Our Safety Culture

Expectations

The Department’s expectations for establishing and maintaining a positive safety culture are outlined in DOE P 450.4A, Integrated Safety Management Policy.  DOE P 450.4A, Change 1, Integrated Safety Management Policy.

"The Department of Energy (DOE) expects all organizations to embrace a strong safety culture where safe performance of work and involvement of workers in all aspects of work performance are core values that are deeply, strongly, and consistently held by managers and workers."

DOE Definitions

DOE’s safety culture, Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE), and organizational culture are highly interdependent on one another -- an organization must have all three to be successful.

Organizational Culture is a set of commonly shared beliefs, expectations, and values that influence and guide the thinking and behavior of organizational members, are reflected in how work is carried out.

Safety Culture is an organization’s values and behaviors, modeled by its leaders and internalized by its members, which serve to make safe performance of work the overriding priority to protect the workers, public, and the environment. 

Safety Conscious Work Environment (SCWE) is an environment in which employees feel free to raise safety concerns to management (or a regulator) without fear of retaliation.

Integrated Safety Management System

DOE’s Integrated Safety Management System (ISM) in place since 1996, provides the Department’s framework for safely performing work.

For more information on how the concepts of Safety Culture, Safety Conscious Work Environment and Organizational Culture work together, watch the DOE National Training Center’s Introduction to Safety Culture video.

Safety Culture Focus Areas

DOE’s Safety Culture Focus Areas and Associated Attributes are identified in DOE G 450.4-1C, Attachment 10, which was issued in September 2011.  This document is different than any other issued by the Department.  It is descriptive (rather than prescriptive) and identifies behaviors that, when demonstrated consistently, will promote a positive safety culture, a SCWE, and a strong organizational climate.

DOE Focus Area in black letters on white background, Leadership in white text on blue background, Employee/Worker Engagement in white text on orange background, Organizational Learning in white text on green background  

The Safety Culture Focus Areas and Associated Attributes promote a shift from compliance towards a standard of operational excellence with an emphasis on continuous improvement and long-term performance. 

Beneath each of these Focus Areas there are attributes that describe what a strong organizational culture, a positive safety culture, and a SCWE, looks like and feels like.  The goal is to embed these individual and organizational behaviors to make them a part of the Department’s DNA – so it becomes part of everything we do -- in every task, with every person, every day.