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Features The culture of health and safety


Many businesses will touch upon the subject of health and safety and how their employees should follow regulation, but in such an outward facing business as a stadium, how well is it integrated into business culture?


Here, Matthew Bailey, Divisional Manager – Inspection & Certification at


HCL Safety, explores why overall business culture and style of management are significant in creating a positive and safe environment.


While it is important to consider the safety of the public using a stadium, it is also important to remember that stadiums are first and foremost someone’s workplace. According to the Health and Safety


Executive (HSE), the safety culture of an organisation is the result of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies and patterns of behaviour which determine the commitment to, and the style of, an organisation’s health and safety management. However, having said that, health and


safety has improved considerably across Britain over the years, with workplace fatalities reduced to 27 during 2016-17 in comparison to 37 fatalities the previous year . Alongside legislation and regulation, factors such as improved risk assessment, better safety procedures, as well as training and technological advances in equipment are all playing a part.


Identifying barriers is the first step


If any business possesses a negative safety culture, along with poor leadership and direction, employee engagement is inevitably going to be low. Something must be done to safeguard employees – especially those open to higher levels of risk. This isn’t about having a command and


control mindset. The focus here should be much more on daily habits, changing attitudes and working on the way employees think. Key considerations when improving culture around health and safety include:


Commitment and behavioural based thinking


It is important to look at the level of resource allocated to health and safety and the precedence it has over aspects of the business such as cost or profit – especially in a stadium environment. Is staff safety taken as seriously as that of the public/service users? If employees see the main focus being based on commercial benefit, it’s unlikely they will think the business cares very much about safety. The involvement senior management has


with health and safety practices is also worth noting. Managers are seen to lead by


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example, so if they are behind health and safety others will follow. Behavioural based thinking takes this into


consideration and is often used to improve safety. Driven from the top of an organisation, Facilities Managers should use this way of thinking to promote individual responsibility across all levels to help change perceptions of health and safety. Above all, health and safety should be the


number one priority. Any accidents and near misses should be well documented.


Communication across the business


For a positive health and safety culture to be adopted, all levels of the business need to take ownership for safety. Taking questions from employees on


health and safety seriously is key to keeping morale high. Management has a duty to take questions on board and actively seek/give feedback on what employees are saying.


Education and culture


Across the wider industry, education and training is being ramped up to ensure safety is at the forefront of people’s minds. This is clear to see in vocational education for example, where safety training is now incorporated into the teaching syllabus. This


The importance of training


For those who do have this educational background, providing effective training is vital. However, businesses need to understand not all training will be up scratch. Training is designed to change perceptions and improve standards – something which is especially important when working at height where the risks can be very high. Dedicated training providers will ensure


thorough guidance is delivered to all participants, leaving them feeling engaged with the knowledge and understanding to do their jobs even better – even safer. For more information, visit: www.hclsafety.com


is a big step towards ensuring the future workforce are aware of the risks which come with working at height. If we look at current workforces, there can


be of a lack of importance placed on safety at height. This could be due to factors such as complacency where they may have worked in the industry for multiple years. Nevertheless, this does not excuse poor working practices. For example, whether you have worked at height for several years or just starting out, education and training is key to improving safety practices at height.


Matthew Bailey,


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