Written by Principal Consultant, Simon Nicholls
This year, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside large organisations to strengthen their safety cultures. At the heart of this work has been the pursuit of a Just Culture—a cornerstone of a positive safety culture. It’s a journey that demands patience, commitment, and resilience, as organisations grapple with the complexity of balancing accountability with learning.
Each organisation I’ve supported has approached this journey in its own way, and many have found success by adopting the Baines Simmons approach. This model provides a consistent and repeatable framework to develop interventions rooted in understanding behaviours and their contribution to outcomes. It also offers a structured method for making fair accountability decisions, which is critical to fostering a culture of trust.
What Does a Positive Safety Culture Look Like?At its core, a positive safety culture is built on trust, transparency, and accountability. It’s an environment where employees feel empowered to report mistakes or concerns without fear of undue reprisal, knowing their input will be used to drive improvement rather than assign blame.
However, creating this culture is no small feat. It requires more than slogans or good intentions; it involves tangible systems, processes, and leadership behaviours that align with these principles. A Just Culture is a vital part of this foundation, as it emphasises constructive accountability and learning over punishment.
How Behaviours Influence SafetyA key element of influencing safety culture is recognising the role of behaviours. One of the strengths of the Baines Simmons approach is its focus on understanding why behaviours occur and how they influence outcomes.
In one organisation I supported this year, the approach to investigations underwent a significant transformation. Previously, investigation reports often highlighted instances where policies "weren't followed". While this can sometimes be useful, it tended to give undue weight to a single policy statement in hindsight, overlooking the broader context of procedural options available at the time. More importantly, it failed to explore why individuals made decisions that, in the moment, seemed entirely appropriate to them.
A shift in perspective brought about a meaningful change. Starting from the principle that "generally, people do not intend to cause harm"—and indeed, most aim to achieve a positive outcome—the organisation began investigations by asking a crucial question: "What did the world look like to you at the moment you made your decision?". This reframing allowed the team to uncover insights into the context, pressures, and perceptions influencing actions. By focusing on this deeper understanding, the organisation was able to drive more effective learning and system-level improvements, rather than merely highlighting compliance gaps.
This behavioural lens shifts organisations from a reactive approach to a proactive one—addressing causal and contributory factors that influence human performance and fostering continuous improvement rather than perpetuating a cycle of blame.
Challenges in Building a Positive Safety CultureThe journey to a positive safety culture is not without its challenges. Organisations often face:
1. Resistance to Change: Shifting long-standing cultural norms takes time and effort. Many organisations equate accountability with punishment, and changing this mindset requires leadership commitment and ongoing education.
2. Differentiating Accountability: Ensuring fair, consistent decisions about accountability can be difficult. Not every error or mistake warrants the same response, and striking the right balance is critical.
3. Building and Maintaining Trust: Trust is the bedrock of any safety culture, but it’s fragile. Employees need to feel confident that reporting incidents—and, just as importantly, near-misses—will lead to learning, not unjust punishment.
4. Consistency Over Time: Many organisations start strong but struggle to maintain the momentum required to embed these principles. The Baines Simmons model helps address this by offering a repeatable process for evaluating behaviours and decisions.
Practical Steps to Influence Safety CultureThe organisations I have worked with have shown remarkable self-reflection, critically assessing their existing practices and identifying strategies that align with their values and goals for long-term improvement. This willingness to examine and adapt their approaches has been both powerful and commendable. Based on this reflective process, here are some strategies I’ve seen them adopt effectively:
• Focus on Leadership Behaviour: Leaders set the tone for safety culture. Their commitment to fairness, transparency, and learning is essential to earning workforce trust.
• Understand Behavioural Drivers: Go beyond incident outcomes to analyse the behaviours and context that led to them. This allows organisations to address systemic issues rather than symptoms.
• Encourage Open Reporting: Create systems and processes that make reporting easy and safe for employees, ensuring that their input leads to meaningful change.
• Invest in Training and Resources: Equip employees and leaders with the skills and tools needed to navigate this cultural shift.
• Measure and Adapt: Use data to monitor progress, identify trends, and make continuous improvements.
Reflections on the YearLooking back on the past year, I’ve seen first-hand how challenging—but also how rewarding—it can be to influence a safety culture. The organisations that have succeeded have done so by embracing a long-term view, showing a willingness to learn, and prioritising trust and fairness.
A positive safety culture is not a destination but a journey. It evolves through commitment, persistence, and the courage to make meaningful changes. As these organisations demonstrate, the rewards—greater engagement, resilience, and safety—are well worth the effort.
Support in Strengthening your Safety CultureWith the right tools, such as the Baines Simmons approach, and a focus on behaviours, organisations can influence their safety culture in powerful and lasting ways.
We can support organisations in the implementation of a Just Culture in many ways. To find out more about the FAiR (Flowchart Analysis of Investigation Results) system download a copy of our FAiR3 Brochure.
We can deliver bespoke workshops to support the executive team in your organisation in identifying the business and operational benefits of an effective safety culture. If you’d like to learn more about Just Culture, our Just Culture Essentials for Leaders & Managers course covers this in detail.
Once your organisation has determined its route to a Just Culture we can support both the delivery of Human Centric Investigations and the review of these events through the lens of organisational learning through behavioural analysis in our Event Review group training.
To find out how our team can help your organisation build and operate a Just Culture, please contact us at hello@bainessimmons.com.