NASA's ethos on Safety and Risk Management
NASA’s Office of Safety & Mission Assurance (OSMA) defines their approach to safety.
The NASA OSMA outlines how much safety is inbuilt into NASA’s DNA.
The exploration of space is by its very nature a high-risk endeavour. I have had the privilege to visit NASA's Johnson Space Center twice over the past few years, and I have seen some amazing examples of the focus and culture of safety, and good risk-informed decision-making, embedded into everything that NASA does.
Safety Culture’s mission at NASA is to create an environment where everyone works safely, feels comfortable communicating safety issues, learns from mistakes and successes, feels confident balancing challenges and risks while keeping safety in the forefront, and trusts that safety is a priority.
David Loyd , part of NASA’s Safety & Test Operations team, based at the Johnson Space Center, summed up his views on NASA's approach to safety in this way in a chat with me recently:
"It has been an honor to work with the NASA Safety Culture Working Group on such a substantive long-term initiative. As a career safety professional, what the safety culture model offers is methodology for improving safety performance no matter how mature your safety program is. We are able to measure maturity, shape leadership and employee behavior, and convey a vision for safety at a very practical level that fits virtually an organizational venture."
