Brazil-U.S. Workshop on Strengthening the Culture of Nuclear Safety and Security: Summary of a Workshop (2015)
Chapter: Concluding Remarks
Dr. Bari presented certificates to the speakers and briefly discussed the formulation of next steps for cooperation between the United States and Brazil. He noted that some of the ideas developed during the workshop will be applicable more broadly to other nations as well. Two examples of areas for progress are in how leadership affects safety culture and how indicators are important to safety and security culture. When this diverse group has further digested the tremendous and useful work done here, there will likely be additional areas for future collaboration and cooperation, he said.
Dr. Barroso affirmed that his high expectations were clearly exceeded by the quality of presentations, the exchanges, the social gathering, and the workshop as a whole. He reflected on lessons learned (or assumed as truths) from the workshop. It became very clear that we should not question the definitions of safety culture or security culture or culture in general. There are many definitions and they are diverse. He called for a more innovative paradigm for organizational culture or its manifestations concerning safety and security culture. An organization has a living culture, Dr. Barroso said, and we should not weaken it, but instead explore it.
During the workshop the word culture was often preceded by many different adjectives: good culture, strong culture, robust culture, resilient culture, fair culture. These adjectives connote evaluation. Paraphrasing the Bible, Dr. Barroso reminded the group that a good tree is known by its fruits. And so a good or desirable culture is known by its manifestations.
He stated that the words used, such as traits, attributes, and characteristics are not inherently important. But for assessments, especially as related to structure, integration, modeling, and factor analysis, employing these provides a common denominator.
He emphasized the importance of action, even in the absence of robust assessment. There are many steps to be taken to affect culture in a good way—leadership, role models, behavior remodeling, developing good policy that promotes reporting, and the schedule of reporting, among others. There are big steps and new social marks needed. It is one thing to have a rule, but a social norm that has permeated and has been internalized is much stronger. We cannot
directly manage knowledge or culture, but we can instill culture indirectly by changing social norms.
Dr. Bari and Dr. Barroso thanked the participants and stated in closing that this self-selected group came together because of a belief in the value of this enterprise. The real charge ahead is to reach the larger community and carry the message forward.
