Could your business benefit from a safety culture survey or behaviour survey?

Every single business has a safety culture of some form – a product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behaviour - that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organisation’s health and safety management.¹

Put simply, a safety culture can be thought of as consisting of shared values (‘what we consider important’) and beliefs (‘what we consider true/false’), that interact with a business’s structure and control systems to produce behavioural standards (‘how we act, what we do’).

Understanding what yours looks like can go a long way to keeping employees safe, reducing costs and claims, and improving competitive advantage.

Safety culture surveys and behaviour surveys are a great way to assess your business’s safety culture and employee behaviour. They provide an opportunity to better understand employees’ normal behaviours when at work, further promote what works well and seek to improve where necessary.

What is a safety culture survey?

A safety culture survey provides a quantitative benchmark and candid insight into how employees actually feel about your current safety management - be it within the traditional ‘workplace’, or relating to driving at work activities. 

What is a behaviour survey?

Safe behaviours are critical to prevent accidents and subsequent consequences, and are essential as part of a positive safety culture. People can behave in different ways in different circumstances based on a number of psychological factors including attitude, motivation, memory, personality and perception.

A behavioural survey is much more specific, asking questions on certain activities/operations such as driving or operating machinery, and very much focuses on employees’ behaviours.

Why your business might need a safety culture survey or a behaviour survey

There’s a number of factors that might lead you to conducting a safety culture survey or a behaviour survey, such as:

• Increasing frequency and/or severity of health and safety or vehicle-related claims.
• Increasing staff sickness and absence.
• Senior management reassurance and seeing how internal communications have landed.
• Development of a robust health and safety risk management framework.
• Promote greater awareness of workplace risks.
• Gaining better control of workplace risks – especially if you have multiple premises in operation.
• To identify joint solutions to health and safety, mental health and wellbeing concerns.
• Identify areas where a less positive safety culture may exist.

The benefits of safety culture surveys and behaviour surveys

The ability to focus resources on strengthening the areas of weakness identified, and learning from positive feedback, can bring huge benefits to your business.

Resilience, reputation and results - there’s something to be gained for any business, namely:

1. Improved understanding of safety culture, employee perceptions and behaviour.
2. Improved safety engagement and behaviours.
3. Reduced accident rates, absence and sick leave.
4. Reduced costs – insurance premiums, legal costs and temporary staff.
5. Improved standing and reputation among suppliers, clients, and partners.
6. Improved staff attraction and retention – creating a better place to work.
7. Improved efficiency, quality and productivity.
8. More consistent and effective internal communication.
9. Improved mental health and wellbeing - with employees feeling supported and heard in the workplace.

Data-driven decisions and involving your employees in the process will set you on the right path to creating a successful safety culture.

More than just an insurance broker

Here at Marsh Commercial we’re more than just an insurance broker, we advise and provide practical solutions on all areas of operational risk* - including the provision of safety culture surveys and behaviour surveys. Learn more about this service on our new digital marketplace.