IOSH
Challenging culture talk proves popular at NEC
- Date posted
- 05 May 2026
- Type
- News
- Author
- Jeremy Waterfield
- Estimated reading time
- 4 minute read
Good occupational safety and health (OSH) is, of course, rooted in positive health and safety culture. Indeed, one keynote speaker at last week’s Health and Safety Event, held at Birmingham’s NEC, presented culture ‘as the safety system’ and explained ‘how behaviour, ritual and habit build organisations where people come home safe.’ IOSH’s Jeremy Waterfield took a ring-side seat.
Bruce Daisley, best-selling author, award-winning podcaster and presenter on the future of work, gleaned a lot about workplace culture in his 12 years working in senior roles for YouTube and Twitter. He used this global experience to show a packed theatre the power of culture and convince an OSH audience how it can be harnessed to build workers’ health, safety and wellbeing.
Bruce first explained how culture is shaped not by how an organisation encourages and rewards its people but what it’s willing to tolerate. The worst behaviour it will put up with becomes the true definition of its culture, making it a critical consideration for safety.
Three pillars of culture
He went on to describe ‘The Three Pillars of Culture’, starting with ‘Mattering’, moving on to ‘Group Identity’ and then ‘Agency’.
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Mattering
This is all about showing individuals they are significant to the organisation, that what they do matters - “Without me, there’s no we.”
Bruce used the example of Pittsburgh’s intensive care unit in the US, which managed to get the number of infections down from 50 a year (with 17 deaths) to two. This was achieved by making everyone ‘feel seen’ by conducting bottom-up audits (this led to the standardisation of inserting needles, for instance) and by creating a collective ownership of, and sense of pride in, safety. Everyone was empowered to call a stop on any procedures if they felt it right to do so.
Another case study, this time drawn from schools education, was used to present the value of the ‘Two X Ten’ method. Bruce explained how the method was applied to ‘problem children’, where teachers were required to talk to them individually for two minutes every day for 10 days. These conversations couldn’t be about work and should aim to find out more about them as people, rather than students. The success of this initiative lay in its power to deliver ‘mattering’ and a sense of connection. Bruce posed the question: can you imagine what this could achieve for a workplace culture?
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Group identity
Then, countering the myth that teamwork hides underperformance, the thought-leader cited research, featured by Jeremy Holt in his book For The Love Of The Game, that focused on 50 sports teams and showed how a strong group identity delivered 53 per cent better results than those teams with a weak identity.
“When people feel a sense of ‘we-ness’ and pride in their team, a sense of knowing ‘what’s special about us’, team effort increased by 19 per cent,” he reported. Bruce suggested the ‘we matter’ factor was also crucial to safety culture.
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Agency
This is concerned with empowering people to take action and reminding them they make a difference, that they have an impact. Bruce held up energy provider Octopus as a shining example of how autonomy empowers staff and has been key to the company’s success.
Don’t be boring
Bruce was clear in his belief that when it comes to matters of life and death, you can’t afford to be boring. To him, posters, emails and training modules offer a recipe for boredom. They’ll just get ignored. What’s needed is more engaging, human-centred approaches that ensure messages are received, not just sent. The point was illustrated by citing a programme of industrial safety role-playing workshops seen in South Africa and Network Rail’s safety ambassadors initiative.
Culture can stop people leaving
“We take jobs for pay, but quit them for culture,” Bruce announced to a rapt NEC audience, pointing to research that shows bad culture can be more influential than pay when people decide to resign.
“It’s culture that determines whether people stay and so investing in culture is essential to worker retention.”
Referring to a global Gallup survey, Bruce outlined an ‘Engagement Crisis’ where only 10 per cent of British employees go to work feeling motivated. Worse than this, in fact, the survey highlighted that 16 per cent were actively disengaged. This saw Bruce paint a picture of guerilla warfare, where more people go to work wanting to undermine their organisation than those who are genuinely motivated.
What of the future?
Bruce saw the advent of AI leading to a situation of monotony and heterogeneity, where culture will be left the remaining differentiator, or competitive edge.
“Culture is the human layer that AI cannot replicate – it’s therefore never been more important.”
Who is Bruce Daisley?
Bruce is the author of The Joy of Work and Fortitude and has received wide recognition for his award-winning podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat.
Last updated: 05 May 2026
Jeremy Waterfield
- Job role
- PR & Public Affairs Executive
- Company
- IOSH
