A Pluralist Approach to Safety Culture Safety Cultures as Management Tools and as Professional Practices

Abstract

Managing safety culture appears to be a very difficult task, including in the context of high-risk industries. A clear opposition exits between academics about this issue. On the one hand some deny the possibility for an organization to “manage” any kind of culture. Doing so would just be a manipulation of groups’ and individuals’ behaviors that has nothing to do with culture but refers to coercive power and domination. On the other hand, some build up theoretical frameworks and good practices to support the development and the maintenance of a strong and homogenous organizational culture such as safety culture. Our contribution to this debate is to open a way between these two opposite approaches. The aim is to introduce a pluralist approach of safety culture that makes its management possible, meaningful and valuable for both managers and practitioners. It is based on the clear distinction between two sets of safety cultures: Safety-Culture-as-Tools (SCT) and Professional-Safety-Cultures (PSCs).