The Maturity of the safety culture of an organization can be illustrated on a 5 level ladder of safety culture advancement :
Pathological (avoidance of safety),
Reactive (limited compliance),
Calculative (compliance & system obsessed).
Proactive (focused on human factors) Proactive (focused on human factors)
Generative (safety is fully integrated)
Each step or level can be shortly described with a number of aspects of safety and is strong related with the leadership style. (see table)
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5 levels - additional features | ||||
1. Pathologicaly | 2. Reactive | 3. Calculative | 4. Proactive | 5. Generative |
By-Passing Safety | Limited Compliance | Compliance & System obsessed | Focused on human factors | Safety is fully embedded |
Management is not interested in prevention | Accidents are just bad luck | Compliance with procedures | Dialogue is promoted | Broad view of interaction between system & people. |
Blame culture | No formal systems | Over reaction to accident | Management takes some responsibilities | Two way process |
Leadership styles | ||||
“Laissez-faire” leadership | “Transactional” leadership: management by exception | “Transactional leadership”: contingent reward | “Servant leadership” | “Transformational leadership” |
Avoids making decisions and taking actions | Waits for problems to arise before reacting | Uses rewards to obtain people's engagement. | Acts as a mentor or coach, focuses on individual needs and personal development. . | Inspires people with a clear vision of what success looks like for the organization Engages people to create safety. |