{"id":32503,"date":"2026-01-30T10:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T18:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/?p=32503"},"modified":"2026-08-14T17:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T17:52:00","slug":"ciencia-de-la-seguridad-implementa-la-cultura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/es\/safety-science-implement-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00bfC\u00f3mo pueden las agencias de protecci\u00f3n infantil utilizar la ciencia de la seguridad para promover una cultura de seguridad?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Summary<\/h3>\n

Child protection agencies can learn much from other safety-critical systems and industries, such as health care, aviation, and nuclear power. Learn about safety science and safety culture and how to apply them in child welfare.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Safety is the paramount goal for child protection agencies, so when a child tragedy such as a fatality or serious injury occurs, a cycle of intense public discourse and scrutiny often follows. What usually happens next is a series of corrective actions that may include the blaming and possible firing of individuals deemed responsible, and an increased agencywide focus on compliance.<\/p>\n

Such hasty responses, however, do not necessarily increase child safety or organizational effectiveness. Rather, they can contribute to unhealthy agency cultures characterized by anxiety, defensiveness, and self-preservation.<\/p>\n

Child protection agencies can learn much from other safety-critical systems and industries \u2014 such as health care, aviation, and nuclear power \u2014 that have applied the principles of safety science to change organizational culture, improve practice, and reduce tragic incidents. Safety in these arenas tends to improve as a result of the embrace of safety science, and the child welfare system can experience similar positive outcomes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Safety science vs. safety culture<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

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Safety science<\/strong>\u00a0involves applying scientific methods, research, and tools to understand, assess, and manage safety.1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0In the context of child protection, this means using an evidence-based approach to inform preventive and responsive actions, rather than basing policy and practice decisions on emotion or assumption. When a safety science framework is employed, the best available research and evidence are used to identify and apply the lessons learned from a tragic incident or critical event.<\/p>\n

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Experts in the field of safety science tend to agree that organizational culture is an important component when applying and implementing safety science. Safety-critical industries have recognized that a culture of fear and blame does not promote learning and can result in decreased organizational effectiveness and compromised safety. Research is increasingly available to guide child protection agencies in creating a\u00a0safety culture<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0that is more effective in protecting children from harm. To implement a safety culture successfully, an agency must examine a variety of systemic factors and balance individual and system accountability for safety.<\/p>\n

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As child protection agency leaders have sought to implement safety science and safety culture principles, they are discovering that equity is critical. Safety is a prerequisite for the honest conversations necessary to address the various demographic disparities that often are present in child welfare outcomes. Likewise, no organizational culture can claim to be truly safe until it is equally safe and just for all.<\/p>\n

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In Los Angeles County<\/strong>, as in any child welfare jurisdiction, social workers constantly have to make difficult judgment calls related to child safety. In addition to providing training and real-time supervisor support, the Department of Children and Family Services continuously examines \u201cpractice, protocols, and technologies to identify areas ripe for innovation, improvement, or change,\u201d said Brandon T. Nichols, agency director. \u201cAs we all know, this work is extremely complex with human-centered issues that are beyond our control. We take every opportunity to learn and gain insights to improve our practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In Connecticut<\/strong>, the Department of Children and Families strives to create a Safe and Sound<\/a> culture that promotes inclusion, respect, diversity of viewpoints, permission to challenge biases, and opportunities for positive change. As part of the Safe and Sound culture, the agency has embedded a Racial Justice and Equity Assessment tool and process, with the goal to eliminate racial disparities and inequitable barriers, and increase positive outcomes for all children, beginning with child safety.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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We embrace a culture of psychological safety that allows us to engage our workforce in direct and honest conversations without being punitive. This helps us quickly identify problems and make adjustments as needed without assigning blame.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

— Brandon T. Nichols, Director, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services<\/cite><\/figcaption>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Creating a safety culture<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

Research and theory in the application of safety science focus on the complex environments in which individual errors occur. Many factors affect an individual\u2019s ability to accurately assess child safety and take actions to promote it. Some factors are directly related to the individual (training, experience, and critical thinking skills), but many are not (organizational policy, agency or office climate, and caseload or workload). Leaders of organizations therefore play a critical role in creating a safety culture that supports effective casework.<\/p>\n

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Studies of hospital nurses have found a disturbing \u201cassociation between organizational cultures characterized by reluctance to report errors and acknowledge mistakes, and the frequency with which medical errors occur.\u201d2<\/sup><\/a> Applying that conclusion to child protection agencies, cycles of blaming never have been shown to measurably reduce tragic incidents involving child safety.<\/p>\n

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Michael Cull, who leads the technical assistance team for the National Partnership for Child Safety<\/a>, describes a safety culture as \u201cone in which values, attitudes, and behaviors support a safe, engaged workforce and reliable, error-free operations,\u201d and cites four key principles:3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n