Safety management learning organisations

Elina Pietikfiinen works as senior research scientist at the VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland. Her background is in psychology. Her research interests include safety culture evaluation and development, safety management, safety expertise, organisational evaluation and organisational learning. She works in research and development projects in several safety critical industries, such as social and healthcare and the nuclear industry. 

Visible management commitment Safety communication Productivity versus safety Learning organisation Health and safety resources Participation in safety Risk-taking behaviour... 

A key element of successful health and safety management is the ability of the organisation to learn from its experiences. Arrangements should be made so that proactive data (e.g. from audit results) and reactive data (e.g. from incidents) in one area of an organisation are shared with other areas in the organisation. In this way, areas have the opportunity to learn from the experiences of others and to consider whether they have similar deficiencies in their systems and processes. The availability of electronic mail systems greatly facilitates the rapid sharing of such information. The information format should provide ... 

The efficiency and effectiveness of the safety management system across all parts of the organisation Learn from other organisations industry sectors... 

Establish an effective safety management system/process. Nominate key roles/ responsibilities. Define approval signatories - especially for safety reports. Establish independent verification/audit to reduce chance of undetected error. Establish a workforce-wide commitment to product integrity. Learn from previous mistakes. Initiate a documentary audit trail (identify, log and track all hazards). Airworthiness and safety must be foremost in the minds of the entire organisation. Furthermore, as many legal cases turn on documentation, it is essential that risk assessment activities and choices are documented and that records are kept. ... 

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