Discussion: Hudson's Safety Culture and Leadership Models Analysis

This discussion post analyzes Patrick Hudson's safety culture model, addressing key questions from a provided video and the assignment brief. The analysis explores how organizations progress across the safety culture spectrum, detailing the different levels from surface artifacts to core assumptions. It contrasts the relative risk of injuries across this spectrum and defines Hudson's concept of 'safety leadership,' emphasizing its inclusive nature and the importance of striving for higher cultural levels. The post also outlines characteristics of effective leadership, drawing on examples like Rex Tillerson's decision-making at Exxon Mobil, and compares Hudson's model with the DMP model, highlighting their distinct focuses on safety leadership and instructional design, respectively. The post references relevant sources, including a video and a research paper, to support its claims and provide a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Running Head: Hudson
Occupational Health and Safety
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Running Head: Hudson
How does an organization move across the safety culture spectrum?
An organization move across the safety culture spectrum by achieving the following levels:
The first level is surface level (artifacts and norms) which includes: (a) managers actions (for
example, setting an example on safety, the stability between policy and practices,
encouraging safety recommendations), (b) supervisor’s actions also play an important role
(for example, upraising the safety concerns towards management and safety discipline), (c)
incident reporting, (d) accident reporting, (e) maintenance and quality of tools, (f) safety
policy documents, (g) information system of policy, (h) safety training, and (i) safety
procedures and rules.
The next level is the intermediate level (beliefs and values) that involves: (a) appraisal of
work environment, (b) assessment of safety measures, (c) individual responsibility, (d)
personal entanglement, (e) personal ideas about risk or safety, (f) worker’s safety attitudes,
(g) supervisors' attitudes (for example, fairness in handling safety complaints), (h) mangers’
attitudes (for example, blames on employees for accidents, safety versus productivity
priority).
The next level is the deepest level (core assumptions), that is, understanding the fact that
safety is the uppermost priority.
How would you describe the relative risk of injuries between the left- and right-hand
side of safety cultural spectrum?
As we move from left to right, the relative risk of injuries becomes less. It is believed that
stupidity, inattention, and willfulness on the part of employees take place in the pathological
stage. The other stage that may lead to the pathological stage is reactive or may towards the
calculative stage. The rest of the two stages i.e., proactive stage involves developing effective
means of safety before the problem arises and in generative stage culture of all elements are
achieved.

Running Head: Hudson
What does Hudson describe as “safety leadership”?
“A safety leadership is for everyone and involves publicly reaching for one level higher on
the culture ladder than the organization is currently placed”. This means that safety leadership
is one who thinks about everyone without any discrimination, always move towards progress
by achieving cultural goals one by one and raising the level of organization from its current
position.
What are the characteristics of leadership Hudson suggesting made an example leader
(on the ship)?
Following are the characteristics that are mentioned by Hudson:
 Generate unity
 Build up your people
 Improve your people’s quality of life
 Look for results, not salutes
 The move from “I” to “We”
 Create a climate of trust
 Take command
 Take calculated risks
 Lead by example
 Go beyond standard procedures
 Communicate purpose and meaning
 Listen aggressively
What are the differences between DMP and Hudson models?
Hudson's model emphasizes the safety leadership and safety culture that moves from the
pathological stage through the calculative stage, towards the generative stage. While DMP
mainly emphasizes on the instructional design.

Running Head: Hudson
Reference
Zhang, P., Lingard, H., Blismas, N., Wakefield, R., & Kleiner, B. (2014). Work-health and
safety-risk perceptions of construction-industry stakeholders using photograph-based
Q methodology. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 141(5),
04014093.
Hudson, P. (2007). Implementing a safety culture in a major multi-national. Safety science,
45(6), 697-722. Hudson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x98hwtvbBU