“We’ve taken important steps to foster a safety culture that empowers and encourages all employees to share their voice. But there is more work to do,” Boeing said Monday.
A new report by federal safety experts found major issues with Boeing’s safety culture — including a “disconnect” between senior management and other employees, and a fear of retaliation when reporting safety concerns.
The report released Monday had been requested by Congress and was completed by a panel of experts that convened in March 2023.
The report found “gaps in Boeing’s safety journey” and described the safety culture as “inadequate” and "confusing.”
So I’m seeing a few comments deriding “safety culture”, as in “vAlUiNg LiFe iSn’T a CuLtUrE” and “tHeY ShOuLd dO ThAt AnYwAy”
But, see, in this country (and many others), production and getting it done tends to trump everything else. I personally know roofing laborers, laborers, who would rather fall off of a roof than wear a fall protection harness. They don’t get a bonus for finishing faster, they don’t have to buy the safety gear. They just don’t want safeguard themselves because a) it’s a hassle, and b) “I’ve never needed it before”.
Safety culture has to be developed in just about any enterprise. Labor and management both have to exert effort to develope and maintain a dominant attitude of life safety. And that dominant attitude is what people mean when they talk about “safety culture”.
Yes, protecting life above profit should be the default setting. Should. But it isn’t. Yes, management should bear the brunt of fault when safety culture is lost, yet there’s still a measure of responsibility on labor to maintain a safety culture and push back against the siren call of getting the job done
Safety regulations have always been written in blood.
How much blood, though, appears to be up for debate.
Exactly. Safety is inconvenient, uncomfortable, and not immediately apparently necessary. And many places that don’t have a culture of safety develop a culture of anti safety. Without a safety culture you forget your safety glasses and swear you’ll wear them next time, with it you go back and get some.
I long long time ago I was working on my first BIG construction project. A safety coordinator came up to me and told me to put on my safety glasses before cutting… something, i don’t remember what.
Now this guy was real chill, and had an easy manner about him. He didn’t yell and scream to get his way, and i was a young 20 years old and headstrong as any young man could be. He says something that changed my line and probably saved my eyes more than once. Imagine a 5’nothing pissy kid pushing back against wearing safety glasses and this 6’5" man with the kindest eyes and a slight smile reaching out, putting a hand on the shoulder, and saying: "Bro, I don’t know about you, but when I’m with my girl, I want to see ev-ry-thing.
I paused for a good ten seconds, nodded, and have always worn my safety glasses since