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Janice N. Tolk, Ph.D., P.E. Richard S. Hartley, Ph.D., P.E.
Safety Culture Survey at the Pantex Plant Janice N. Tolk, Ph.D., P.E. Richard S. Hartley, Ph.D., P.E. This presentation was produced under contract number DE-AC04-00AL66620 with
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Goals and Objectives Background and Motivation Objectives
Methodology and Progress Expected Outcome Summary Next Steps
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Background & Motivation
Pantex Plant engages in high hazard operations Explosives manufacture and testing Nuclear weapon assembly and disassembly Protective force operations Pantex Plant began Highly Reliable Organization (HRO) journey in 2007 Heavy emphasis on organizational culture and leadership in HRO training All managers at the Plant trained ( 500) EFCOG Group on Safety Culture Pantex Plant took a lead role in 2008 Pantex Plant continues with new EFCOG group in 2010 Pantex committed to be a lead Plant in safety culture assessments Safety culture is a foundation of HROs Provides feedback as to effectiveness of HRO
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Pantex Plant Approach to HRO
Knowledge of Systems HRO Practice #1 Manage the system, not the parts Knowledge of Variation HRO Practice #2 Reduce system variability Knowledge of Psychology HRO Practice #3 Foster a strong culture of reliability Knowledge of Knowledge HRO Practice #4 Learn and adapt as an organization
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What is Safety Culture? Deeply held attitudes and values of organization that drive safety-related behaviors Similar to personality in an individual Slow to change and difficult to measure May vary across organizational levels and groups Section level Department level Division level Plant level Sub-Cultures
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Healthy Organizational Culture
Artifacts and Behaviors Balance and alignment between espoused values and artifacts or behaviors indicates employees buying-into safety culture Becoming an HRO Espoused Beliefs and Values Balance and alignment between underlying assumptions and espoused values indicates leaders walking-the-talk Desire to be an HRO Underlying Assumptions Adapted from Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 2004
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Objective of the Safety Culture Survey
Define a safety culture model that fits the context of Pantex Plant operations Develop a Pantex-specific survey instrument to assess safety culture Pilot test to verify instrument design Administer in Applied Technology Division to all employees Analyze data to identify current performance levels, empirical relationships between culture dimensions, and gaps across employee groups Develop action plan with metrics Offer for plant-wide deployment
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Assessing Organizational Culture
Determine by observing work Artifacts and Behaviors Misalignment hints at deeper underlying assumptions keeping the organization from attaining its desired balance between production and safety Determine by interviewing leadership Espoused Beliefs and Values Below the surface Underlying Assumptions Underlying assumptions must be understood to properly interpret artifacts and to create change Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 2004
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Assessing Safety Culture
Developed class of culture lines of inquiry that would provide feedback on Pantex HRO Researched numerous survey instruments and guides recommended by EFCOG Determined outside experts in survey design and analysis would achieve a better response and more accurate results Contracted with Texas Tech University to design and deliver a survey and conduct follow up interviews
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Assessment Approach TTU performed literature review, observed multiple operations, interviewed employees to inform survey development Interviewed bargaining unit employees Interviewed exempt employees Interviewed Applied Technology Safety Team Will perform additional process observations, document review, and focus groups to further understand results and develop action plans for improvement
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Pilot Group for Pantex Plant
Applied Technology Division Approximately 160 people in 4 departments Operations HE Engineering and Physics HE Manufacturing Materials and Analytical Services Facility Management Flat organization with four layers Division Manager Department Manager Section Manager Employees
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Characteristics of a Healthy Safety Culture
Common themes (Singer et al,. 2002, p. 113) Commitment to safety articulated at the highest levels of the organization and translated into shared values, beliefs, and behavioral norms at all levels. Necessary resources, incentives, and rewards provided by the organization to allow this commitment to occur. Safety is valued as the primary priority, even at the expense of “production” or “efficiency”; personnel are rewarded for erring on the side of safety even if they turn out to be wrong. Communication between workers and across organizational levels is frequent and candid. Unsafe acts are rare despite high levels of production. There is an openness about errors and problems, and they are reported when they do occur. Organizational learning is valued; the response to a problem focuses on improving system.
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Safety Culture Survey Dimensions
Management commitment Managerial actions Employee commitment Employee involvement Perceived risks Required work pace Beliefs about accident causation factors (systems thinking) Job-induced stress Safety communications Quality of safety procedures Safety training Quality of physical work arrangements Effectiveness of safety personnel Feedback and learning mechanisms Safety procedure adherence (behaviors) Safety outcomes Demographics Space for additional comments
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Pantex Plant Safety Culture Model
Developed based on Literature review (SCART, IAEA guidelines for self assessment, safety culture models from other industries) Process observations Feedback from Applied Technology safety team, scientists, and engineers Cross-walked to Pantex HRO Practices Provides feedback on effectiveness of Pantex HRO
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Pantex Plant Safety Culture Model
Inputs Process Outcomes Management Commitment to Safety Shared Accountability for Safety Safety Outcomes Job Design for Safety Learning Process for Safety
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Pantex Plant Safety Culture Model
Inputs Management Commitment to Safety Job Design for Safety Sufficient resources for safety Employee autonomy Responsive leadership for safety Quality of process standardization Personalized leadership for safety Job Motivation Organizational respect for the individual Safety training adequacy Environmental turbulence
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Pantex Plant Safety Culture Model
Process Outcomes Shared Accountability for Safety Learning Processes for Safety Quality of safety procedures Systems thinking Employee ownership of safety Openness toward mistakes Overall Perceptions of Systems Safety Overall effectiveness of safety management system Likelihood of accidents/events Historical Data Event/incident and near-miss rates Effectiveness of Safety Personnel Safety officer and union steward
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Survey Design Approximately 170 questions related to safety culture inputs and processes Five questions related to safety outcomes Four demographic questions One free response field Estimated time to complete = minutes
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Administrative Methods
Group administration in Applied Technology Division by Section and job function Trained TTU personnel will administer to ensure anonymity Pilot testing TTU graduate students Applied Technology Safety Team B&W Pantex senior staff
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Full Scale Data Collection
Full scale data collection May-June Analysis and action plan formation June – September Verify factor structure and psychometric properties Assess within-group agreement and between-group differences Evaluate gaps across organizational groups and relationships between variables Meetings, focus groups, process observations, and/or document review to understand findings and formulate action plans Deliver to entire Plant population next fiscal year
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Expected Outcomes Better understanding of the current safety culture within the Applied Technology Division and specific areas of strength and weakness across groups Identification of specific means of improving safety culture within and across groups Improved safety culture both within and across groups (long-term) Improved organizational reliability (long-term)
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Summary B&W Pantex continues on leading edge of safety improvements throughout DOE Integrated Management BBS HPI CFA HRO Safety culture assessment and improvement feedback to effectiveness of Pantex HRO B&W Pantex approach to HRO and safety culture consistent with DOE HRO framework integrates HPI, BBS, VPP HRO Practices fully integrated with ISM Safety Culture assessment fully integrated with HRO Practices
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Next Steps Share safety culture methodology lessons learned with other sites and organizations Establish the expectations for healthy safety culture at Pantex Conduct safety culture assessment across the Plant Periodically (every two years) re-evaluate safety culture to determine progress
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