Abstract
The aim of this paper is to describe the situation concerning implementation of principles and tools of Safety Culture within companies falling under the Seveso III directive (European Commission, 2012) in the Czech Republic. Safety culture is a well-known and popular topic in safety research. The term ‘safety culture’ was first used by IAEA in INSAG’s (1988) ‘Summary Report on the Post-Accident Review Meeting on the Chernobyl Accident’ and a definition was published in INSAG – 4 (IAEA, 1991): „Safety culture is that assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organizations and individuals which establishes that, as an overriding priority, nuclear plant safety issues receive the attention warranted by their significance. “Despite almost 30 years of research there is still not a single definition, concept or model which is fully accepted either by scholars or by safety experts. But there is a consensus – a lot of major accidents have been caused by weak safety culture.
The situation within companies in the Czech Republic under Seveso III is not clear. The Seveso III directive requires that companies implement a Safety Management System. Nevertheless, such a Safety Management System is not sufficient to prevent injuries, accidents, or disasters. To ensure excellence in safety there is a necessity to build strong safety culture. There is an assumption that the topic of safety culture is still not very common in the Czech Republic. There has not been implemented any study program or special course on safety culture for safety experts until 2021. At VSB – Technical University of Ostrava – a course in Safety Culture is going to be held as part of Safety Engineering Master study program. We do not know whether companies have been trying to improve their safety culture systematically, which is the reason for our research into safety culture in the companies covered by the Seveso III directive. The first stage of the research comprised a survey within companies to explore if they implement any activities focused on safety culture.
