The Benefits of Creating a Positive Safety Culture

Directors and officers of undertakings who authorise and direct work activities are responsible for ensuring good safety and health as part of their corporate governance role. Directors should consider the following key elements when doing so:

• How you lead the business in establishing the correct safety and health direction
• The standards and objectives you set for management on safety and health
• To what extent you give managers responsibility, accountability and support for safety and health management
• How you hold your managers accountable for the safety and health responsibilities given to them
• How you oversee internal control for safety and health

A proactive approach

In setting the strategic aims for the business, directors must have an understanding of the role safety and health performance plays in the overall performance of the business. In accepting corporate responsibility for safety and health, Directors need to be proactive in developing a positive safety and health culture for the workplace or workplaces that they control. Directors do this by:

• Ensuring that is an integral part of the management process
• Setting clear safety and health values and standards
• Thinking strategically about corporate safety and health responsibilities
• Being open and constructive about safety and health regulation
• Rewarding good safety and health behaviour
• Creating a culture of integrity about and responsibility for safety and health matters

Directors who authorise and direct work activities can exert considerable influence over the businesses they run, shaping the way things are done, how managers interpret safety and health policies and promote a safety and health culture among the workforce.

Employees’ commitment to safety and health is influenced by how they perceive "your commitment to safety and health". Visible and active support, strong leadership and commitment from all Directors and senior managers are essential for successful safety and health management.