Safety culture is rarely written down
Your safety system says one thing.
Your unwritten rules may say another.
Policies, procedures and training set the formal standard. But UGRs—Unwritten Ground Rules—quietly determine whether people follow it, speak up, report risk or take shortcuts when pressure rises.
Steve Simpson & Stef du Plessis · 35+ years transforming workplace culture
THE FORMAL SYSTEM“Report every hazard.”Policy · Procedure · Training
the gap
THE UNWRITTEN RULE“Don’t slow the job down.”Pressure · Signals · Consequences
Move the line. Reveal the culture.
What the system says is only half the story.
Drag the line to see how an unwritten rule can quietly override a clear safety expectation.
Formal systemWhere UGRs liveWork as lived
The central safety question
When the documented safety system and the lived workplace send different messages, which one do people follow?
First, understand UGRs
The rules people learn
without being taught.
UGRs—Unwritten Ground Rules—are people’s shared perceptions of “this is the way we do things around here”.
They form through everyday experience: what leaders notice, what supervisors tolerate, what happens to someone who reports a problem, and which behaviours are rewarded when time or output is at risk.
Helpful UGRs make it normal to pause, question, report and learn. Unhelpful UGRs make silence, workarounds and risk feel necessary—even in organisations with mature safety systems.
UGRs are the safety culture people act on.
Where unwritten rules show up
Eight safety moments
that reveal the real culture.
Safety culture becomes visible in the choices people make when the answer is not easy, convenient or popular.
Hazards & near misses
Whether reporting is welcomed as useful intelligence—or treated as troublemaking.
Speaking up
Whether people can question a decision, stop work or challenge unsafe behaviour without paying a price.
Pressure & shortcuts
What happens when safe work takes longer and production targets are under threat.
Learning from mistakes
Whether incidents lead to honest learning—or blame, defensiveness and silence.
Leadership credibility
Whether everyday choices reinforce safety promises or quietly contradict them.
Frontline & contractors
The local rules new starters and contractors learn by watching what experienced people do.
Physical safety
The real tolerance for risk, workarounds, PPE, isolation and procedural discipline.
Psychological safety
Whether people feel respected, heard and able to raise uncertainty before it becomes harm.
The moment that matters
Safety culture becomes visible when doing the safe thing is inconvenient.
The work as imagined
What the safety system expects.
- Stop work when conditions become unsafe.
- Report hazards, incidents and near misses.
- Follow the agreed procedure every time.
- Raise concerns and learn from mistakes.
The work as done
What people believe is really expected.
- Keep the job moving and solve problems quietly.
- Only report what cannot be contained.
- Use the workaround everyone already knows.
- Do not embarrass the supervisor or the team.
Then use the UGRs® Stock Take
Uncover the safety culture
people are actually navigating.
The UGRs Stock Take is a distinctive diagnostic that reveals the prevailing unwritten safety culture in people’s own words.
Its proven core combines a direct view of the prevailing safety culture with the cultural conditions that influence it. International benchmarks add perspective, while optional organisation-specific lead-ins can explore additional priorities. A Culture Intelligence Sensemaking Report then turns the evidence into structured signals, followed by a leader debrief with Steve or Stef and practical next-step planning.
How the Stock Take worksUGRs® STOCK TAKESafety framework
A clear view of safety culture—
and what is shaping it.
Core safety culture · Contributing cultural conditions · Optional priority areas
Impact on safety
NegativeNeutralPositive
Real language. International perspective.Evidence leaders can act on.
From insight to action
A focused diagnostic.
A practical way forward.
Employee experience
People describe how work and safety really happen.
UGRs revealed
Shared perceptions and unwritten rules become visible.
Sensemaking
Signals, patterns and strengths are brought together.
Leader debrief
Steve or Stef helps leaders test the interpretation.
Practical next steps
Leaders agree what to protect, challenge and do next.
The value is not another survey score. It is a better leadership conversation—and better decisions about what happens next.
Why the UGRs Stock Take is different
35+
years of practical culture transformation
Steve Simpson & Stef du Plessis
Deep experience.
Practical credibility.
Steve created the UGRs concept in the late 1980s. Together, Steve and Stef have spent more than 35 years helping leaders and teams across the world understand and transform workplace culture.
Their work connects executive intent with frontline reality—helping organisations move beyond safety slogans to understand the everyday signals that shape behaviour.
Meet Steve and StefSafety-critical and operational experience
Experience where speaking up,
learning and sound decisions matter.
CHC HelicopterAviation
Barrick GoldTanzania
Gold FieldsSouth Africa · Ghana · Australia
Whitehaven CoalAustralia
Columbus StainlessSteel manufacturing · South Africa
McLaren AutomotiveAutomotive
Begin with the culture beneath the system
What might your safety culture
be teaching people?
Start a confidential conversation with Steve Simpson and Stef du Plessis about your safety priorities and the UGRs Stock Take.
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