culture should include a safety culture; however, the components of our company’s corporate culture are merely aimed at raising workers’ awareness and loyalty, with nothing to do with safety at all.

Those from the 8th/10th/14th floors made very valid points; a safety culture is an important part of corporate culture, and it manifests itself in various ways – through leadership awareness, employees’ safety consciousness, hardware facilities, methods of communication, forms of safety training and education, as well as the application of various safety skills in daily work.

Corporate culture has many aspects, and safety culture is just one of them.

A company has two wheels: one is the system, and the other is corporate culture. Systems are those things that are explicitly written down, which everyone must follow, and for which audits are even conducted ； Corporate culture, on the other hand, cannot be put into writing. If the system belongs to the in-group, then everything outside that group constitutes corporate culture. Excellent managers always start by examining employees’ habits to find a practical and actionable approach, which is to build corporate culture by standardizing those habits. Because habits are the external manifestation of corporate culture. I. Start with *habits to improve team work – habits are part of corporate culture. Enterprise managers should learn to focus on corporate culture and *habits when working with their teams; only by identifying this starting point can other management concepts and methods be effective. Corporate culture and *habits are like the inertia of a car; if you try to move a car with its engine off, you won’t be able to push it at all due to the lack of inertia. Therefore, if habits and corporate culture do not change, company managers, especially those who are new to their roles, will be unable to manage their teams effectively. Let’s look at such a case: Two department managers turn to the general manager for a decision regarding the delivery of accessories; one is responsible for producing those accessories, while the other uses them in the next stage of the process. The two managers gave conflicting accounts. One said, “I’ll just do the work; I won’t be responsible for delivery. You send someone to pick it up from me.” ” Another said, “You must send someone to bring it to me directly.” ” The general manager glanced at them and said to the two department managers, “Go back first; I’ll come and help you in one hour.” ” What it implies is that in one hour, neither manager needs to stay at the company and can just leave. A similar situation exists in many companies; it is actually a matter of corporate culture or the daily behavior habits of employees. We may have three different perspectives on this case: 1. Believing that a system should be established first ； 2. It is believed that each of those two managers should be given 50 strokes with a stick ； 3. Believing that “it’s fine to do it once, but once it’s done, it will always be my department that has to handle it.” The third view is accepted by many managers: “It’s fine to do it once, but once it’s done, it will always be my department that has to handle it.” ”It sounds like a famous saying – it’s easy to be a good person for a short time, but harder to remain a good person throughout one’s life ； It’s easy to be like Lei Feng for a short time, but it’s much harder to remain like Lei Feng throughout one’s life. However, the meanings expressed by the two are completely opposite; the former represents a view of avoiding responsibility, while the latter calls on people to take responsibility. Regarding many of our beliefs and our usual habits, when we do not examine them, we generally assume they are correct, when in fact they might be wrong – this is a form of apparent truth. For example, “It’s fine to do it once, but once it’s done, it will always be my department that has to handle it.” ”This view is simply an idea of avoiding work. It doesn’t seem wrong either, but its true meaning is actually that “working harder means misfortune; working harder means suffering losses.” This is a typical form of laziness, a mindset of avoiding work and responsibilities, and it is clearly incompatible with the corporate spirit we advocate. If a company has too many such misconceptions, it cannot be managed. Many professional managers are unable to get started in a new company. While there are many other factors at play, such as personal abilities, the company’s strategy, and their own management skills, their understanding of the company’s culture is also a very important factor. “A scholar meets a soldier; even with reason, he can’t make his point clear. ”A professional manager, even if he has worked for multinational companies and possesses extensive theoretical and practical experience, will likely be unable to solve problems or know where to start if, upon joining a new company, he fails to adapt to the ways of the employees and to understand the context of things from the perspective of that company’s corporate culture. From this case, we can also see that: 1. Systems cannot solve all problems: “Even the wisest people make mistakes.” ” 2. Systems don’t need to solve all problems either: the general manager has no interest in creating rules for the two of you – can’t you change your attitude towards work? If you look at things from a different perspective and adjust your mindset, won’t the two of them be able to work things out? 3. In the \"intermediate zone\" between the two tasks, at the \"junction\" of the two departments, whenever there is a \"vacuum in terms of authority and responsibilities\", as long as each of us takes the initiative to step forward half a step, the strength of the team will be created. Conversely, it will be \"one person is a dragon, but a group of people is just a bunch of insects!\" ” 4. This is a matter of an individual’s work attitude and work style; for a group or a company, it is what we commonly refer to as “corporate culture”. II. The more common *habits there are, the easier it is to manage a company. A company can also be compared to a pyramid; this pyramid has two sides – one side represents the systems, which we call the visible side ； On one hand, there is corporate culture, which we call the dark side. Whether it is the positive side or the negative side, there must be a process of construction. The system is divided into two layers; the lowest layer consists of the written rules, while the layer above it contains the unwritten rules. The same is true for corporate culture, which is divided into the absence of consensus and the existence of consensus. For example: Some words cannot be said in some companies, but can be said in others, and that is because of the different corporate cultures. In companies where such things cannot be spoken about, a consensus has long been established that this view is incorrect; 8 out of 10 people know it to be wrong, so generally no one dares to express that opinion anymore. The more entrenched systems there are, the easier it is to manage the company ； The more corporate cultures or *habits that lead to a consensus exist, the easier it is to manage such a company. Expressed in terms of a pyramid, the more consensus there is at the base, the fewer there are of those free, ambiguous uncertainties at the top, and thus it becomes easier to manage the company. If a professional manager finds themselves in a situation similar to that of a scholar facing soldiers upon joining a new company, it is definitely because there are too many uncertainties within that company. As a professional manager, if there is no awareness or analysis regarding corporate culture, if one does not approach it from a higher perspective, such a manager may act blindly, unable to manage it or improve it. So, in this sense, good habits and a good corporate culture are productivity. III. Cultivating Employees’ Behavioral Habits* Some employees hold the mistaken belief that the more work they have to handle, the greater their value to the company. There’s a pile of tasks on the table, which will give these employees a sense of achievement. However, modern companies place a great emphasis on efficiency. It doesn’t require a department manager or an administrator to be busy all day long. If your supervisor or manager sees that you take on each task and complete it quickly, they will consider this to be a sign of your competence, and they will see you as a person who is highly capable. Perhaps in the past, we were influenced by those state-owned enterprise managers from the **Party; we always thought that the more work piled up on our desks and the messier they looked, the more competent we seemed to be. But in modern companies, the neater and more organized your desk is, the better. It is a sign of competence when department managers and supervisors have nothing to do, as they have already delegated tasks to their subordinates or completed all the work that requires their personal attention. If you don’t leave them idle, they will start causing trouble for those who are still working! In state-owned enterprises, it is common for a supervisor to demand results from subordinates after assigning a task. But in modern companies, if I assign you a task and you take the initiative to respond, I will give you extra points ； If you wait until I come to ask you for the results before responding, points will be deducted from you for this task, to the extent that it might as well have been done for nothing. Respect is primarily an attitude of being meticulous and thorough in one’s actions. For example, when writing reports, in an environment where standardized procedures do not exist, many of our managers are accustomed to giving oral reports to their supervisors, and even when they have suggestions, they express them verbally. However, in modern companies, your supervisor is usually very busy; he always expects you to put reports or suggestions in writing and to submit them to him in the form of written reports. There are two reasons: First, when you go to him to give a report or make a suggestion, he might happen to be thinking about something else at that time ； Secondly, oral reports can easily lead to the omission of information, as supervisors cannot guarantee that they will be able to remember all of your suggestions. Supervisors often place great importance on written reports, as they can refer to them at any time; in this way, they will never forget your written suggestions. Some of our managers, when doing a certain task, putting forward a suggestion, or encountering some difficulties, will report to their superiors; once they have done that, they think they are done with it. In fact, this notion is very harmful. The reason is as follows: First, your boss is busier than you; in fact, many bosses can generate as much value in one hour as you could in 200 hours. In such a situation, if you delay your boss by half an hour, it means you will have to spend 100 or 200 hours to complete a task properly ； Second, when the boss is very busy, he needs you to take care of this matter, to keep track of it; even the things he needs to do in order to cooperate with you require you to monitor him as well. Therefore, it is absolutely wrong to think that everything is done once you have reported to your supervisor; you need to follow up until the end, and even your supervisor will ask you to do so. We used to* be accustomed to maintaining a warm and romantic relationship among colleagues, but in reality, when it comes to task handover, there are times when confrontation is necessary, and even clear boundaries between responsibilities must be established. Therefore, modern business management principles emphasize being decisive and not showing leniency when one is in the right. If you can truly be uncompromising when you’re in the right, your boss will welcome you very much. Because your dedication ensures that results are achieved, which allows the management level on the supervisor’s end to be reduced. For some tasks, it’s okay to ask your supervisor for help or have another department take care of them, but it’s not the best approach. Because your own strength might not be enough to get another department to act; if you need to ask your supervisor to make them do it, in a sense you are using your supervisor’s ‘authority’. Because the authority and credibility of a supervisor, just like bank deposits, have a certain limit; it’s best not to draw on that authority lightly. Instead, you should strive to increase it – that is what truly shows your skill. In well-managed companies, as long as someone is assigned a task, that person has authority. Having a higher position is of no use; if it’s your task to do something, you must do it. You can’t say things like, \"Your position isn’t higher than mine, so why should I listen to you.\" Otherwise, it can only show that you are a bureaucrat and not suitable to survive in such companies. This is the official standard. Being task-oriented is a bit like being an activist; work is your trump card. If you have a job, you have ultimate authority; no one will dare to stop you! Our company cannot be compared to the Party’s state-owned enterprises; we are merely survival-oriented businesses, and all the behaviors and habits of our employees should be shaped by the environment of such a survival-focused enterprise. For a survival-oriented enterprise, overall efficiency and customer satisfaction with the company are the prerequisites for its survival, and indeed the only prerequisites and foundations. To gain more experience at work, one must learn to take the initiative to compete with others for tasks. Only by actively participating in competition can one achieve success. If you keep shirking your work and fearing responsibility, then you won’t be able to learn anything at all! A global perspective is the most fundamental prerequisite for survival in a company. Managers must learn to **think ahead, avoid sacrificing the big picture for minor gains, refrain from competing with others, but instead learn to compete with themselves.** A narrow mindset can cause us to miss out on opportunities for growth; rather than competing with others over trivial matters, it’s better to seize the chance to improve ourselves.