ED Decision 2025/007/R
SAFETY CULTURE AND JUST CULTURE
(a) Safety is not the responsibility of a single person or a limited group of people in an organisation. A safety culture should be developed throughout the organisation, involving all personnel as active contributors to the safety of the final product or service.
(b) Just culture, as a component of safety culture, operates with complex concepts. Therefore, it is important to consider human factors in the way in which training is provided to GH personnel, to ensure its effectiveness. For example, complex concepts should be explained in simple terms and using concrete and relevant examples from daily operation.
(c) It is good practice for the GH organisation to develop a just culture policy (ideally a stand‑alone document) that is formally endorsed by top management and staff representatives.
(d) The GH organisation could refer to the European Corporate Just Culture Declaration.
The GH organisation may use the following table, containing safety culture characteristics and indicators, to measure the maturity of safety culture in its organisation (from the Netherlands Aerospace Centre’s study Aircraft Ground Handling and Human Factors[20]):
Characteristic |
Indicators |
Commitment Reflects the extent to which every level of the organisation has a positive attitude towards safety and recognises its importance. |
— Management concern — Personal concern — Investment in safety |
Justness Reflects the extent to which safe behaviour and reporting of safety issues are encouraged or even rewarded and unsafe behaviour is discouraged. |
— Evaluation of (un)safe behaviour — Perception of evaluation — Passing of responsibility |
Information Reflects the extent to which safety‑related information is distributed to the right people in the organisation. |
— Safety training — Communication of safety‑related information — Safety reporting system — Willingness to report — Consequences of safety reports |
Awareness Reflects the extent to which employees and management are aware of the risks the organisation’s operations pose to themselves and to others. |
— Awareness of job‑induced risks — Attitudes towards unknown hazards — Attention to safety |
Adaptability Reflects the extent to which employees and management are willing to learn from past experiences and are able to take whatever action is necessary to enhance the level of safety within the organisation. |
— Actions after safety occurrences — Proactiveness to prevent safety occurrences — Employee input |
Behaviour Reflects the extent to which every level of the organisation behaves to maintain and improve the level of safety. |
— Job satisfaction — Working situation — Employee behaviour with respect to safety — Mutual expectations and encouragement |
[20] Balk, A. D. and Bossenbroek, J. W., Aircraft Ground Handling and Human Factors, NLR-CR-2010-125, Netherlands Aerospace Centre: Air Transport Safety Institute, Amsterdam, 2010, https://www.easa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/dfu/Aircraft-Ground-Handling-and-Human-Factors-NLR-final-report.pdf.
Guidance on developing safety culture in ground handling, including just culture policy, human factors in training, and six safety culture characteristics with indicators for measuring maturity.
* Summary by Aviation.Bot - Always consult the original document for the most accurate information.
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