Topic: Re-engineering OHS Culture

Presenter: Melony James,OSH Manager, British Virgin Islands Electricity Corporation,

Moderator: Priscilia Stanislas, OSH Manager, St. Lucia Electricity Services Ltd

The process of re-engineering can be likened to the very strategic play of the game Jenga. You must first think of the block you want to remove, remove block and then replace it at the highest level of the pile. In essence, to build or remodel a process or even a culture, it must first start with understanding the blueprints of the structure. This is not a basic activity of skimming over parts of the system, but more intricately seeing divisions working as a whole. Therefore, the intimate knowledge of your institution – its people and by extension its existing culture is ground zero. Richard Perrin defined organizational culture as the sum of values and rituals which serve as ‘glue’ to integrate the members of the organization. To make any modification to the glue of the organization will mean the creation of a new bond which can support the structures involved. This hands-on presentation will first assess varying OHS cultures as a function of organizational culture. Each participant will assess their cultures and complete the vison charting exercise. If the participant opts to accept the culture, there is no need for re-engineering, however, once change is required, the next step is to initiate the change. Change is inevitable and a function of continuous improvement. Every OHS Department must function from a stance of positive evolution. This presentation will go through each phase of the re-engineering process utilising activities to concretise learning points while dissecting the case study of the British Virgin Islands national culture strategy.