TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of safety culture on systemic risk management
AU - Gunningham, Neil
AU - Sinclair, Darren
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Cambridge University Press 2014.
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Notwithstanding impressive gains in occupational safety across the Australian coal mining sector, this research reveals that even within the same company, some mines substantially outperform others in terms of safety outcomes, raising questions as to why, notwithstanding the introduction of sophisticated and systemic risk management mandated by government, such variation still exists. Potential contributory variables are considered (technology, physical environment, management systems), and discarded, before examining the role of safety culture. Drawing on qualitative (interviews) and quantitative research (safety statistics and audit results) it was found that distinctive patterns of site and context specific cultural factors align to safety performance. The article provides insights as to whether, to what extent or in what circumstances site specific cultural variables, served to undermine or reinforce the effectiveness of the company's overall risk management strategy.
AB - Notwithstanding impressive gains in occupational safety across the Australian coal mining sector, this research reveals that even within the same company, some mines substantially outperform others in terms of safety outcomes, raising questions as to why, notwithstanding the introduction of sophisticated and systemic risk management mandated by government, such variation still exists. Potential contributory variables are considered (technology, physical environment, management systems), and discarded, before examining the role of safety culture. Drawing on qualitative (interviews) and quantitative research (safety statistics and audit results) it was found that distinctive patterns of site and context specific cultural factors align to safety performance. The article provides insights as to whether, to what extent or in what circumstances site specific cultural variables, served to undermine or reinforce the effectiveness of the company's overall risk management strategy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85016084986&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1867299X00004098S1867299X00004098
DO - 10.1017/S1867299X00004098S1867299X00004098
M3 - Article
SN - 1867-299X
VL - 5
JO - European Journal of Risk Regulation
JF - European Journal of Risk Regulation
IS - 4
M1 - 00409
ER -