Influence From the Top: Senior Managers and Safety Leadership

Abstract

Abstract Interest in the safety leadership skills of supervisors and managers does not seem to have been extended to senior managers, who have been described as a ‘neglected species’ in safety research. There are a few studies emerging from other sectors but very little from the energy sector. The Energy Institute has recently sponsored a new research project on senior managers' safety leadership in the oil and gas industry. This paper presents early findings from this project based on a literature review of both scientific studies and major accident inquiries and addresses the following questions: Does safety need to be managed in a different way to other aspects of the business, such as productivity? Is there a particular leadership style for senior managers (e.g. transformational) that influences the level of safety in their organizations? Are there particular characteristics of senior managers who achieve good safety performance in their organizations?