Introduction to Fire Safety Management

4.6.2 Economical
The external economic pressures that are applied to 
organisations can vary in their effect upon the safety cul-
ture. Those organisations who understand the relation-
ship between reduced risk and reduced cost will want to 
put in place effective risk control measures; this in turn 
will require an excellent safety culture.
Conversely those organisations feeling themselves 
under acute fi nancial pressure often pay less attention 
to key health and safety matters such as maintenance 
of equipment and training of personnel. This in turn will 
lead to a feeling throughout the organisation that safety 
is not as important as survival. In these circumstances 
both managers and workforces will be motivated to cut 
corners and reduce standards. It is often seen that the 
safety culture within an organisation that has restricted 
cash fl ows or business opportunities will be negative.
4.6.3 Stakeholder 
expectations
Every organisation will have individuals and groups who 
feel they hold a ‘stake’ in the success or failure of the 
organisation. Internal stakeholders include managers 
and employees. However, there are a number of signifi -
cant stakeholders who may be outside of the undertak-
ing including, for example:
➤
National 
unions
➤
Trade 
organisations
➤
Public pressure groups
➤
Local and national politicians
➤
Enforcement 
authorities
➤
Business 
competitors
➤
Society
➤
Insurance 
companies.
These groups exert infl 
uence on an organisation’s 
safety management which can be negative or positive. 
Insurance companies have a stake in reducing the risks 
within the organisations they insure whereas the pres-
sure from unions may be to resist the introduction of 
new technologies and from society.
4.6.4 Technical
One of the key principles of prevention, contained within 
both the RRFSO and the MHSW Regulations, is that 
responsible persons and employers should where rea-
sonably practicable take advantage of developments in 
technology to control risk. Therefore if a specifi c tech-
nological development is made the management of an 
organisation may come under pressure to adopt it.
On many occasions it is likely that the develop-
ment in technology is initially expensive and will require 
additional costs such as training for those who will need 
to operate with it.
The development of new technology therefore poses 
both a threat and an opportunity to the safety culture of 
an organisation in that, at the time that the new technol-
ogy is embraced, the workforce is liable to feel positive 
about the benefi ts (providing that it doesn’t result in a 
worsening of their employment conditions). Conversely 
if new technology is available and not adopted by the 
organisation employees are likely to feel that their needs 
and safety are not a priority.