nlenbe-nlSmart software for better quality in healthcare.

Did you ever stand in the corner as a child because you did something you shouldn’t? You probably did. After all, we grow up punishing people when they have done something wrong. We often continue this behaviour later in life, but is it actually helpful? This behaviour makes employees afraid to report incidents, which is the opposite of what you want to achieve in your organisation. So how do you ensure that employees do dare to report incidents? In this article you will read how to move from a Blame Culture to a safe reporting culture and how this leads to more reports.

Why Blame Culture doesn’t work

To blame, deteriorates the reporting culture within your organisation. Unfortunately, this still happens all too often. When an (almost) incident occurs, we almost automatically start looking for the guilty party. Who made a mistake? Who provided the wrong information? These kinds of questions naturally lead to one or more people. Do you punish someone when an incident has taken place? Then the fear of doing it wrong (again) will remain. Thus, you create an unsafe work culture in which mistakes are swept under the carpet and which will ultimately cause many employees to leave the organisation.

What is often overlooked is that in almost all cases, people do not make the mistake knowingly or intentionally. This is often due to misinformation or other factors, such as work instructions that are not easy to consult or insufficient protective equipment. Blaming, or ‘blaming’, is counterproductive. Because if there is punishment for a mistake you made (unconsciously), why would you admit you made a mistake? In this way, a Blame Culture creates an unsafe reporting culture and, ultimately, fewer reports.

Hoe kun je veilig incidenten melden zonder schuldvraag

How do you do ensure a safe reporting culture?

Just Culture

Fortunately, there is also another way of dealing with mistakes and incidents: the Just Culture. This is the opposite of the Blame Culture. This culture represents psychological safety. Incidents can be safely reported without having to answer the question of blame. Not only that, people can openly and honestly answer questions about the incident and their possible role in it, without being punished for it. In the Netherlands, we are familiar with this culture mainly in healthcare, under the term Safe Incident Reporting.

So Just Culture is about safely reporting and analysing incidents without pointing fingers or (personally) accusing people. This demands something of safety experts and managers: they have to know how to create this psychological safety. This goes beyond simply removing the blame; people really need to feel comfortable to open up. So the whole atmosphere in a work environment has to be pleasant, a form of mutual trust and maybe even camaraderie has to be created. This is why it is important to take part in team outings or company activities, for example. But lunch together and other small things can also help create a pleasant environment where people want to share their experiences, both positive and negative.

Safety II

A positive trend can also be observed within healthcare, referred to as Safety II. This encourages incident analyses not only to look at what did not go well, but also to identify the points that did go well. This is not the same as Just Culture, which is about removing blame. Safety II is about naming positive events, creating a nice atmosphere. In other words, if the positive things are also seen, a psychological safety can be created where people also more readily admit what did not go right.

Reporting without blame: our software makes it easier

Just Culture and Safety II thus focus on safe incident reporting. Just Culture is also known as Safe Incident Reporting, or VIM. Healthcare organisations in particular have established a procedure for this. This is a positive trend, while many organisations outside healthcare still have a battle to fight in this area. But besides psychological safety, it is also important to make incident reporting easier for employees.

Our incident management software helps employees quickly report incidents in one integrated system. The report immediately enters a workflow so that it is handled properly. By making incident reporting as easy as possible for employees, they will report more quickly. The Zenya Capture app additionally supports this. With this app, employees can make a report directly on the spot, even if they do not have an internet connection. Moreover, they do not need a PC, as they can easily make the report from their smartphone. Because the report can be made immediately, it is more reliable and your incident analysis becomes more powerful. With our software and a safe reporting culture, you will achieve effective improvement measures and create safer situations in the future.

Discover Zenya FLOW

Request the brochure to have all the information easily to hand.Download the brochure for Zenya FLOW - Incident Management Software

Free demo available

Want to see for yourself what Zenya FLOW can do for your organisation?

Request a free demo »

Find out how to create a safe reporting culture with our software

Contact our experts without obligation. We will be happy to think along with you.