Of People, Programs, and Priorities: The Impact of Organizational Culture in Industrial Research and Development Laboratories

Development of laboratory safety programs often focuses on the tools and policies needed to protect people, the environment, and equipment. Tools and policies are unlikely to result in meaningful positive safety outcomes alone. Effective engagement is a critical component, and this can only be achieved by nurturing an effective safety culture. Merriam-Webster offers one definition of culture as, “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization” (emphasis added), and employee engagement and leadership support are equally critical to safer laboratories. This commentary begins with a discussion of how human beings perceive work, individual and organizational performance heuristics, and the ways in which policies and procedures influence individual behavior and how individual engagement in safety programs can influence organizational change, resulting in evolutionary improvements in approaches to laboratory safety. We then offer examples of tools and engagement that have been used at Dow to achieve those goals.