Safety Culture

I believe some of us may have closed our eyes and prayed, I myself have done this when I got it in social media.
Share it to next 5 person within next 10 seconds……. I did it in 5 second

Just imagine a Safety Culture where people would just report hazard, when they see Hazard Reporting Box if there are any. A safety culture where people share safety articles among their friends and colleagues. A safety culture where people are motivated to follow it.

We never stop praying even though it rarely comes true because we have faith in god, we believe in.

I was reading few books by Nora Harari, ( Homo Deus and Sapiens) and it intrigued me on the fundamentals of our behavior and culture and I was inspired by his work . I thought of giving a try to give common perspective in Safety Culture, which does not have any jargons or technical doses.
Human beings are irrational beings who try to adopt rationality at the time of their convenience. We abide by traffic rules most of the time but when we are in hurry we might break the speed limit, lane regulations or even break the traffic signal and most of the time we have some strong justification to prove that our act as rational and right thing to do in that moment.
Our aviation culture cannot be alienated from our social culture and daily routines, theoretically we want to believe that as professionals we must distinguish it and behave in particularly but it’s easier to say than being done. People can act or pretend to be something but when the time and situation pushes him/her, the role he/she is portraying vanishes and the real stigma drives our decision.
So the question arises, when will people stop acting and actually become one?
When we start BELIEVING, we will stop acting as we feel it to be part of us, we find the principles and practices as part of our core BELIEF SYSTEM. We will not need external gratification or acknowledgements. Most of the time we are acknowledging the principal of Aviation Safety and its importance, but acknowledgement alone will not lead us to the desired outcome unless we start believing it and it becomes an integral part of us.
Then another question arises what is Belief System?
A belief system is a set of principles, values, and practices that shape an individual’s or a group’s perception of the world and their place in it. It can refer to religious, philosophical, political, or cultural beliefs and often influences one’s actions and decisions.
Belief systems can bring about significant changes in individuals, communities, and even societies. For example:
Religious beliefs: When people deeply believe in a particular religion, it can motivate them to make personal changes, such as giving up certain habits, and bring about social change, such as advocating for religious tolerance and equality.
Throughout our history, religious beliefs have made human to start a crusade to current religious wars. In our culture, we have seen people walk barefoot for miles, fast for days, done things beyond imagination to their body as they believe in it.
Political beliefs: Political belief systems, such as liberalism, conservatism, or socialism, can shape people’s views on issues such as government policies, economic systems, and individual rights, and lead to activism and advocacy for change.
Maoist revolution in our country is a great example on how people can sacrifice and devote their life when they really believe it to be worthy and engraved its principles in their belief system.
Cultural beliefs: Cultural belief systems, such as traditional gender roles, can influence how individuals and communities perceive and act towards different genders, and push for changes in attitudes and laws that promote gender equality.
In each case, a strong belief system can inspire people to work towards creating a better future, and bring about lasting positive changes. They see themselves in as a part of bigger picture and they would not need watchdog to follow and practice what they believe in.

Birth of belief system
Most of us believe in God, we have never seen one but for many it’s as real as any other universal truth.
Why we believe in God that I have never seen?

• Because of the stories my elders
• Because our parents believe in it, my neighbors believe in it and even neighbors of our neighbors believe in it
• Because we grew watching and reading stories and holy scripts

Stories –Awareness /Promotion of Safety

Every religion has good stories, good stories need a content and presentation, a story without good content won’t last long and a story with good content but bad presentation will not get attention of the listener.  Our safety culture shall have the story which everyone can corelate and shall be communicated in a way that everyone adheres and accepts it.

Parents/Elders- Management

I believed in God because my parents/elders believed in God and they were my idols whom I trusted and followed. They advised me what is right and what is wrong, taught me and stood by me in my struggles.

So Management Personnel are the parents/elders who employees look upon in the organization, when they adhere by rules, all other employees establishes belief that rules and procedure are above everyone and as my idol I shall follow it and adhere by it.  A child follows what their parents do, and it applies the same in any organization.

Festivals and Monuments – Training and Promotion

Festivals enforces and rebuilds the beliefs in every religion, it  has certain procedure and creates an atmosphere which gives joy and meaning to life. Similarly training, seminars etc might look like waste of time and resources but when we start acknowledging the safety, it enforces our beliefs in that system. Like Swostani mela in Sakhu,Kathmandu , where thousands of devotees gathers and worship in cold freezing weather, seminars and training  creates a platform where one can see others who shares similar values and help them strengthen it.

We see temples at every corner of the Kathmandu valley and as a Hindu we will  pray or wish every time we see them. Similarly, when safety materials are promoted  rightly and in right numbers it creates an impression which helps in building the system of belief.

Reward and Curse – Just Culture
Even the one who have never read any holy script follows some religion, they know two things reward from God and Curse from God. We starve ourselves; we walk barefoot; we shave our head for the reward or forgiveness. In safety culture, Just Culture philosophy acts the same. Safety culture shall reward the ones who adheres it and similarly act accordingly when someone breaks the protocol.

Just My thoughts
Safety culture is a widely used terms in each safety conversation but to build it we must first need to        learn the basics i.e what is culture and how culture evolved over the period.

We must accept that.

• Changes take time.
• Develop strategy considering the human learning behavior.
• Stakeholders Involvement in decision, ensuring everyone owes it
• Consideration of sociocultural aspects, human behavior, human psychology and even social science to understand and rightly plan a vision which makes this evolution possible.