Safety Culture in High-Risk Industries: Impact on regulatory practice and industrial safety

Narrative

An academic research team (Dr Lina Siegl, Prof Sharon Clarke, and Prof David Holman) from Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) were commissioned by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to carry out an assessment of its regulatory culture (Clarke et al, 2023). The assessment was wide ranging and covered all ONR's regulatory purposes, corporate functions and locations. An important part of this assessment involved the research team seeking the views of key external stakeholders.

The two main aims of the assessment were: to determine the extent to which ONR’s culture supports it to achieve its mission - to protect society by securing safe nuclear operations; and to provide recommendations which will allow ONR to learn lessons to further strengthen its regulatory culture. The research draws on the experience and expertise of AMBS researchers in safety culture and leadership (Clarke), work design (Holman), analysis (Holman, Siegl), and interpretation (Clarke, Holman, Siegl) of qualitative data.

The UoM team was supported by an internal multi-disciplinary team at ONR. The team used a multi-method approach, including interviews, focus groups and observations, to develop a unique model of regulatory culture. This model incorporated feedback from both internal and external stakeholders.

Category of impact	Attitudes and behaviours, Awareness and understanding, Policy