Correlation of Safety Leadership and Safety Culture

Abstract

Diversity in today’s workforce is evident due to different cultures. As a result, innovation thrives, which facilitates knowledge exchange and encourages the development in industry practices. Production also benefits from this type of environment; however, cultural differences within a workforce can initially complicate the process of creating and implementing a common safety culture. What may seem strange in one person’s culture may be normal in another person’s. Several leadership concepts preach and practice the idea of workers owning safety as common practice. However, in order for that to happen, and in order to best develop safety practices in the workforce, the respective management needs to first develop an environment based on the understanding of diversities and keeping them engaged. Management can encourage the workers to “own” safe behaviors and empower employees to take action when they witness unsafe behaviors. Educating employees about off duty activities that can lead to unsafe acts at work is also valuable in the management of risk in the workplace. An important fact to always remember is that there is no compromise to safety, in the workplace irrespective of cultural or economic environments. This paper will discuss how leadership influences the implementation of a safety plan, while considering cultural differences with a diverse workforce.