Communication failure is the main human error leading to the accident [2]. Many safety accidents are caused by the lack of effective safety information communication, such as:
In 2003, a blowout accident occurred in Kaixian County, Chongqing [3]. Before the accident, a series of hidden danger information was not taken seriously, reported to the superior and effective measures were not taken, which led to the occurrence and expansion of the accident.
Since the first half of 2008, according to incomplete statistics, there have been seven production safety accidents in China that caused casualties due to improper or blind rescue. From the initial accident, 7 people were involved, 29 people were killed and 0/4 people were injured, and the lessons were extremely profound [4]. In these incidents, many employees lack basic safety knowledge, have not received safety training and know nothing about safety knowledge.
In the investigation report of the explosion accident of BP Dezhou Refinery on March 23rd, 2005 [5], the American Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Committee found that there were many problems in the safety information communication of BP Dezhou Refinery, including insufficient communication of equipment status information during the shift change, insufficient communication among equipment operators, and lack of policies to encourage effective communication within the enterprise, all of which were the causes of the accident.
Similarly, the failure of information communication was also one of the reasons for the crash of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003 [6].
The deep-seated causes of the above accidents are the defects of enterprise safety management and bad safety culture.
Many enterprises have realized the importance of safety culture to enterprise safety management and accident prevention, and have carried out safety culture construction activities in succession. However, the construction of safety culture is single, and basically depends on the publicity and education of safety management departments. The communication channel of safety information and safety knowledge is only one-way transmission from top to bottom, without the attention and participation of senior leaders and employees. Therefore, the effect of enterprise safety culture construction is not obvious.
In the traditional safety management mode, the communication channel of safety information is also one-way, mostly from top to bottom, lacking a bottom-up safety information feedback channel. The management makes all kinds of safety rules and regulations, and front-line employees only passively implement them. They think that security affairs are only the affairs of the security management department and have nothing to do with themselves. Even if hidden danger information or attempted events are found, few people take the initiative to report them. The communication of safety information must be shared with each other, and it must be two-way, in order to effectively play its function.
The construction of enterprise safety culture needs the joint efforts and innovation of all employees, the effective leadership and commitment of senior managers and the active participation of employees. The link between them is the effective communication of safety information.
The author analyzes the significance of effective communication of safety information to enterprise safety culture construction and safety management, and analyzes the factors and mechanisms of internal and external safety information communication, and puts forward countermeasures and measures to improve and strengthen effective communication of safety information, hoping to help enterprise safety culture construction.
1 The importance of effective communication
Jones [America] believes that effective communication is very important for enterprise managers and all employees. Effective communication can improve production efficiency, improve product quality, promote enterprise innovation and enhance the competitive advantage of enterprises [7]. Baker regards communication as the lifeline of an organization, conveying its development direction, expectations, processes, products and attitudes [8]. Good communication helps to promote a harmonious atmosphere and team spirit, establish a good relationship between management and employees, effectively handle internal contradictions and complaints, and ease the work pressure of employees. Effective communication is more important for enterprise safety management. By communicating with experienced employees on site, managers can know the safety information on site, thus improving the efficiency and effectiveness of enterprise safety decision-making and problem solving. At the same time, employees can clarify their own safety responsibilities, improve their safety awareness and promote their interest in participating in safety affairs management through communication with management.
1. 1 legal requirements and occupational health and safety standards requirements
In view of the importance of safety information to safety production, the relevant safety regulations and standards in many countries stipulate that enterprises should exchange safety information with employees.
For example, Article 36 of the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on Work Safety stipulates that production and business operation entities shall truthfully inform employees of the risk factors, preventive measures and emergency measures in workplaces and posts; At the same time, Article 45 points out that employees of production and business operation units have the right to know the risk factors, preventive measures and emergency measures of their workplaces and posts, and have the right to make suggestions on safety production of their own units.
Labor Safety and Health Act (Health &; The Work Safety Act (1974) requires employers to negotiate with employees on occupational health and safety.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (199 1) promulgated by the Commonwealth of Australia requires employers to provide necessary information, guidance, supervision and training to ensure that employees work in a safe manner without affecting their health. The occupational health and safety laws of Australian states have similar provisions.
Section 4.4.3 of Chinese national standard GB/T 2800 1-2000 "Occupational Health and Safety Management System Specification" is entitled "Consultation and Communication", which requires organizations to have procedures to ensure mutual communication with employees and other interested parties on relevant occupational health and safety information. The ANZ occupational health and safety standards AS/NZS 4804: 200 1 and ILO-OSH 200 1 occupational safety and health management system guidelines also have similar requirements.
1.2 the role of effective communication in the construction of safety culture
In order to solve the problem of human error in production, the Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG) of the International Atomic Energy Agency put forward the concept of "safety culture in nuclear power industry" for the first time in 1986, and defined it as: it is the synthesis of various characteristics and attitudes existing in units and individuals [9]. Since then, different scholars at home and abroad have given many definitions of safety culture, among which the most widely used one is the definition given by the Nuclear Facilities Safety Advisory Committee (HSE:ACSNI) of the British Health and Safety Committee: the safety culture of an organization is a comprehensive product of individual and collective values, attitudes, abilities and behaviors, which determines the commitment, working methods and proficiency of health and safety management. Organizations with good safety culture have the following characteristics: information exchange based on mutual trust, * * * awareness of the importance of safety, and confidence in the effectiveness of preventive measures [10]. From the above definition of safety culture, we can see that effective communication is a characteristic of good safety culture and an important way to build it.
Many institutions and scholars have done a lot of research on the role of effective communication in safety culture. Glendon and Mckenna believe that effective communication is the characteristic of an organization with a positive safety culture. Effective communication is based on mutual trust and everyone thinks safety is very important [1 1]. The Health and Safety Executive Committee of the United Kingdom believes that communication is one of the four "C's" of a positive safety culture, and the other three "C's" are ability, control and cooperation [12]. Cooper believes that organizations with positive safety culture have a good safety communication system, and safety information is transmitted between organizations through two-way formal and informal communication channels [13].
Williams believes that one of the most effective ways to promote the construction of safety culture and prevent injuries is to optimize safety communication [14].
According to reason, a good safety culture needs a perfect system to collect, analyze and disseminate enterprise safety information and form an informed culture, and the formation of information culture needs the support of reporting culture and learning culture [15].
Vecchio-Sadus believes that an effective communication mechanism is very important for encouraging employees to participate in safety affairs, obtaining employees' cooperation and support, and maintaining a positive safety culture [16].
2 the way and content of safety information communication
The communication process includes information transmission stage and information feedback stage. In the information transmission stage, information is shared between two or more individuals or groups; In the information feedback stage, ensure that the information is effectively understood by the recipient, as shown in the following figure [7].
As can be seen from the figure, effective communication should be two-way, including not only information transmission, but also information feedback. If the information receiver does not respond to the information, there is no communication channel, only information transmission.
There are usually four ways to communicate information: oral communication, written communication, visual communication and non-verbal communication.
Oral communication is the simplest, most direct and most timely feedback method. Oral communication can be conducted by telephone, walkie-talkie and video. Of course, the most effective way is face-to-face communication. When managers and employees talk face to face, they can communicate not only through language, but also through facial expressions and body language of both sides. The content conveyed at this time is also the richest. Therefore, it is very important for management to have face-to-face communication with front-line employees when conducting safety inspections.
If you write it, you can save it, which is convenient for query in the future and more formal. Therefore, all safety policies and operating procedures of an enterprise are communicated to employees through written communication. However, written communication also has some disadvantages, such as uncertain recipients, too long sentences and too many terms in the text.
Visual communication refers to the use of colors, symbols, graphics and other ways to convey information. In safety management, visual communication is widely used, such as safety slogans, safety posters, safety colors, safety warning signs and safety publicity videos.
In safety management, nonverbal communication is very important, for example, the safety behavior of enterprise managers plays an exemplary role in the safety behavior of enterprise employees.
Enterprise safety information communication includes internal safety information communication and external safety information communication.
2. 1 Internal safety information communication
In the enterprise safety management, the enterprise safety production rules and regulations and operating procedures should be communicated to each employee through top-down communication channels, while all kinds of accident information and hidden danger information on the spot should be communicated to the top management of the enterprise through bottom-up communication channels; In addition, safety information should also be transmitted between and within different departments of the enterprise through horizontal communication channels. The usual internal communication methods are: safety report, safety committee meeting, pre-shift meeting, security team meeting, e-mail, documents, safety manuals, videos, publicity pictures, publicity boards, safety signs, etc.
2. 1. 1 Visible safety commitment of enterprise management
The safety commitment of enterprise managers is the key element of building a safety culture, which determines the views and behaviors of other employees on safety [14]. The importance of enterprises to safety can be reflected in employees through the visible safety commitment of enterprise managers. Managers should strictly abide by the various safety management systems of enterprises and play an exemplary role in safety behavior. Employees can judge the importance of safety management by managers' behavior, and then change their own behavior. Managers show their commitment to safety by taking safety as the primary topic at high-level meetings of enterprises, participating in regular safety inspections, attending regular meetings of safety committees and actively participating in accident investigations. In addition, expanding the communication channels of safety information, encouraging employees to participate in discussing safety issues, listening carefully to employees' suggestions and feeding back information to employees in time are all manifestations of managers' safety commitment.
2. 1.2 Safety responsibilities of personnel at all levels in enterprises
Enterprise safety management needs the joint efforts of all employees. Therefore, it is very important to clarify the safety responsibility of each employee (from top management to ordinary employees) and let all personnel know their respective responsibilities. When employees clearly know their responsibilities in accident prevention, they will show great interest in maintaining a healthy and safe working environment, but first the management should inform them of the risks at work and encourage employees to participate in safety affairs to reduce the risks [17].
2. 1.3 safety education and training
Safety education and training play a very important role in the field of safety activities. Through safety education and training, people's understanding of safety, attitudes towards safety activities and things will be formed and changed, so that people's behavior can better meet the safety norms and requirements of social life and enterprise production [1]. The Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on Work Safety has clear requirements for the safety education and training of enterprise leaders, safety managers, employees and special operators. Safety education and training is an important way to exchange safety information, and in safety education and training, effective communication is an important guarantee to achieve good training results.
The effect of safety education and training carried out by some enterprises and institutions is not very satisfactory. One of the reasons is the lack of effective communication between safety education and training. Classroom teaching makes the training teachers and students lack communication, and teachers have no way of knowing whether students have really mastered the knowledge and skills they have learned. Audio, video, pictures, cases and other media can be used to enhance students' interest and increase practical courses; Increasing teacher-student interaction in the process of education and training is also a way to improve the training effect.
2. 1.4 Report and investigation of accidents and hidden dangers
Accident and hidden danger report is an important way to transmit enterprise safety information from bottom to top, and it is also the basic form for employees to participate in enterprise safety affairs. Enterprises should establish accident and hidden danger reporting system, and make it clear that accident reporting is the responsibility and obligation of employees. Many employees are reluctant to report accidents, especially some near misses, for fear of being punished, and the information of near misses and hidden dangers is very important to prevent major accidents. Therefore, measures should be taken to encourage employees to report accidents, near misses and hidden dangers, and form a reporting culture [15].
One of the measures is to establish an anonymous reporting channel, which can set up a reporting box or other forms to encourage employees to report various accidents and hidden dangers and put forward some suggestions and opinions on health and safety. Managers must pay attention to these reports and suggestions and give timely feedback. In addition, in the accident investigation, we should follow the principle of not blaming the parties, and its purpose is to help employees report all kinds of accidents and hidden dangers in time. The results of accident investigation should be announced to employees in time, especially the root cause of the accident, and employees should be encouraged to put forward improvement measures to prevent the accident from happening again. These measures will show the management's commitment to safety and form a learning culture [15] to prevent similar accidents from happening again.
At the same time, the accident information should be transmitted to other departments in time to remind them to take measures to prevent such accidents; Departments should always pay attention to the safety information of other departments, which is especially important for large enterprises with production departments in different regions. Many multinational companies have a system called security alarm to share security information and prevent accidents in one area from happening again in other areas.
2. 1.5 safety meeting
Safety meeting is an important way to communicate safety information. The main purpose of safety meeting is to transmit safety information, negotiate safety countermeasures and motivate personnel, which will affect the production activities of participants after the meeting. The safety meeting can be a large-scale meeting of all employees, or it can be just a discussion between managers and individual employees; Security meetings can be formal or informal. At the daily pre-shift meeting, the team leader will spend a few minutes emphasizing the importance of safety, which plays a very important role in changing the attitude of employees and preventing accidents.
2.2 Enterprise external security information communication
The safe communication between enterprises and the outside world will also have a great impact on the safe production of enterprises. According to the law, enterprises need to report accident information and occupational disease information to law enforcement departments in time. Moreover, in the process of emergency rescue, enterprises need to keep information flowing with superior management departments, relevant emergency rescue units, surrounding units of enterprises and residents. Enterprises also need to contact the safety production supervision and management departments frequently to obtain the latest safety production information and updates of relevant laws and regulations, so as to adjust the safety management system of enterprises in time according to relevant requirements. Enterprises also need to communicate safety information with contractors, suppliers and customers frequently.
Updating of regulations and standards
All activities of an enterprise must comply with relevant laws and regulations, and relevant safety standards are the basis for enterprises to formulate various operating procedures and work guidelines. Therefore, enterprises should establish and maintain corresponding procedures to identify and obtain laws, regulations and related standards applicable to their own enterprises. Enterprises should also update relevant laws, regulations and other required information in a timely manner, and convey these information to employees [18]. The most convenient way to obtain regulations and standards is through the website of the safety supervision department. At the same time, you can often browse relevant websites and get a lot of safety information.
2.2.2 Communicate safety information with contractors, suppliers and customers.
In production activities, enterprises often need to hire contractors to engage in certain activities. It is very important to ensure the safety of contractors and their employees engaged in related activities in this enterprise. Therefore, it is necessary to communicate safety information with the contractor. On the one hand, it is necessary to conduct safety training for the contractor's employees; When choosing a contractor, it is more important to take safety as a clear and important standard.
When purchasing machinery, equipment and raw materials, enterprises should not only consider the quality of products, but also evaluate the impact of products on the safety production of enterprises, especially some special equipment and dangerous chemicals. First of all, we must confirm the relevant qualifications of the manufacturer. In addition to providing products, manufacturers also need to provide corresponding guidance information, and it is best to train employees so that enterprises can use these equipment and materials safely. Accordingly, the products provided by enterprises to customers should also provide corresponding safety information services.
3 factors affecting effective communication
Effective communication depends on the information receiver receiving the information correctly and understanding the intention of the information sender correctly. A complete communication process includes many links (as shown in the schematic diagram of communication process), and mistakes in each link may lead to communication failure. The following table lists the possible errors in all aspects of communication and their causes.
All listed above are communication failures caused by mistakes in each link in the communication process. Factors that affect effective communication also include personal factors and organizational factors. Yu Shiwei believes that there are 10 communication barriers, which can be divided into the following two categories:
1) The obstacles between people are called personal obstacles, including: ① status differences; (2) the credibility of information; ③ Cognitive bias; 4 past experience; ⑤ Emotional influence.
2) Obstacles between companies are called organizational obstacles, including: ① information flooding; ② Time pressure; ③ Organizational atmosphere; ④ information filtering; ⑤ Information feedback.
There are three ways to overcome obstacles, namely, using feedback; Simplified language; Active listening [19].
4 Suggestions on strengthening effective communication of safety information
Develop good communication skills
Although communication may involve a wide range, it may be between individuals or between two groups, the most basic communication is between two people. The following are some communication skills between the sender and the receiver:
1) The communication skills of the information sender are as follows [7]: ① Think carefully before speaking; ② Send clear and complete information; ③ The information sent should be understandable by the receiver; ④ Choose the appropriate information media; ⑤ Avoid information filtering and information distortion; Provide true information to avoid the spread of some rumors.
2) The communication skills of information recipients are [8]: ① Stop talking and listen; 2 understand each other's feelings; 3 show each other that you are willing to listen; ④ Don't draw conclusions without detailed research; Ask questions to show your understanding.
4.2 Safety observation
Safety observation is an effective means to correct unsafe behavior. At the same time, safety observation can cultivate employees' safety awareness, promote employees' participation in safety affairs and enhance open communication between management and employees.
Safety observation should be carried out regularly as the daily safety activities of the enterprise, and the safety observers should include the top management and front-line employees of the enterprise. It is very important for senior managers of enterprises to participate in safety observation activities, which is an effective way to reflect the safety commitment of management. When the top management of an enterprise inspects the work site and expresses concern about safety, the on-site personnel will feel that this concern is a reflection of the company's policies, and this feeling will naturally become the driving force for safety at work. Direct face-to-face discussion between managers and employees can narrow the distance between top managers and front-line employees.
Safety observation procedures include observation, on-site unsafe behavior correction, group discussion of observation results, and effective measures to prevent unsafe behaviors and unsafe conditions from happening again.
4.3 Improve various safety systems.
Some important safety management systems are based on the exchange of safety information, such as: handover system and work permit system; Other safety management systems provide safety information for various activities of enterprises, such as lock/tag system. These safety management systems must be improved and employees should be educated and trained.
1) succession system
Many enterprises adopt shift duty, which improves work efficiency, but has a negative impact on enterprise safety production. Many accidents are caused by the lack of effective communication of safety information during handover, such as the explosion accident of BP Texas Refinery mentioned above. Therefore, it is very important to ensure effective communication during handover. Handover generally involves two levels: between team leaders and between employees. No matter what level, the handover person needs to hand over in person, and in order to ensure the handover time, both parties need to record some key information in the handover record. The information handed over by the team leader generally includes the safety status of public equipment and the integrity of safety facilities.
2) Lock/tag system
Locking/tagging is an important link to prevent accidents in the process of repairing and maintaining machinery and equipment. The purpose of locking is to avoid accidental starting of mechanical equipment. Hang warning signs to explain the purpose of locking and remind personnel to pay attention. Mechanical equipment should be locked and tagged by employees responsible for related operations, and the keys should be kept well. If there is more than one operator, each operator should lock his own lock and hang his own warning sign. At the end of the work, the mechanical equipment can only be started after all operators unlock and take down their own warning signs and notify people around the mechanical equipment. Lock/tag should generally be used at the same time, and tag can be used alone only when the device switch cannot be locked.
Warning signs should be hung on the equipment switch, and the names and work contents of the operators should be clearly indicated on the warning signs. In order to implement the lockout/tagout system, specific operating procedures should be established and all employees of the enterprise should be trained to ensure that all personnel are familiar with the system.
3) Work permit system
For some unconventional high-risk operations, such as confined space operations, hot work operations, aerial work, high-pressure operations, etc. , must implement the work permit system. Before issuing the work permit, the work permit shall comprehensively consider all possible hazards involved in the operation, and indicate the necessary hazard control measures on the work permit. The work permit should also ensure that dangerous operations are completed by employees with relevant qualifications. When carrying out dangerous operations, the work permit holder should carefully check whether the safety measures listed in the work permit are correct and complete.
4.4 Safety Management Information System
Safety management information system is based on intranet, which collects, sorts out and publishes safety information, provides employees with various safety rules and regulations, operating procedures, safety knowledge and safety record forms, and also provides safety statistical information for enterprise management's safety decision. A perfect safety management information system can ensure that the correct safety information is delivered to those who need it at the right time. The safety management information system should also include the following functions to promote the effective communication of safety information and the participation of employees:
1) Collect photos of unsafe behaviors and unsafe conditions of different operations, establish an online photo library of dangers, clearly explain the potential dangers of different operations, provide practical reference materials for employees, and improve their safety awareness.
2) Intranet has safety training courses, which is convenient for employees to review or conduct pre-job training.
3) Open an online safety forum column to encourage employees to participate in safety production discussions.
5 conclusion
1) Effective communication of safety information is an important way for enterprises to build a positive safety culture. Good communication is conducive to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of safety decision-making and problem solving, clarifying safety responsibilities and improving employees' safety awareness.
2) In enterprise safety management, enterprise safety production rules and regulations and various operating procedures should be communicated to each employee through top-down communication channels, while all kinds of accident information and hidden danger information at the scene should be communicated to the top management of the enterprise through bottom-up communication channels; In addition, safety information should also be transmitted between and within different departments of the enterprise through horizontal communication channels. Safety information can be transmitted within the enterprise through safety training, safety meetings, safety documents, etc. The most effective form is face-to-face conversation between managers and employees.
3) The communication of safety information between enterprises and the outside is also very important for the safety production of enterprises, mainly including the update of laws, regulations and standards, and the communication of safety information with suppliers and contractors.
4) By implementing measures to improve the effective communication of safety information, overcome the factors that hinder effective communication, form a good communication atmosphere, encourage employees to report unsafe behaviors, unsafe conditions and near misses, and encourage employees not to blame them, safety awareness will be deeply rooted in people's hearts, and enterprise safety performance will achieve good results.