By
Louise Butcher and David Kirkpatrick
While 80 per cent of RAN personnel believe
they are encouraged to work safely, nearly 40 per cent are concerned
to varying degrees about the level of risk in their job.
These are some of the findings of a Navy Safety Culture Survey,
which was conducted on-line and by mail last year.
The results of the survey, and follow- up interviews and workshops,
have been the catalysts for significant Safety improvements in
the Navy.
Navy Safety objectives include finding ways of ensuring that Safety
becomes better integrated to the way Navy conducts its business,
so that operational performance is enhanced and that a culture
of open and honest reporting exists within the service.
The aim of the survey was to take a “snapshot” of Safety in the
Navy so that the Navy could analyse and improve its Safety performance.
With a total of 1205 respondents, the survey results represent
the views of approximately 10 per cent of Navy personnel.
Director of Navy Safety Systems, CMDR Nick Youseman, said that
one of the most pleasing things to come out of the survey was
that it is now obvious that there are numerous areas of Safety
that Navy is excelling in.
“We’ve discovered that there are some definite pockets of excellence
out there,” he said.
This has been re-emphasised recently by Navy’s Training Authority
– Submarines winning a major national safety award.
TA-SM topped the Leadership in Injury Prevention and Management
category of the Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission
(SRCC) Awards for 2004.
“More importantly though,” said CMDR Youseman, “the survey has
allowed us to focus on the specific areas that require work.
It’s given us a much better understanding of Navy’s existing Safety
Culture and allowed us to develop a blueprint to improve Navy
Safety in the future.”
“As a result of the survey we have strengthened our communication
strategies for Safety across Navy.”
The survey acknowledged that efforts to date by the RAN to improve
its Safety Culture had created solid foundations.
Catalyst
for safe haven
CMDR Youseman said that the Navy now has more visibility of Safety
problems that need to be addressed.
One example of how this has worked concerns the need for better
training on Safety and on the reporting of hazards.
“Survey results showed that some people don’t know how to report
an incident or understand why incident reporting is so important,”
he said.
“Training now explains the processes involved in Safety reporting
and stresses the importance of reporting as a means of alerting
other Navy people to hazards that may affect them.
Since implementing these changes, reporting has increased dramatically,
giving us a more accurate picture of what is happening across
Navy on a day-to-day basis.”
Many respondents noted that education, particularly in the training
of new recruits, had played a significant role in raising the
profile of Safety as an issue.
The survey also indicated that attitudes to Safety differed by
division in the RAN.
It showed differences in the perception of RAN Safety Culture
according to rank, gender and location of respondents.
