Defence

Defence Personnel Executive

A culture of safety

The 2000 F-111 Deseal/Reseal Board of Inquiry exposed a serious problem for the entire Defence organisation - Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) failures were organisational and cultural in nature. Major OHS mistakes of the past could be repeated in an organisation where people have a 'safety-second' attitude towards getting the job done. That revelation set in motion a series of initiatives to change the way Defence people look at OHS in the workplace.

One initiative, the Behavioural Baseline Research (BBR) survey, was conducted between March and June 2004, across more than 10 per cent of the Defence organisation. Over 12,000 people were surveyed across the Services and Groups, with a very pleasing response rate of 70%. The results from this survey have been compiled into a report that offers insight into the opinions and attitudes of Defence people on health and safety.

"Putting in place fantastic OHS systems will not work if there is a culture of cutting corners and taking risks to get the job done," says Steve Grzeskowiak, Director General Occupational Health Safety and Compensation (OHSC) Branch (pictured right).

"This report provides a baseline of behaviours and attitudes as a snapshot in time. The plan is to repeat the survey in 2007 and 2010, to provide Defence with trend information, and to establish if we are making any headway into the areas we had identified as needing more work."

"For the first time, we have data that allows us to say it's not just our hunch that we need to, for example, train more people more thoroughly in risk assessments. In fact, people have told us that they generally get sufficient training, that they know how to do risk assessments, but when they go out to do the job, they get pressured to get the job done quickly and they have to cut corners. So this is not a training issue, it is more of a cultural issue, an issue of how safety is prioritised in Defence."

The survey also revealed that Defence people held the organisation's senior leadership in high regard, and that Directors/Unit Commanding Officers (COs) have the highest degree of influence over their directorate or units' OHS behaviours, but many leaders didn't actively seek to improve health and safety.

However, Mr Grzeskowiak says that in most cases Directors and COs are not necessarily doing anything wrong. Generally, they are aware of safety but a commitment to improve safety is not always present. Conversely, there are some Directors and COs who are very committed to safety.

The key is to integrate OHS into standard processes across Defence, rather than making OHS a separate and additional consideration. Changes to the culture of an organisation take time and as such, dramatic changes are not expected straight away. That said, initiatives currently underway, coupled with those planned for the future, are expected to result in long term positive change. The facts, Mr Grzeskowiak says, are on his side.

"There is a lot of evidence out there that says doing things in a safe way doesn't necessarily mean they take any longer or cost any more to do. In fact, if you do things safely and you don't injure people, then you're a lot better off overall. If safety is ingrained in the way that you do things, rather than an add on that you do because somebody said so, then that will flow through to everything we do - including on the front line."

The results and utility of the BBR are not confined to the corridors of the Defence Personnel Executive in Canberra. Specific and detailed BBR reports have been delivered to various individual Services and Groups, with the aim of helping to identify and develop strategies to improve how OHS is managed within each organisation. Special branch level reports have also been developed in some cases. Some 70 people throughout the Services and Groups have access to the BBR database and have been trained to interrogate the BBR information.

Information drawn from the BBR and specific training, in conjunction with existing whole-of-Defence OHS initiatives, is set to make it easier for Services and Groups to tailor improvement strategies to address specific identified issues in each part of the Defence organisation.

Further information about the BBR may be accessed at:
http://ohsc.defence.gov.au/DOHSPO/CIP/BBR/default.htm

For a copy of the full report, please contact ohsc.dohspo@defence.gov.au.

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