Measuring safety culture in the Disaster Resilient Society context: an actionable toolkit

Abstract

Given the multifaceted and multiscale nature of the concept of safety culture, its shifting to the Disaster Resilient Society (DRS) context requires a comprehensive exploration of its multiple aspects and dimensions, making it meaningful from the public safety perspective. Starting from factors and aspects of safety culture described in scientific and technical literature, we have defined specific indicators for measuring safety culture in three target groups: citizens, practitioners and public servants indirectly involved in prevention, preparedness and response. CORE EU project has shaped an original Safety Culture model, addressing multiple levels of safety culture and grasping the many facets that characterise the large cultural diversity encountered when the analysis targets different societal groups, from citizens to practitioners. Following this reference model, a toolkit for the execution of Safety Culture measurement campaign has been developed, supporting the investigation in a geographic community. It consists of three techniques specifically tailored for each intended target group: first step is an initial collection of quantitative data, with a large-scale survey; the second step implements a qualitative data collection with semi-structured interviews and, finally, the third, qualitative, step consists of focus groups. The paper describes the overall proposed methodology to run a Safety Culture campaign in the DRS context, provide examples of designed tools and discusses the early results of the toolkit validation in seven European regions.

Keywords: Disasters, Resiliency, Safety, Preparedness, Culture, Diversity, Measurement

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1005328