How Safety Culture Workshops ‘Work’

Barry Kirwan

EUROCONTROL

Safety Culture Workshops

Why do we need them?Why do we need them?How do they work?How do they work?What do they deliver?What do they deliver?

Analysing the Issues

Prioritising the Issues

Identifying Solutions

Understandingthe Issues

During the workshop

ANSP input

Ph

ase

2

Improvement Strategy After the workshopP 3

Questionnaire Analysis

Identify Key Issues

Ph

ase

1 Before the workshops

Safety Culture Improvement Process

SAFETY CULTURE

ELEMENTS

Risk Awareness

Commitment

Learning &Trust

Responsibility

Teamwork

Communications& Involvement

Do the results really mean what we think they mean?

Is our question set so smart it doesn’t miss anything?

What can be done about the issues?

Why we need workshops - 1

Why we need workshops - 2

There are different ‘shades’ to the issues – externally we see them as ‘black and white’, but if you live in the organisation they are subtly coloured.

What might seem an easy solution for us, may be fantasy for them

They have the right to express their safety concerns in their own words, and we must listen and capture it all

Three workshop types

Management

Controllers/Engineers

Support Staff

Logistics

Management meeting first

Middle-Mgmt meeting 2nd

4 x ATCO/Eng

Min 4 people, max 10 (mgmt/support)

3 hours maximum, one break

No person in >1 workshop

Interviews for context, but ‘weighted’ less

2-3 facilitators (3 optimum)

Spread over 3-4 days (not longer)

Issue analysis prior to workshops

Heavy workload, evening processing

Questionnaire Interpretation

NegativeNegative Neutral Neutral PositivePositive

AverageAverage

IssuesIssues Getting it rightGetting it right

11 55

Facilitation Aspects

Putting people at ease

Assuring and ensuring confidentiality

All opinions are equal

Asking questions neutrally

No echoes

No pollution

Ensuring participation, avoiding domination

Controlling ‘pressure’ (steam venting)

Staying with the issue vs. following new ones

Ensuring comprehension

Maintaining pace

Where you end up…

1. Leads to a report and presentations back to Management & Staff

2. In the report somewhere around 20+ actions are defined

3. In the ANSP’s Action Plan, responsibilities and timelines are agreed for dealing with actions