While PG&E contractors may be diverse in many ways, they all seem to have one thing in common these days: questioning the meaning of a Safety Culture Survey. Within the past few months, PG&E has continued to roll out additional Safety Culture Survey requirements within their chosen contractor verification system, ISNetworld. Most contractors and suppliers will find a total of 13 new questions within their ISNetworld profile regarding safety culture surveys and PSEMS (process safety and environmental management system). In this article, we aim to explore the reasons for your request and offer guidance in performing your safety culture survey.
What is a Safety Culture Survey?
A safety culture survey is a contractor HSE tool used to assess and evaluate the safety culture within an organization. It gathers feedback from employees at all levels regarding their perceptions of the workplace’s safety policies, practices, and overall attitude toward safety. The goal is to identify areas where safety practices are vital and areas that may require improvement. PG&E requires a safety culture survey as part of its PSEMS commitment.
What is PSEMS?
In health and safety, PSEMS stands for Process Safety and Environmental Management System, and it is a safety management system that focuses on identifying, managing, and mitigating risks related to process safety and environmental hazards. PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) implemented PSEMS as part of their efforts to improve safety standards, ensure compliance, and prevent accidents or environmental impacts related to their operations. PG&E Safety Excellence Management System (PSEMS) is the system name. PSEMS fosters a strong safety culture, encouraging open communication and accountability among all Pacific Gas and Electric employees through 13 main elements.
Critical elements of PSEMS include providing practical training, ensuring regulatory compliance, and continuously improving safety practices. PG&E aims to prevent accidents and incidents, protect workers, and safeguard the communities and regions it serves. Systematically assessing and addressing risks aids in their goal. PSEMS helps the company maintain high safety standards, ensuring that safety is integrated into every aspect of its operations.
Implementing a safety culture survey
Contractors and suppliers should perform safety culture surveys at least annually. While many companies have internal processes to conduct the study, others rely on outsourced sources or tools. Safety consulting companies such as us at Cascade QMS can be beneficial in not only outlining your survey but also assisting in completing it. Our team will customize a survey that fits your industry, location, and operations. Whether you prefer a hands-on or hands-off approach, your options are plentiful.
Key areas typically assessed in a safety culture survey include:
- Employee Engagement: How involved employees are in safety processes, such as reporting hazards and participating in safety training.
- Management Commitment: The extent to which leaders prioritize safety and demonstrate a commitment to creating a safe work environment.
- Communication: How effectively safety information is communicated across the organization.
- Training and Resources: Whether employees have access to the necessary safety training and educational training resources to perform their jobs safely.
- Risk Awareness: How well employees are able to identify and respond to potential safety hazards.
- Accountability: How the organization holds employees and leadership accountable for maintaining safety standards.
Contractor Culture Sight
Contractor Culture Sight by ISN is a tool that helps companies assess and manage the safety culture of their contractors. ISN (International Safety Network) is a platform that helps businesses manage contractor safety and compliance. The Contractor Culture Sight tool provides companies with a way to evaluate the safety culture and performance of contractors before hiring them or during ongoing projects.
Through HSE surveys and assessments, data is gathered about contractors’ safety practices, attitudes, and overall safety culture. Contractor Culture Sight allows companies to review contractors’ safety records, training, risk management procedures, and commitment to maintaining a safe work environment. By using Contractor Culture Sight, companies can better understand how contractors prioritize safety and whether they align with the company’s own safety standards, helping to mitigate risks and ensure safer operations on the job site.
This tool is complimentary and relatively simple to use. The PG&E Safety Culture questionnaire provides a link to perform the survey through Contractor Culture Sight.
Utilizing the results
The survey results help organizations understand their safety culture and guide the development of strategies to enhance safety, reduce accidents, and foster a culture of safety awareness. While creating and performing a safety culture survey may be the easy part, using this information is vital to a company’s safety success.
Assessed maturity scores should be carefully reviewed and improved within a set amount of time. The idea is to set safety goals and hold your company to better standards, ultimately improving safety maturity. Any opportunities to enhance should be carefully outlined and communicated with the company as a whole. Safety is a team effort, after all.
PG&E SIF Capacity Learning Model
When performing your safety culture survey, it’s vital to consider compliance with PG&E’s SIF SCL. The PG&E SIF Capacity Learning Model is a safety model developed by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to assess and manage their workforce’s capacity to handle safety incidents and risks. The SIF stands for Serious Injury and Fatality, and the model is designed to identify potential hazards and improve safety practices to prevent severe accidents and fatalities in the workplace.
The SIF Capacity Model helps PG&E evaluate the effectiveness of its safety programs and ensure that its employees are adequately trained, equipped, and prepared to respond to safety risks. The evaluation involves analyzing safety data. Included in the data is: past incidents, near-misses, and safety observations. The results gauge the company’s ability to handle serious safety risks and reduce the likelihood of severe or fatal injuries.
PG&E uses this model to prioritize safety improvements, allocate resources more effectively, and establish better safety management practices to minimize the risk of serious incidents. The model aims to strengthen the company’s safety culture and enhance its ability to prevent life-threatening accidents, ensuring a safer work environment for its employees and the public.
Owning a new Safety Culture
PG&E, being a leader in required safety, understands that measuring safety data and benchmarking with peers achieves incident rates 576% safer than industry standards. While PG&E may be one of the first ISNetworld hiring clients requiring completion of an annual safety culture survey for compliance, it’s a safe bet that many other large corporations will follow suit. There’s no better time than now to establish and implement your safety culture survey protocols. Cascade QMS is on standby to assist.