Leadership and safety culture: Setting a research agenda for the nuclear industry

This report presents results from project “Leadership and Safety Culture” (LESCU), commissioned by the Management Board of SAFIR2022 programme and realized as a part of the SAFIR2022 administration project. Although there is extensive literature on leadership and safety culture, the motivation for this study was to define Finnish research agenda in the nuclear industry in light of current research evidence and industry requirements.

The objective of the study was to review and summarize research needs in the area of leadership and safety culture that might be relevant to the Finnish nuclear power industry. The methods were analytical desktop work, internal workshops and an external workshop with nuclear industry practitioners from the power companies and the regulator to discuss the preliminary findings.
The review of recent trends in leadership and safety culture literature identified a number of knowledge gaps. Future research have to focus on advancing conceptual understanding and empirical validation on assessment and improvement methods of leadership and safety culture, especially with respect to latest requirements on leadership and management for safety. Scientific research is needed for evaluating the effectiveness of leadership and safety culture improvement interventions, and identifying the future leadership and safety culture competences with regards renewal of the nuclear industry and preparation for the unexpected. The proposed research agenda is expected to advance the knowledge for continuously improving leadership and safety culture in the nuclear industry.