As an academic institution, safety culture is part of the educational foundation that will accompany our students into their future careers, preparing them to be skilled scientists in academia or industry. Safety’s intrinsic value is seen in better reproducibility and productivity of research, as well as preventing tragic lab accidents that cost lives and knowledge. This chapter is part of a larger conversation about shaping and defining a shared cultural approach, which integrates safety and health seamlessly with the work of our laboratories and classrooms.

To some degree, as researchers, we all have experienced rules, regulations, compliance approvals, and inspections. It is generally understood that these are part of an established research environment. However, because of this experience, it is easy to incorrectly equate safety rules with safety and come to believe that adhering to a list of rules equates to being good at safety.

In science, researchers think according to the principles: mathematical, physical and chemical laws; biological paradigms. Frameworks and
logic, rather than memorization are used, to gain understanding and further knowledge. Safety should be no different. This starts with recognizing that safety is a fundamental part of the scientific process, adding value by exerting greater control, reducing uncertainty, and increasing the safety and quality of your results or product.

While reading information on Safety Culture I came across an article published in Occupational Health & Safety entitled Stop Trying to Create a Safety Culture. Yes, the title did catch my eye so I read on. The article began with:

Safety culture has become the new catch phrase, program focus, and desire of global executives, verbalized in the often expressed, “We need a safety culture!” Safety culture is not new. Stop trying to create it.

OK, I said to myself; I see where they are going with this. Researchers just need to do what they are supposed to be doing, what they are told to do, and we will all be safe. I read on.

Safety practices, risk perceptions, and mitigation techniques have been and always will be a part of human conversation, probably more so among those who are more successful in navigating life’s risks and able to pass this knowledge to their offspring and descendants. Safety is a part of every culture. Everyone to some degree has, or is influenced by, multiple safety cultures.

So they are saying that Darwin was right – be safe or go home. I read on.

Cultures are not a program; they are the interconnectedness that explains why efforts work, don’t work, succeed, and fail.

This was it, the take away that actually made sense. All researchers know that safety trainings, classes, guidance’s, regulations, compliance approvals, and inspections currently exist and are part of the established research environment. Do these not comprise a Safety Culture?

We – researchers, laboratories, Universities- have safety attributes but they have been traditionally broken up into pieces, some more obvious than others, some not totally acknowledged and some just ignored. We must have a Safety Culture gestalt, a whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts, that is second nature to all participants, one that will influence the individual decisions carried out when no one is watching- the most important part of cultural reality, safety or otherwise.

For this transition to succeed we all need to be aware of the issues, be open to suggestions, communicate, and work together to change beliefs and behaviors. Not easy, not impossible, certainly doable and vastly rewarding.

– E. Segal PhD, Stanford EH&S Biosafety and Biosecurity Manager