At Safety & Health Expo yesterday Tim Marsh, of RyderMarshSharman, gave an interactive talk about improving safety culture.
Marsh defined culture as that which is typical or unremarkable. As humans we find it easier to go along with the majority rather than risk looking foolish, and this can lead to bad decisions when it comes to safety. When people are in uncertain situations, they will likely wait and see how other people act before joining in, whether they agree with the behaviour or not. “We are massively influenced by other people’s behaviour,” Marsh stated.
To illustrate this, Marsh showed the below video of people in an elevator turning to face the wrong direction because everyone else is doing it:
He went on to define the basic model of safety culture as:
As an example of bad leadership within an unhealthy safety culture, Marsh stated, “If you’re talking about safety and you don’t mean it, everyone will know.” Companies need leaders who will put safety first, rather than adding a “but”, i.e. “Do this safely, but get it done quickly.” It can’t be both, and it’s likely that safety will suffer in such a culture, as it defines how something gets done.
The talk included acts of audience participation to demonstrate how easily we can conform based on other people’s actions. At one point volunteers took part in a tug of war, which got slightly intense as volunteers wanted to win, rather than respond to Marsh’s instructions.
Marsh concluded by saying that if you want people to do things they really shouldn’t, just give them the opportunity. They will react based on the cues you give them. As shown by a tug of war taking place at a safety conference.
The Safety Conversation with SHP (previously the Safety and Health Podcast) aims to bring you the latest news, insights and legislation updates in the form of interviews, discussions and panel debates from leading figures within the profession.
Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts, subscribe and join the conversation today!
