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Msc. Gayle J. Arendsz – Cognitive Psychologist
• Construction industries
• Number of workers
• Hazards on the construction worksite
• Rate of incidents on the construction worksite
When incidents occur there is the possibility of certain
• direct costs ( impact on people, material and
environment)
• indirect costs (reputation of the organisation)
Even with strict safety standards and regulations, unsafe situations and incidents can still happen.
A Safety Culture research was performed on a construction site (a 80,000 m2 building) in the Netherlands.
More than 250 workers were working on the building site.
to what extent can an understanding of the range of safety culture(s) in an organization be obtained-using an ethno methodology approach?
Safety culture:
The safety culture concept was first introduced in an International Nuclear Safety Group (INSAG) report published in 1986 by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the Chernobyl disaster (Choudhry et al., 2006).
The definition of the concept ‘safety culture’ and how it could be assessed was left open in the IAEA report. There are now several definitions of safety culture.
Definition:
To become a safety culture or to obtain one, different manageable steps are required. It is impossible to become or obtain a safety culture in just one step (Hudson, 2007).
The extended organizational communication model of Westrum (1988,1981) in Hudson (2007) was used as the model of safety culture.
The 5 levels of safety culture were characterized by phrases.
PATHOLOGICALwho cares as long as we’re not caught
REACTIVESafety is important, we do a lot every
time we have an accident
CALCULATIVEwe have systems in place to
manage all hazards
PROACTIVEwe work on the problems that we
still find
GENERATIVEHSE is how we do business
round here
Increasing
Trust/Accountability
Increasingly
informed
The HSE Culture Ladder (Hudson, 2007)
Ethnomethodology:
The study of what is happening in the real world
Working Safely Model
In order to get information from what is happening on the worksite, I have used :
The objective of the study: to what extent can an understanding of the range of safety culture(s) in an organisation be obtained- using an ethno methodology approach?
Observations
Interviews(walks and talks)
The Working Safely Model(Hearts and Minds tools)
Unsafe situations that you
encounter
Do you often come across the
situation?
Howdangerous
is it?
What can be done to make the situation
safe?
What are you going to do to
make the situation
safe?
How are you going to
maintain the situation
safe?
The Working Safely Model Worksheet
(Sense) (Know) (Plan) (Act) (Maintain)
Results:
On the worksite there were groups with different opinions and beliefs about the safety requirements. Some workers respect the safety requirements and comply with them, while others don’t.
Required PPE :
• Safety glasses
• Hard hat
• Safety shoes S3
• Reflecting cloth
Depending on the type of work other PPE are used
Working Safely Worksheet Outcomes
Unsafe situations that you
encounter
Do you often come across the situation?
Howdangerous
is it?
What can be done to make the situation
safe?
What are you going to do to
make the situation
safe?
How are you going to
maintain the situation
safe?
Without an effective plan it is difficult to know how to maintain the situation safe.
The GF had some short term solutions for removing unsafe situations
but not all of their solutions were effective or long-term solutions. The most recurring answer was to approach workers’ about the unsafe situation and to control the situation. (no solution to safety problems).
Hard hat- A worker was working on a sewerage system and did not have his hard hat on. The worker said that it was difficult to work with the hard hat. He was working close to the wall and when bending down, the hard hat gets in the way.
Hard hat- A bricklayer was working at the level of the ceiling. He did not have his hard hat on and he said he could not see what he was doing if he had the hard hat on. He was hitting his head a lot of times at the sharp metal pipes.
Unsafe situations (from WSM worksheet/ general foremen)
Openings in floor
Missing of edge protection
Working unsafely on heights
Rubbish on the worksite
Scaffolds’ guardrails at incorrect levels or not completed
Scaffolds not good build
Materials being lifted with cranes and moved above people
Mobile scaffolds not on brakes or not stable
Moving of (mobile) scaffolds with person on it
Water problems
Unsafe use of sawing machines
Observations and interviews
During observations and interviews (walks and talks) different situations were encountered in which different factors were shown:
Priority for work and not safety
Supervisors did not show any responsibility for the worker or the work.
Supervisors did not have solutions for unsafe situation
No planning for unsafe situations
Poor intervention or a lack of intervention
Not registering of unsafe situations.
Examples of situations
A supervisor tripped over an electric cable that a worker was using. He looked at the worker and did not say anything about it. However, before that incident he stopped and talked to some of the workers about the job that they were doing. (work is a priority)
A supervisor was talking with the workers about the work. Some minutes later, one of the workers approached the supervisor and asked if it would be better to stop with the drilling task he was busy with. This worker was using a drilling machine and it was raining. The worker said he was getting small electrical shocks and was thinking that it would be better to stop. The supervisor answered that the worker should decide what to do (responsibility, work as a priority). The worker was saying that he wants to finish with the task, because if it rains the next day he could not perform the task either and he continued to work a bit more (work as a priority).
Examples of situations (no solutions for unsafe situations)
Hard hat- A worker was working on a sewerage system and did not have his hard hat on. The worker said that it was difficult to work with the hard hat. He was working close to the wall and when bending down, the hard hat gets in the way.
Hard hat- A bricklayer was working at the level of the ceiling. He did not have his hard hat on and he said he could not see what he was doing if he had the hard hat on. He was hitting his head a lot of times at the sharp metal pipes.
While standing with a GF on the worksite, one of his workers came with a bucket of stones and climbed a ladder with only one hand. The worker almost lost his balance. The GF knows it was not allowed to climb ladders with only one hand, but there was no other way he said to bring a small bucket of stones or other small amounts of materials on the top floor. The GF said to have asked for building elevators but it wasn’t approved. He thought that it is crazy to lift small amounts of materials with a crane each time the worker needed something.
Some of the unsafe situations could be avoided with a proper planning. Registration of unsafe situation might be a step towards working on a plan.
All these factors are somehow related to each other and I have constructed a model out of these factors:
Priority=
Production
Work/time pressure
Lack of planning
No registering of unsafe situations
No solutions for safety problems
Lack of responsibility
Lack of interventions
Reluctance to safety
Model of Attitude
PATHOLOGICALwho cares as long as we’re not caught
REACTIVESafety is important, we do a lot every
time we have an accident
CALCULATIVEwe have systems in place to
manage all hazards
PROACTIVEwe work on the problems that we
still find
GENERATIVEHSE is how we do business
round here
Increasing
Trust/Accountability
Increasingly
informed
The HSE Culture Ladder (Hudson, 2007)
Thank you!
Contact:Gayle J. Arendsz
Janana 6O’stad, Aruba
Cell: + 31 5939784
E-mail: [email protected]
