Questions and answers about safety culture
At the end of this article you will know
Why would you need to demonstrate that your organisation has a good safety culture
Who do you need to demonstrate this to
When do you need to demonstrate this
What is needed to pass an assessment of the safety culture
Introduction
One of the most difficult tasks is demonstrating that an organisation has a good safety culture to an external functional safety assessor.
It is difficult because safety culture is so fundamental to the adequacy of all the work done for the achievement of functional safety, but it is so subjective. ISO 26262:2018 requires it to be demonstrated to be adequate.
When you have an external assessor evaluating your safety culture, what can you do to ensure the organisation will pass. How will the assessor measure the safety culture, and how should we prove something so intangible.
The consequence of failing such an assessment could also undermine all work done in the project. If a system is engineered in an organisation with a poor safety culture - can the system be judged to be safe? What changes or rework would be required in such a situation.
This is the issue, that safety culture is so fundamental but also so vague. With the need to be measured and proven as adequate. Because it is a requirement that is a pre-requisite to any activity performed in compliance with ISO 26262:2018.
Therefore the best place to start is to find a means to measure the intangible. Therefore lets make some clarifications.
Here we will provide our insights on why you may need to prove you have a good safety culture. Who you may need to demonstrate this to. When this may be necessary and what is needed to pass an assessment of the safety culture.
Why would you need to demonstrate the organisation has a good safety culture.
By this we mean prove that there is a good safety culture in the organisation to a third party. You would need to do this for a number of reasons.
It needs to be demonstrated when ISO 26262:2018 compliance is claimed because this is a mandatory requirement. Given in ISO 26262-2:2018 Clause 5.4.2.1 as follows:
The organization shall create, foster, and sustain a safety culture that supports and encourages the effective achievement of functional safety.
This should be treated the same as any other clause in ISO 26262:2018, meaning it has to be met, and demonstrated to be met. Therefore should form part of the safety case prepared for every project aiming to achieve compliance with ISO 26262:2018.
As a supplier you may need to demonstrate this to your prospective client, as that client is required to evaluate your capability to deliver functional safety for your scope of supply. As required by ISO 26262-8:2018 Clause 5.4.2.1. As a pre-requisite to being awarded a contract.
Also safety culture may be evaluated in the event of an investigation. Such as completed following the Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft tragedies. Where it was determined there is a inadequate safety culture in Boeing and this was given as one of the main causes of the tragedy (Ref 1).
Demonstrating a good safety culture should be completed every day through the actions and behaviours of the members of the organisation.
Who would you need to demonstrate this to.
There are multiple aspects to this.
The most intangible, is the affect of the safety culture felt by the customers and employees of the organisation. Customers need to trust that your product is safe. Having a safe product can only be achieved when there is a suitable safety culture in place in the organisation. The employees of the organisation will also feel the affect of the safety culture. If there is a bad safety culture they could look for other jobs and be discouraged. Whereas a good safety culture helps them to take pride in their work and strive to achieve more.
As a supplier, your customer is required by ISO 26262:2018 to produce a supplier selection report after sourcing. That demonstrates that their supplier has the capacity to achieve functional safety for their scope of supply. This should include an evaluation of the suppliers safety culture. This should be done at the point of supplier sourcing, but has to be completed before the end of the development phase.
The safety culture may need to be demonstrated in court of law if you face any court cases relating to the safety of your products. The lack of a good safety culture is the key theme in the cause of the recent Boeing 737 MAX aircraft crashes. Improving the safety culture is one of the main recommendations (Ref 1).
Having a good safety culture is a mandatory clause of ISO 26262:2018. Therefore the safety case for every product developed in compliance with ISO 26262:2018 should include argumentation and evidence that the organisation has an adequate safety culture.
Lastly, if the project is ASIL rated C or D then it has to be demonstrated in a functional safety assessment. This is also recommended for ASIL B. This is where a competent expert who is suitably independent (Suitable independence is defined according to ISO 26262-2:2018 Table 1) assesses whether the organisation and project team meets ISO 26262-2:2018 clause 5.4.2.1. i.e. that the organisation has a safety culture that supports and encourages the effective achievement of functional safety.
The person or team who completes the assessment can be within the organisation that is being assessed, providing that the competence and independence rules are met. If this is not possible then this is a service that can be outsourced to an external organisation.
This last aspect is what we will focus on in answering the remaining questions. Essentially by answering this point ready for a functional safety assessment, then it will be demonstrated in the other settings as well.
When do you need to prove you have a good safety culture.
For ISO 26262 compliance the demonstration has to occur before the product is put into production. However as this is such a fundamental topic, it should be assessed before the project begins. So that if there are any issues, they can be addressed.
Leaving it too late, could mean that the project fails because the issues found cannot be resolved without delaying the project. Therefore ensure that the assessment is commenced at the beginning of a development project.
This is also important because there are no set ways that an assessor will complete the assessment on this topic. Unless the assessment being completed on a project is the by the same people following the same process that has been completed before within the organisation.
Even if a functional safety assessment is not required by ISO 26262:2018 because of the ASIL of the project, it still needs to be met.
Because it is a clause of ISO 26262:2018 that is required for the organisation that is independent of the ASIL rating.
Therefore the safety plan should show how it will be met for the whole of the safety lifecycle, and the safety case at the point of going into production shows the argumentation and evidence that the whole safety lifecycle of the product will occur within organisations that have an adequate safety culture.
What is needed to pass an assessment - that the safety culture is OK
If the safety culture is not good, there is no secret recipe to passing an assessment.
You should not pass an assessment without having a safety culture that supports and encourages the effective achievement of functional safety. Unless the assessor is not very diligent.
But if you want to pass the assessment without needing to have a suitable safety culture, then you should first change your mindset.
If you are responsible for safety, then you should not want to pass an assessment on this topic, unless it was true.
When you have a suitable safety culture, then it is merely a case of ensuring that the assessor can see the truth clearly enough in the short time of the assessment to give the positive assessment. Also if you have a good safety culture you would welcome any opportunities for improvement that the assessor may identify.
This requires making the assessors job as easy as possible, by providing a clear argumentation of why the organisation has a good safety culture supported by evidence. Provide objective measures of a safety culture, then measure those factors in the organisation and provide the results.
Once you have the measurables for a safety culture defined, then determine the acceptance criteria. Then measure the organisation. If there is a deficiency then implement measures to deal with the deficiency. You will find this a very useful facilitator for all other aspects of achieving functional safety. If you do not tackle the safety culture as one of your first activities, you may find that there is a deficiency in the safety culture that makes doing other functional safety activities more difficult and time consuming.
We hope you found this article useful. We have other articles on functional safety that are freely available. More detailed information is available in our store.
We have produced a detailed guidance document for how to demonstrate that your organisation has an adequate safety culture, available in our store.
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Ref 1. Preliminary Investigative Findings - The Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft - Costs, Consequences, and lessons from its design, development and certification. March 2020. The house committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. https://transportation.house.gov/imo/media/doc/TI%20Preliminary%20Investigative%20Findings%20Boeing%20737%20MAX%20March%202020.pdf