Safety is an Attitude

Happy New Year!!!

After a longer-than-expected holiday season I'm back in the blog with more thoughts about Safety and Human Factors. I will like to thank everyone that takes the time to read this blog and specially those who send their feedback. I really appreciate that.

Well, this week topic is about safety, and the way everyone processes that concept in their own mind. We all know the definition of safety, or have some hint about it, but safety goes far beyond concepts and definitions, and have a lot more to do with attitudes we take in unsafe or risky conditions. ICAO on its 9859 document "Safety Management System Manual" defines safety in this attitude and behavior oriented way:

"The state in which the risk to harm to persons or damage to property is reduced to, and maintained at or below, an acceptable level through a continuing process of hazard identification and risk management".

So safety is not a crude concept, it requires action. I like to highlight that this definition mentions "a continuing process...", letting us know that we need to be aware, all the time, and that safety requires dedication and integration of my mental processes in the task I'm about to do. That is known as situational awareness, and is exactly what we need to understand in order to maintain an acceptable level of safety within our organization.

It's also important to understand that hazards have to be identified on a daily basis, because they are unique to every operation, and this is maybe the most important part of safety. We can't rely on hazards that have been already identified, and we have to learn that safety requires a continuos search for new hazards and threats that rise in our operation. The best sources to identify them, and be aware of, are Safety Reports, so is very important for the organization to have an efficient an reliable report system in order to transmit what the operational personnel see and identifies.

And finally, once new threats and hazards are identified we need to move forward and modify or establish procedures to manage the risk. And managing the risk also requires a lot of action because is a very dynamic process, and we need to maintain continuous vigilance in order to ensure proper establishment of this procedures. We also have to understand that procedures are dynamic and need to be continuously adjusted to work properly.

So next time you think about safety don't stop on just a definition, and think that you need to take action and go beyond your imagination in a creative an dynamic process, because safety is only maintained with positive and proactive attitudes that lead us into a safe behavior.