Just Culture

At Wilhelmsen Ship Management, our employees are our greatest asset. In line with this operating philosophy, we aim to create an environment where our employees can thrive.

This is where Just Culture comes in. Organizations now more than ever must be accountable for the systems they design and for how they respond to staff behaviors fairly and justly. This culture is widely adopted in many companies around the world that are focused on safety and quality.

The essence of Just Culture is not entirely new to us, for decades we have been guided by our policies, systems, processes, and company values which hold a strong foundation to this culture.

Just Culture provides assurance to our employees that we have a workplace that is built on trust and responsible behavior where everyone is encouraged to share essential information without fear. The three guiding principles are:

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To err is human. At Wilhelmsen Ship Management, we understand that mistakes are inevitable which is why we have a fair and just system. This guiding principle helps us to ensure that everyone is treated fairly, and investigations are conducted without bias. More importantly, we can learn from these mistakes and continue to improve on our processes. The following details the three types of behaviors and our response to them.

Behaviors

Human Error At-Risk Behavior Reckless Behavior
Employee is following our procedures, processes and policies, however committed an inadvertent action, slip, lapse, mistake.  Employee made a behavioral choice that increases risk where risk is not recognized or is mistakenly believed to be justified.  Employee made a behavioral choice to consciously disregard a substantial and unjustifiable risk. 

How Do We Manage This Behavior?

  • Evaluate if the current processes and procedures are adequate to prevent the same thing from happening again
  • Does the employee need more training?
  • Is the current design and environment adequate to prevent if from happening again?

How Do We Manage This Behavior?

  • Remove incentives for at risk behavior
  • Create incentives for healthy behavior
  • Increasing situation awareness.

 

How Do We Manage This Behavior?

  • We will take remedial action which is intended to correct something that is wrong or to improve a bad situation.
  • If necessary we will take punitive actions against individuals.

 

Our Approach

Employee will be consoled. Experience feedback will be taken for improvement in systems, processes, policies to prevent any future occurence. 

Our Approach

Employee will be coached and guided.

Our Approach

Employee will be subjected to disciplinary or sanction measures. 
We exist in a world where accidents occur and sometimes things go amiss. Ultimately, we want to create an environment where people are motivated to learn and an organization lead by leadership that seeks to improve based on feedback. These improvements either in incremental or radical ways are fundamental in building a ship manager that thrives for quality and safety.

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