How to Build a Safety Culture in the Manufacturing Industry

What is a safety culture?

A safety culture refers to the set of shared beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors that influence how workplace safety is managed and sustained. It’s emphasized in how employees think and act regarding safety hazards and risks, as well as in the decisions made at the highest levels of management – decisions that must consider the human, organizational, and technical aspects of workplace safety.

Unlike regulatory compliance – which relies on strict application of standards, legal obligations, and defined safety procedures – a safety culture goes further. It’s based on voluntary adherence, collective dynamics, and a shared sense of responsibility. Whereas compliance dictates what to do to avoid sanctions, a safety culture encourages all employees to act out of conviction, even when there’s no obligation. Such culture marks a shift from safety that’s “imposed from above” to safety that’s “supported by all.”

The key roles involved in a strong safety culture are:    

• Leaders: They set strategic directions, the level of safety requirements, and allocate the necessary resources. Visible leadership commitment lends credibility to the safety discourse and influences internal behaviors.

• Frontline managers: They translate strategic directions into clear safety policies, adapted to the realities of the shop floor. They convey key messages around workplace safety, identify high-risk behaviors, and ensure that best safety practices are consistently applied. Frontline managers’ proximity with operators allows them to detect weak signals and act quickly before safety incidents occur.

• Employees: Workers are the primary ambassadors of a workplace safety culture. By following instructions, fostering incident reporting, and adopting exemplary behaviors, they contribute to reducing the level of risk in daily operations. Their active involvement – through improvement ideas, thorough vigilance, and safety initiatives – contributes to making workplace safety a collective and shared issue.

Key principles of a culture of safety

• Visibly committed leadership: Team leaders must embody their company’s safety culture through concrete actions, decisions that prevent safety issues, and a regular presence on the floor.

• Accountability at all levels: Everyone, regardless of their role, must feel compelled and encouraged to report potential hazards or suggest safety improvements.

• Regular and transparent communication: Messages (safety policies, reports of safety violations or unsafe acts, reminders of best practices, information on procedure changes, etc.) must flow in both directions through accessible channels that enable quick feedback.

• Ongoing and targeted training: Training must go beyond legal requirements to adapt to specific contexts and evolving technologies.

• Recognition and promotion: Safe behaviors must be encouraged and celebrated to strengthen the safety culture throughout the organization.

• Learning across the company: Every incident, whether minor or significant, is an opportunity for collective learning.

The importance of creating an effective safety culture in the workplace

Human matter

The first and most important matter is the human. A positive safety culture protects the physical and mental well-being of employees, resulting in a decrease in the number of workplace injuries and illnesses. It also contributes to a healthy environment, supported by thoughtful safety management where needs are addressed and employees feel safe.

Economic matter

The financial consequences of workplace injuries (compensation, work stoppages, staff replacement, legal proceedings) can be significant. A company that invests in its safety culture experiences fewer production interruptions due to accidents, avoids costs related to litigation or compensation, and becomes more attractive to talent and business partners.

Organizational matter

A strong safety culture fosters effective cross-functional processes, efficient priority management, and seamless team coordination. It structures decision-making by systematically integrating workplace safety issues into the analysis of available choices. This enables the prioritization of solutions that effectively mitigate risks and contribute to improved safety over the long term, even if other options seem simpler or more profitable in the short term.

Impact on overall performance

Companies with optimal operational efficiency are also those that demonstrate a successful safety culture, marked by consistency, shared commitment, and proactive risk management. By building a work environment where safety performance is a shared priority, they reduce unforeseen issues, streamline team collaboration and accountability, and increase production rates.

This organization-wide commitment creates a safer workplace that fosters employee engagement, reduces absenteeism, and strengthens trust – which positively impacts overall operational performance.

Types of safety hazards in industrial and manufacturing environments

In manufacturing and industrial environments, several types of safety hazards can be identified:

• Mechanical hazards involve moving machinery, sharp tools, or defective equipment. They’re the reality of construction companies for instance.

• Chemical hazards stem from the presence of hazardous substances, toxic vapors, or flammable products.

• Ergonomic hazards arise from awkward postures, repetitive movements, or manual handling.

• Electrical hazards are particularly prevalent in sectors that use high-voltage equipment.

• Psychosocial hazards result from stress, work overload, or a lack of recognition.

• Environmental hazards include noise, extreme heat, or airborne dust.

A strong safety culture must take this wide range of hazards into account and adopt a comprehensive approach to prevention.

6 Steps to build and continuously improve safety culture

1. Assess the current state

Before implementing any safety initiatives, a diagnosis is required. This first phase involves drawing up an honest and accurate picture of your facility’s current safety program and culture.

To do so, useful tools include:

• Internal audits verify compliance with standards and regulatory requirements, ensuring that safety rules, procedures, and processes are properly implemented.

• Behavioral audits, which are less formal, involve direct observation of (unsafe) behaviors on the floor to assess whether safety practices are being followed daily, even without supervision.

• WHS barometers and anonymous surveys are essential tools for capturing employees’ perceptions of safety. They give workers a voice and help identify areas of mistrust, unmet expectations, or need for clarification.

• Targeted interviews with managers, workers, and members of the Work Health and Safety (WHS) committee provide deeper insights into specific safety issues, dynamics on the shop floor, or any challenges related to workplace safety culture.

• Analysis of key improvement indicators, such as the frequency of safety incidents, the number of near misses, safety training participation rate, the number of reported safety issues, etc., helps assess current organizational safety and prioritize actions.

• Gap analysis between the company culture and the realities of the floor compares stated values and commitments from management with the actual culture of safety on the shop floor. This helps identify inconsistencies.

2. Set clear safety goals

An effective safety culture cannot be built without a clear vision. Specific, measurable objectives must be defined and aligned with the company’s strategic goals. For example, "Reduce the lost-time accident rate by 30% over two years," "Double the number of near-miss reports in six months," or "Achieve a 100% completion rate for weekly safety walks."

These safety goals must be shared with all stakeholders to gain buy-in and generate collective engagement. They can be broken down by department, team, or hazard type.

3. Develop a structured action plan

After defining objectives, a consistent safety program must be developed. It should be developed around these critical elements:

• Immediate measures – reviewing safety information, adding specific signage, strengthening safety procedures, and raising awareness.

• Medium and long-term transformation strategies – Integrating safety matters into management tools, reviewing production processes, redesigning safety training programs, and implementing governance with dedicated safety leaders.

• Clear timeline, responsibilities, and key indicators – Integrating safety indicators into manufacturing dashboards, establishing monthly safety meetings dedicated to building a strong safety culture in each department.

4. Take action

Once your plan has been developed, it’s time to act in a rigorous, methodical, and clear way. Implementation is a decisive step because it brings strategy to life and determines the level of employee engagement throughout the process.

Here are the key actions required to achieve this critical step:

• Engage key stakeholders: Each action must have assigned safety leaders with defined responsibilities and the necessary resources.

• Deploy safety initiatives gradually: Start with pilot actions in specific departments or units to test and refine before implementing them on a larger scale in the work environment.

• Communicate progress regularly: Informing teams of milestones reached, results achieved, and upcoming adjustments strengthens transparency and helps encourage employee engagement.

• Remove obstacles quickly: Whether technical, human, or organizational, obstacles must be addressed immediately to avoid setbacks. For example, if a plan includes the installation of new protective equipment, it’s important to ensure that suppliers, technical validations, and associated training are well coordinated. 

• Integrate engaging management rituals: Establishing regular safety rituals such as Gemba Walks, visual reviews, and feedback collection on the shop floor helps embed safety into management routines. These formal moments of observation, listening, and sharing promote daily alignment, timely resolution of variances, and recognition of employees that demonstrate safe behaviors.

5. Provide ongoing training

Training is essential before, during, and after implementing the action plan to instill a strong safety culture within all employees involved. Safety training helps change behaviors, disseminate a shared vision of risk prevention, and strengthen team skills when it comes to safety concerns.

Safety training should be considered a means of engaging and empowering workers, rather than merely a regulatory requirement. This requires:

• Diversifying formats: Provide online training, interactive workshops with safety professionals, role-playing exercises, short videos, or podcasts on safety.

• Developing safety leadership: Train managers to lead by example and comply with their safety responsibilities, to give constructive feedback, and to promote behaviors contributing to a safer workplace.

• Contextualizing content: Adapt training programs to the specific needs of each position or work environment.

• Promoting active learning: Perform role-playing exercises, simulations of injuries in the workplace, analysis of real or simulated accidents, and experience sharing with peers.

Including targeted coaching can also be part of a safety training program. Whether individual or in group, coaching helps strengthen learning, support mindset shifts, and increase managers’ and teams’ accountability.

6. Monitor and adjust continuously

Implementing a safety culture is a dynamic process. To ensure sustainability, you must:

• Regularly measure progress toward great safety performance using a consistent set of quantitative indicators – incident reporting rates, accident frequency and severity rates, safety walks completion rates, and training participation rates. Qualitative tools like WHS barometers, safety climate surveys, and satisfaction assessments can be used to monitor team perceptions and engagement.

• Conduct periodic reviews of action plans involving all stakeholders. These reviews are essential for assessing the status of safety initiatives, validating results, identifying gaps, and realigning priorities. They also help sustain collective commitment by making progress visible.

• React quickly, whether it’s adjusting an overly flexible protocol, strengthening safety practices, or offering additional training where needed. This agility depends on a solid monitoring system and smooth communication between operational and strategic levels.

• Leverage digital tools to gain a comprehensive view of safety information and data, detect trends, and support timely, informed decision-making.

How UTrakk strengthens workplace health and safety culture

The UTrakk Daily Management System (DMS) helps to embed best safety practices by facilitating the implementation of routines within operational teams and improving alignment between strategic intent and daily execution.

The solution supports a strong safety culture through powerful features:

• Ritualized Gemba Walks: With UTrakk, daily safety walks allow managers to directly observe work environments, identify and evaluate risks, and trigger immediate corrective actions. They reinforce managerial presence on the floor and establish regular dialogue between teams and leaders around safety issues.

• Digitalized WHS audits: The platform allows you to plan, standardize, and record workplace health and safety audits. With digital checklists and reports, organizations can detect hazards early on, ensure traceability of identified issues, and quickly initiate the required corrective measures.

• Customized checklists: These checklists structure the control points to monitor for each department or role. Observations and results are centralized and stored, enabling targeted and continuous prevention.

• Structured management rituals: UTrakk helps standardize safety meetings and committees around key topics such as accident tracking, floor observations, and safety instruction updates. These collaborative rituals helps promote safety and keep it top-of-mind in daily operations.

• Interactive dashboards: The solution allows you to create dashboards specific for health and safety metrics tracking. They provide a clear overview of trends, support root cause analysis, and ensure proactive risk management in the workplace.

UTrakk DMS gives managers the ability to improve safety culture in the workplace. By creating observation, action, and follow-up routines, the platform structures prevention, vigilance, and continuous improvement, making safety a priority – every day.

Redefining safety culture in the Industry 5.0 era

Building a sustainable organization’s safety culture requires strict rules, but that alone is not enough. It takes the right mindset, safer behaviors and practices, and renewed values and priorities – across the entire organization. It takes time, consistency, and sincere engagement at all levels.

As industrial and manufacturing environments increasingly incorporate smart technologies and collaborative systems, safety practices must also be reinvented. By putting people at the center and improving workers’ well-being through technology, Industry 5.0 is opening up new possibilities. Workplace safety culture no longer relies solely on individuals; it now extends to tools, data, and human-machine interactions that support collective vigilance.

Companies that can combine rigor, organizational alignment, and tailored solutions have a head start in creating a safety culture focused on strong hazard prevention, safety performance, and team commitment – the keys to healthy and growing companies.