Safety Culture as a Team Sport: The Football Metaphor

Abstract

Safety culture remains an elusive concept, not only for scholars and practitioners but for the workers who actually have to deal with safety on a daily basis as well. The metaphor of football provides particular working groups a medium to explore the meaning of safety culture by drawing parallels with team roles, changing working conditions, the importance of production vs. safety and the creation of safety therein. Being a familiar team sport in many countries, the football metaphor can also function as a communication device within work teams to facilitate and promote a shared understanding of work and safety.