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Studies have shown that most safety systems are reactive. For example, 83 percent of respondents to a survey published in October 1994 indicated that safety programs are "reactive, isolated within organizations, and preoccupied with quick fixes and putting out fires" (Johnson).
Too often, a serious or fatal accident serves as the catalyst for improving the safety system. In other cases, an OSHA citation that threatens the firm's viability can drive improvement. Depending on the overall impact, such event(s) can prompt either a temporary or permanent change in the way a firm manages safety.
IT'S IN THE CULTURE
How a firm responds to safety largely depends on its "safety culture," which reveals itself through an organization's values and norms. For example, a firm may tacitly ignore safety responsibilities until accidents demand a reaction. In the author's opinion, this norm is due (at least in part) to the fact that some managers are unable to relate safety efforts to the firm's basic mission.
As a firm moves to high-performance work systems, it has an opportunity to change safety norms in order to ensure that they are consistent with this basic mission. Unfortunately, safety is often forgotten when such changes are being designed. The end result is a negative impact on the safety culture. In other words, the new systems motivate employees to "get product out the door"-often at the expense of safety. As David P. Hanna notes in Designing Organizations for High Performance, "All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get." Safety is no exception.
With many practitioners characterizing safety systems as "reactive," it is necessary to examine exactly what is meant by reactive. What characteristics distinguish a reactive safety system? Conversely, how can a "proactive" safety system be identified? If a firm is implementing a new work system or wishes to change the way a safety system is currently managed, how can safety be integrated so it becomes more proactive?
Table 1 lists select criteria that can help determine whether a safety culture is primarily proactive or reactive. Although the list is not all-inclusive, it provides comparisons in nine areas of safety and health activity.
PERFORMANCE MEASURES
Prior to passage of the OSH Act, the primary measure of safety performance was lost workday...