Case 1: Safety culture

Kruss Contractors is a construction company that works in building, civil works, refurbishment, and maintenance. It currently has 20 offices in Australia. Since its establishment in 1996, the company has grown steadily; going from about 600 employees in 2005 to 2,600 in 2020. This is through a mix of organic growth and acquisition of other small construction businesses. The acquisition of businesses and locations over time have resulted in variation in safety culture across the organisation. This reflects in how individual senior managers feel and act in relation to health and safety matters.

Recently, two of the organisation's employees were killed in workplace accidents in two of their construction sites in regional areas. Though these are the most serious accidents in their operations in recent times, there have been several other accidents on their construction sites in the past. These accidents have resulted in direct and indirect consequences for the company, including compensations, fines, reworks, and loss of reputation. Accordingly, the CEO is refocusing on health and safety standards in the organisation.

There is growing evidence that a positive safety culture increases safe behaviour and contributes to good health and safety performance. Improving safety culture and behavioural safety is widely viewed as a key 'tool' in improving health and safety performance. With this in mind, a review was commissioned to explore the level of safety culture and it was determined that this culture within the organisation was not positive, particularly with the small businesses that were acquired.

Your team has been charged with the responsibility to evaluate the situation and recommend solutions. Your report to the CEO should answer the following questions.

• Why should the organisation seek a change/improvement in their safety culture?

• What strategies should be implemented to change/improve the culture?

• What kind of resources are required to implement the strategies?

• How would these strategies be measured and reviewed to ensure continuous improvement?

• What impacts will these interventions have on the organisation in terms of changing safety culture, changing safety performance and on other aspects of performance.

Also, one of Kruss Contractors' major clients is currently negotiating with them to undertake some residential building projects in Papua New Guinea. In Australia, the organisation is keen on achieving positive safety culture to comply with regulatory requirements. It is acknowledged that safety culture is highly relevant in developed countries such as Australia, but how about in developing countries or emerging markets like Papua New Guinea, where regulatory and enforcement regimes and support systems are still lacking. Is it still feasible for the organisation to apply safety culture? How would you create safety culture in such an environment?