Advanced Safety Management, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 3SAFETY PROFESSIONALS AS CULTURE CHANGE AGENTS

When safety professionals give advice on improving operational risk management systems, their overarching role is that of a culture change agent. That premise applies universally. There are no exceptions. In their ordinary work, safety professionals are culture change agents, although they may not be aware of it.

When the second edition of this book was published in 2014, there were few promoters of the premise that safety professionals are culture change agents. That has changed. A journey into the Internet will reveal that several authors have written on the subject, there is a large amount of resource material, and that a goodly number of consultants are offering training courses on being effective change agents.

Also, presentations are being made at meetings of safety professionals on the function and the qualifications of a culture change agent. A few safety professionals say in their promotional material that they are skilled in culture change.

If safety professionals want to have additional recognition and visibility at a senior management level, to be viewed as a member of the management team, and to be considered as a contributor to achieving organizational goals, they could sharpen their culture change management skills and pursue the opportunities that are often presented or which they might create. This chapter

• Provides definitions of relative terms.
• Gives the characteristics of a change agent.
• Establishes ...