Safety Culture Essay

A review of literature provides clues to several elements that contribute to the organizational and safety cultures within organizations. Some cultural factors are based on internal factors such as the beliefs and values of organizational members. Cultural factors can also be influenced by external factors such as societal health and safety concerns and ergonomics. Researchers have suggested that assessing safety culture in the manufacturing industry could provide useful information; however, a literature review indicates safety culture has had limited research conducted (García-Herrero, et al., 2013).

Theories

There are several theories that have been postulated to explain organizational and safety cultures. The exchange theory

Organizational culture is identified as a system of collective values and beliefs that work together with the members of the organization, it structures, and systems and creates behavioral standards (García-Herrero et al., 2013). These standards or norms are often defined by policies and practices (Chan & Snape, 2013). Safety culture has been identified as a sub-culture of organizational culture and that different cultural styles influence the degree of safety within different organizations with various degrees of success (García-Herrero et al., 2013). An aggressive/defensive culture typically requires organizational members to appear proficient, commanding, and exceptional. Individuals who do not demonstrate these qualities are considered incompetent. Individuals in passive/defensive cultures often feel pressured to think and act in manner inconsistent with their beliefs. Individuals are expected to satisfy expectations of superiors and shun interpersonal conflict. Constructive cultures encourage individuals strive to reach their potential (García-Herrero et al.,

Ghahramani and Khalkhali (2015), who developed an instrument to evaluate safety culture for the manufacturing industry, suggested additional research should be conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the instrument designed as well as safety structures across various organizations and other factors that might contribute to the safety culture in an organization. Naor et al. (2015) recommended evaluating how effective different culture styles are in various environments. Nordlöf et al. (2015) suggested a need for qualitative studies to identify theories that contribute to safety culture within