Does creating a culture of safety mean getting rid of the 'ol number 8 wire'? This is a general 'fear', 'concern' or misconception I come across on a regular basis when talking to people about health and safety. Before we can answer that question, we should look at three things, what is 'culture'?, what is 'safety'? and what exactly is the 'ol number 8 wire'? Culture is defined in many ways by people. However a couple definitions that resonate with me are ' Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. In this case 'safety' By Kim Ann Zimmerman The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition goes a step further, defining culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization. Thus, it can be seen as the growth of a group ...