Safety Culture?
Having seen this term bandied about the industry over the years, notably in the paraphernalia produced by regulators and in incident and accident investigation reports. What does it actually mean? The inference is, it is the result of collaboration of a collective of people across an organisation that ultimately influence operational standards. That is not consistent with my experience over the years in this industry. My observation is that operational standards are influenced by those who have the authority to change them. I have observed an organisation that underwent changes to it's operational standards, most of which were a reduction to the existing (e.g. less fuel reserves, recency etc). There was no collective involvement in those processes, it was the work of one or two individuals. Anyone who has worked across the broad arena of this industry will be well adversed with the bullying and intimidation that resides within it, so despite these safety management systems prescribing individual's responsibility and the procedures involved to bring about improved safety outcomes, it is very unlikely that anyone will challenge those in authority (unless it is something very obvious like filling in the big hole behind the entrance door). Mainstream airlines may be more diligent in this area however, in my opinion, that is due to the legal liabilities involved with the carriage of fare paying passengers.
In summary, is organisational "safety culture" real or an excellent piece of wordsmith to promote the idea that such a thing exists?