The Nuclear Division organized a technical seminar on Leadership in Safety Culture on 26 October with over 50 participants. The seminar was presented by Mr. Steven Lau, who has served for over a decade as the First Deputy General Manager of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations & Management Company (DNMC) and is currently the Senior Presidential Advisor of China General Nuclear Corporation (CGN). Including the 6 nuclear power generating units at Daya Bay and Ling Ao Nuclear Power Stations being operated by DNMC, CGN presently has 18 units in operation and 10 under construction in Mainland China.
Safety culture is the basis of safety in nuclear power operation. In his presentation, Mr. Lau observed that the top ten nuclear accidents in the world could be attributed to institutional failure in the nuclear power industry, caused by flawed design, inadequate support for the frontline and unfound over-confidence that were induced by complacency owing to inadequate safety culture.
After noting the characteristics of a proper safety culture, Mr. Lau noted the importance of leadership in shaping safety culture in a business entity and contrasted the articulate style of leadership and questioning sub-ordinates that prevails in the west compared to the role-modelling leadership style and deference to authority in China, against which suitable compensation is needed to develop a healthy safety culture in Chinese nuclear power plants. There is nevertheless commonality in the two cultures in striving for zero incident, organizational learning, recognizing safety event precursors, and acknowledging the challenges in safety culture implementation.
Mr. Lau also offered practical examples for the leadership to promote safety culture, on what to display and what not to display, of good and bad behaviours in promoting safety, offering opinions, managing complaints, coaching, teaching, setting priorities, promoting corrections, raising capabilities, reinforcing desired practices and feedback, and countering complacency.
The session has taken well over an hour. Nevertheless, the audience has stayed till the very end as they have found the talk very illuminating and captivating.