Cultures that Enable Work Health and Safety

This chapter identifies problems inherent with treating a safety culture as something that: sits aside from the broader organizational culture; an organization either has or does not have; and is a panacea for solving health and safety challenges. It considers two distinct philosophical approaches to understanding culture within organizations. The RMIT Centre for Construction Work Health and Safety Research was tasked with undertaking a review of research relating to organizational culture and workers' health and safety. The outcome of this review was the identification of nine components of organizational culture that influence health and safety. These components, include: leadership; communication; organizational goals and values; supportive environment; responsibility, authority, and accountability; learning; trust in people and systems; resilience; and engagement. The chapter presents these nine components in the form of a maturity continuum. The continuum describes characteristics and behaviours of construction organizations operating at different levels of cultural maturity in relation to these nine components.