Skip to main content
IOSH Magazine: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the world of work - return to the homepage IOSH Magaazine logo
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit @ioshmagazine on Twitter
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on LinkedIn
Non-verbal communication
How to build trust
March/April 2023 issue

Main navigation

  • Home
    • Browse previous issues
    • Member accolades
    • Member tributes
  • Health
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Sickness absence
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Rehabilitation
      • Personal injury
      • Return to work
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Achieving Fellowship
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Professional skills
      • Qualifications
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Jobs
  • Covid-19
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Back to basics
    • Book club
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Reports
    • Webinars
    • Videos
  • Products & Services
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Sickness absence
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Leadership
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Qualifications
      • Professional skills
      • Achieving Fellowship
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Transport and logistics
  • Third sector
  • Retail
  • Mining and quarrying
  • Rail
  • Rehabilitation
    • Personal injury
    • Return to work
  • Utilities
  • Manufacturing and engineering
  • Construction
  • Sector: IOSH Branch
    • Sector: Northern Ireland
    • Sector: Midland
    • Sector: Merseyside
    • Sector: Manchester and North West Districts
    • Sector: Ireland East
    • Sector: Ireland
    • Sector: Edinburgh
    • Sector: Desmond-South Munster
    • Sector: Qatar
    • Sector: Oman
    • Singapore
    • Sector: South Coast
    • Sector: South Wales
    • Sector: Thames Valley
    • Sector: Tyne and Wear
    • Sector: UAE
    • Sector: West of Scotland
    • Sector: Yorkshire
  • Healthcare
  • Sector: Fire
  • Sector: Financial/general services
  • Sector: Energy
  • Education
  • Sector: Communications and media
  • Chemicals
  • Sector: Central government
  • Catering and leisure
  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Sector: Local government
  • Sector: IOSH Group
    • Sector: Financial Services
    • Sector: Sports Grounds and Events
    • Rural industries
    • Sector: railway
    • Public Services
    • Sector: Offshore
    • Sector: Hazardous Industries
    • Sector: Food and Drink
    • Sector: Fire Risk Management
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Sector: Aviation and Aerospace
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Categories
  • Review

Organising for Safety: how structure creates culture

Open-access content Thursday 12th December 2019
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Rating:

Book-review_5-out-of-5

More recently, Hopkins has adjusted the spotlight to consider more deeply the effect of leadership on safety (such as his excellent co-authored book Risky Rewards: how company bonuses affect safety: bit.ly/2JviV3r). In Organising for Safety, he argues that the culture of a business is determined largely by its organisational structure. Therefore, to improve culture, we must first deconstruct and then reconstruct the organisation so that the culture we desire can develop.

In exploring the notions of culture as cause, culture as description, and culture as a virus, the author provides useful perspectives. The hearts-and-minds approach, and safety concepts such Safety Differently and Safety-II, are examined in detail. So too are the traditional tenets of safety culture, including behaviour-based safety and felt leadership (leadership that is easily observable; makes a positive impression on those who see it; demonstrates personal commitment; pervades the organisation; and affects and involves all levels of employees and contractors).

Hopkins delivers deft discourse to explain how organisational structure shapes culture. As the summary notes, the book shows "how decentralised organisational structures allow profit and production to take precedence over safety while centralised risk control is conducive to a culture of operational excellence".

Laden with illuminating case studies, including Columbia, Oroville Dam, Texas City, Samarco and Enbridge -- and exploring the works of Sidney Dekker, Erik Hollnagel, Edgar Schein and Dominic Cooper, among others -- Hopkins provides a persuasive argument that robust organisational structure will reduce risk.

Organising for Safety could end here, having made its point, but Hopkins pushes forward to share ideas for action, introducing the notion of high-reliability organisations, offering examples of how to structure for safety, underlining the necessity of direct communication between company boards and the senior safety leader, and even going as far as discussing approaches to company bonuses and the remuneration of safety specialists.

We've often heard that 'culture eats strategy for breakfast'. But what makes culture hungry? The answer, Hopkins explains, is structure.

At 135 pages, you'll find a pragmatic, well-grounded and action-focused book that is highly recommended for senior leaders and OSH practitioners alike.

You may also be interested in...

 A Practical Guide to the Safety Profession: the relentless pursuit

Thursday 12th December 2019
The idiom to never judge a book by its cover means not to prejudge the worth or value of something by its outward appearance alone. 
Open-access content

 7 Insights into Safety Leadership

Wednesday 8th January 2020
About 25 years ago American consultancy Behavioral Science Technology (BST) arrived in the UK. At the time its work was cutting-edge and consequently its services have helped to save many lives.
Open-access content

 The Conscious Effect: 50 lessons for better organizational wellbeing

Thursday 14th November 2019
Readers of Caroline Webb’s How to Have a Good Day and John Briffa’s A Great Day at the Office will feel they are on familiar ground here. As with her fellow authors, Natasha Wallace takes a user-friendly approach to ‘flourishing’ (at work, specifically). 
Open-access content
web_p16_safety-science-research.png

 Safety Science Research: evolution, challenges and new directions

Friday 14th February 2020
Safety Science Research is a collection of studies drawing on the work of more than 25 authors. These include contributions from professors, doctors and lecturers who specialise in fields such as sociology, organisational behaviour, psychology and risk management. The material is broad and covers safety at work as well as industry sectors that include transport and engineering.
Open-access content

 This book isn’t perfect. From a safety excellence perspective, we know that culture is king and that line management drives it. Therefore, seeing culture described as an “intriguing topic” raises an eyebrow, as does a tone that seems to assume Human Resou

Friday 14th February 2020
This book isn’t perfect. From a safety excellence perspective, we know that culture is king and that line management drives it. Therefore, seeing culture described as an “intriguing topic” raises an eyebrow, as does a tone that seems to assume Human Resources own and drive wellbeing rather than help line management to do so.
Open-access content

 HSE and Environment Agency prosecution: a new climate

Wednesday 25th September 2019
The overlap between two distinct areas of regulatory law – health and safety and environmental – can be strewn with complications. It follows, therefore, that explaining how to overcome these, and communicating solutions to lawyer and non-lawyer alike, would be a testing challenge. But it is one that the authors of HSE and Environment Agency Prosecution have risen to.  
Open-access content

Latest from Review

web_People-Power_Book-jacket.png

 People Power: Transform your business in the era of safety and wellbeing

Tuesday 28th June 2022
People Power is very much a book that reflects its time; as its subtitle suggests, this really does feel like 'the era of safety and wellbeing'. In this respect, the author does a fine job of mapping out how the perceived momentousness of this historical milieu might play out in the real-life work environment.
Open-access content
web_PSD-Paperback_Mindshift_Book-Cover (1).png

 Book club: A practical guide for OH on consultation and report writing

Thursday 16th June 2022
The author has written this guide with the aim of filling gaps in knowledge around mental illness in the workplace, and occupational health consultation and report writing.
Open-access content
web_Book-jacket-PSD_Essentials-of-safety-by-Ian-Long.png

 Essentials of Safety: Maintaining the Balance

Friday 13th May 2022
As the author says, this book is not a book about safety, it is a book about people. This book looks at the way that people think and act in the context of occupational safety and health.
Open-access content
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Senior Health and Safety Manager

Reading
Up to £65000.00 per annum + Great Car Allowance & Benefits
Reference
5452983

Regional Health and Safety Advisor

Northampton
Up to £53000 per annum + Travel & Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452982

Global Health, Safety and Environment Director

Up to £150000 per annum + Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452980
See all jobs »

Sign up for regular e-alerts

Receive the latest news and features, free to your inbox

Sign up

Subscribe to IOSH magazine

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
IOSH Covers
​
FOLLOW US
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel +44 (0)20 7880 6200
​

IOSH

About IOSH
Become a member
IOSH Events
MyIOSH

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to IOSH magazine
Write for IOSH magazine

IOSH Magazine

Health
Safety
Management
Skills
IOSH Jobs

© 2023 IOSH • IOSH is not responsible for the content of external sites

ioshmagazine.com and IOSH Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ