Working Group on Safety Culture (WGSC)

Mandate

As identified in the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) report, Five Years after the Fukushima Daiichi Accident: Nuclear Safety Improvements and Lessons Learnt (2016), there are challenges in understanding and characterising the importance of a healthy nuclear safety culture. The Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) considers human aspects, including organisational factors and a healthy safety culture, essential to all aspects of effective regulatory activities. As the primary purpose of these activities is to ensure that nuclear licensees maintain safety at all times, it is imperative that regulatory bodies possess specific characteristics that effectively support safety. This includes embodying the behaviours and attitudes that support a healthy nuclear safety culture. The interactions of the regulator with licensees, political/governmental entities and other stakeholders have a bearing on the safety culture of the regulatory body as they are all part of a wider interconnected system. Due to the importance of a healthy safety culture to the effectiveness of a regulatory body, the CNRA established a Working Group on Safety Culture (WGSC). This working group supports the CNRA mandate, which states, "The Committee shall oversee work to promote the development of effective and efficient regulation." The CNRA has established the WGSC for member countries to collaboratively address complex issues regarding safety culture to improve regulatory effectiveness and to ensure that licensees meet the ultimate responsibility for ensuring safety.

Scope

The scope of the WGSC is to foster discussion and exchanges, and consider various practical approaches to developing and sustaining a healthy safety culture within the wider interconnected system to ensure safety. The working group will further develop concepts from recent Green Booklets that focused on the characteristics and culture of an effective regulatory body, such as, but not limited to:

  • considering behaviours and perceptions, which make up the culture of a regulatory body, as important to regulatory effectiveness;
  • considering the effects caused by the interactions of the regulatory body within the wider interconnected system and how safety culture is affected by these interactions;
  • considering national and historical contexts and their effect on how safety is supported through interactions across all levels and all areas of the organisation when developing and sustaining a healthy safety culture;
  • considering what regulatory programmes, approaches and capabilities might be required to encourage enhanced safety culture in licensee organisations.

Objectives

The main objective of the WGSC is to provide a senior level regulatory forum for exchanging information and experiences and planning work to ensure that the safety culture of the regulatory body and wider interconnected system has a positive impact on safety. In order to accomplish this, future activities shall:

  • aid in the development and maintenance of a healthy safety culture within regulatory bodies;
  • develop practical implementation tools for developing a safety culture from shared activities, lessons learnt, reports, and the outcomes of periodic meetings;
  • identify and capture best practices on how the safety culture of the regulator affects the regulated entity’s safety culture, and vice versa;
  • promote the use of regulator safety culture programmes and approaches that positively influence regulated entities safety;
  • establish a framework for engagement with other NEA bodies to discuss issues identified by the group that have cross-cutting interests;
  • compile the experiences and lessons learnt associated with the implementation of policies and strategies to support a healthy safety culture with a specific focus on the NEA documents The Characteristics of an Effective Nuclear Regulator (2014) and The Safety Culture of an Effective Nuclear Regulatory Body (2016) and make recommendations as appropriate.

Methods of working

  • The WGSC membership shall be composed of senior level management representatives with policy-level responsibilities who are directly involved in key activities. Members may bring safety culture experts from their organisations to enrich the exchanges between the regulatory bodies.
  • Periodically, the WGSC will report to the CNRA and assist the Committee with its work.
  • The WGSC will closely co-ordinate its work with other CNRA working groups, other NEA standing technical committees and international organisations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in order to apply the right expertise to the right issues and avoid duplicating efforts.
  • The group will report on the effectiveness of the practical tools developed.
  • The programme of work provides further descriptions of the development of strategic themes, practical tools and tasks that the WGSC will complete.

Deliverable

  • Generating reports on best practices by regulatory bodies concerning the effective implementation of the characteristics and culture of an effective regulatory body.

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Last reviewed: 22 November 2017