HEALTH & SAFETY CULTURE OF AN ORGANISATION

Health & Safety Culture Of An Organisation

Table of Contents

Executive Summary3

Introduction4

Background and industry context5

Theoretical framework6

Approach and methods10

Sample12

Data collection16

Analysis17

Results18

Three ways to use the concept HSE culture19

HSE was mainly safety21

Health and working environment and environment culture22

Procedures24

Collaboration and competence25

Discussion28

The use of HSE culture in the company and experts' theories28

Theory and interviews to an illustration useful for communication34

Strengths and limitations36

Conclusion40

References42

Health & Safety Culture Of An Organisation

Executive Summary

This article reports a qualitative interview study of 31 employees, with and without leadership responsibility, employed in a Norwegian petroleum company. Health, safety and environment (HSE) culture was a new concept and the aim of this study was to gain insight into how the workers conceptualized the concept, different aspects of HSE culture and differences between the informants. The informants used the concept HSE culture in three ways. The most common way was descriptive, and the informants gave both positive and negative descriptions. Safety was the topic mentioned most, especially by informants from the operational units. However, occupational health and the working environment were also mentioned as important. Managers and employees differed little in the use of the concept of HSE culture and their opinions about the HSE challenges. Management was frequently mentioned as being important by all. Behaviour, competence, collaboration, procedures and the physical environment were found to be important in a sound HSE culture. These results are illustrated as an HSE culture umbrella in the discussion for further communication on the topic.

Introduction

Combining the term health, safety and environment (HSE) with the concept of culture has become common in the petroleum industry in Norway since 2002. Safety culture has been used since the 1980s and failings in safety culture have been attributed to a series of major disasters (INSAG, 1988). In the scientific field the safety culture concept is not yet established and its validity and content is still highly debated. However, a fuller and more comprehensive concept combining health, working environment and environment with safety was required to address the holistic mindset of companies striving to achieve a high level of social responsibility and show care and concern for “people”, “plant” and “the environment”. This article outlines the concept of HSE culture and focuses on how this concept is interpreted in a large petroleum company, with onshore and offshore process workers and office workers. It also discusses the relationship between safety culture and HSE culture.

The aims of the study are to explore the various ways the HSE concept is used and understood by managers and employees in one company and from this knowledge to build up an illustration useful for communication within the organisation. We believe this knowledge will be useful for other companies and industries as well and help to develop strategies, methods, and actions that will improve the HSE performance.

Background and industry context

The petroleum sector is the largest industry in Norway and employed in 2005 approximately 80,000 people in petroleum-based activities (Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, 2005). The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway is an independent regulatory body under ...