A hazard is noticed
Do people report it, fix it quietly, or assume someone else will deal with it?
The safety culture beneath the system
Safety is decided
in everyday moments.
The real test of safety culture comes when following the standard is slower, speaking up is uncomfortable or reporting a problem creates more work.
Policies set expectations
UGRs determine
what feels possible.
Most organisations can describe the safety behaviours they expect. Far fewer know what employees, supervisors and contractors believe will actually happen if they stop work, question a decision or report a near miss.
Those shared beliefs become UGRs—Unwritten Ground Rules. They shape physical safety and psychological safety together: whether people act safely and whether they feel safe enough to speak.
Until these rules are visible, leaders may be improving the formal system while missing the culture that determines how the system is used.
A deadline is at risk
Does safety remain the standard, or does production pressure redefine what is acceptable?
A senior person acts unsafely
Can anyone challenge the behaviour—or does status silence the room?
A mistake is made
Does the response create learning, or teach people to hide the next one?
A contractor arrives
Do they follow the documented process, or copy the shortcuts used by the local team?
Someone is struggling
Can they admit uncertainty, fatigue or distress without being judged as incapable?
The leadership test
What have people learned matters most when safety, status, time and production pull in different directions?
A more useful starting point
Understand before
you intervene.
Hear the real language
Let people describe how safety works in their own words rather than forcing experience into predetermined ratings.
See the patterns
Identify where reporting, speaking up, leadership signals and operational pressure reinforce one another.
Focus leadership action
Protect helpful norms and challenge the few UGRs that create the greatest exposure.
Begin with the culture beneath the system
What is your workplace
really teaching people about safety?
Start a conversation with Steve Simpson and Stef du Plessis about the unwritten rules shaping safety in your organisation.
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