Enhancing safety culture experiences within Nuclear Electric

Nuclear Electric (UK) inherited an enviable safety record over a thirty year period from its predecessor, the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). However, the company has not been complacent, and continues to recognise that there are still many opportunities to improve safety culture within the company. This paper describes two separate aspects of safety culture enhancement that are current within the company. The first is a review of operational experience that has highlighted many organisational characteristics and issues that can affect safety culture. Standard audit and plant evaluation findings were aggregated and then assessed, leading to the identification of common problems and underlying issues. The findings have confirmed that the programme of change within the company, focused around continuous quality improvement concepts, embodies all the necessary elements to address the issues and enhance safety culture if used appropriately. The challenge is now to ensure that each units business planning process adequately addresses the underlying issues