SAFETY CULTURE

Personal 

Accountability 

TRAIT TALK

Trait Talk was developed to provide you 

with a better understanding of the nine 

safety culture traits found in the U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) 

Safety Culture Policy Statement (SCPS) 

and how they apply to you—whether 

you are an NRC licensee, a vendor or 

contractor employee, an organization 

interested in the safe and secure use of 

nuclear materials, or others involved in 

nuclear safety regulation. Please see 

page 4 of Safety Culture Trait Talk for 

more information on the SCPS.

Experience has shown that certain 

personal and organizational traits are 

present in a positive safety culture. 

A trait, in this case, is a pattern of 

thinking, feeling, and behaving that 

emphasizes safety, particularly in goal 

conflict situations, for example, in 

situations where production, schedule, 

or just the cost of effort may conflict 

with doing the job safely. The NRC 

identified nine traits of a positive safety 

culture in the SCPS, although the agency 

recognizes that additional traits may also 

be important. In addition, please note 

that the traits were not developed to be 

used for inspection purposes.

Each Trait Talk includes a fictional 

scenario based on a different 

licensee or community. The scenario 

used in this Trait Talk is based on the 

vendor community. 

As you read through Trait Talk, consider 

the following questions: 

1. How does this trait apply to my 

organization? 

2. Are there other attributes and 

examples that better fit my 

organization? 

3. What impact does this trait have on 

the safety culture in my organization? 

4. How does this increase my 

understanding of the safety culture 

in my organization? 

5. How could I improve the performance 

of this trait in my organization?

What Is The Definition Of Personal 

Accountability? 

The NRC’s SCPS defines Personal Accountability as all individuals take personal 

responsibility for safety.

Why Is This Trait Important?

Personal accountability reflects the belief that leaders and employees are responsible and 

have ownership for their performance and the roles they play in nuclear safety. Personal 

accountability is not finger pointing, blame, or punishment.

In organizations with positive safety cultures, individuals have a strong sense of 

accountability for the safe operation of the facility, their own safety, and for the safety of 

their coworkers and the public. Leaders can develop personal accountability within their 

organization by empowering employees. They must give employees the skills and training 

needed to communicate, explain, and do their jobs well. They must set performance 

objectives with specific behaviors and outcomes and evaluate performance and give timely 

feedback. 

Furthermore, leaders should encourage accountability through rewards rather than 

discourage through punishment. When leaders model, acknowledge, and reward positive 

accountability behaviors, employees are more likely to be motivated to invest in safe 

operations personally. 

Everyone must take personal ownership for his or her actions and decisions for 

accountability to become a fundamental part of an organization’s safety culture. 

Reinforcement can come from supervisors and managers, but also from coworkers, 

the public, and an individual’s own personal values and standards. Accountability can 

motivate mindfulness, attention to detail, and self-assessment, and can result in fewer 

accidents and incidents. 

An ongoing challenge in fostering personal accountability is to identify who is responsible 

for the factors that affect safety within an organization and how to make appropriate 

accountability assignments. For example, responsibility can be assigned to ensure that 

training is completed, procedures are updated, and decisions are made. Accountability 

systems in an organization involve identifying who is held accountable for which actions 

and by whom. Alignment in these accountability systems within an organization can 

create effective communications, teamwork, strong safety performance, and motivated 

employees and can lead to a positive safety culture. 

Issue 9 February, 2015

One of the traits of a positive safety culture as described in the U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Safety Culture Policy Statement.
SAFETY CULTURE TRAIT TALK

WHAT DOES THIS TRAIT LOOK LIKE?

Standards: Individuals understand the importance 

of adherence to nuclear standards. All levels of the 

organization exercise accountability for shortfalls in 

meeting standards. 

Individuals encourage each other to adhere to high standards. 

They demonstrate a proper focus on nuclear safety and 

reinforce this focus through peer coaching and discussions. 

Individuals hold themselves personally accountable for 

modeling nuclear safety behaviors and individuals across 

the organization apply nuclear safety standards consistently. 

Individuals actively solicit and are open to feedback and 

they help supplemental personnel understand and practice 

expected behaviors and actions. 

Job Ownership: Individuals understand and 

demonstrate personal responsibility for the behaviors and 

work practices that support nuclear safety. 

Individuals understand their personal responsibility to 

foster a professional environment, encourage teamwork, and 

identify challenges to nuclear safety. They understand their 

personal responsibility to raise nuclear safety issues, including 

those identified by others. Individuals take ownership for the 

preparation and execution of assigned work activities. They 

actively participate in pre-job briefings, understanding their 

responsibility to raise nuclear safety concerns before work 

begins. Individuals ensure that they are trained and qualified 

to perform assigned work and understand the objective of the 

work activity, their role in the activity, and their personal 

responsibility for safely accomplishing the overall objective. 

Teamwork: Individuals and work groups communicate 

and coordinate their activities within and across 

organizational boundaries to ensure nuclear safety is 

maintained. 

Individuals demonstrate a strong sense of collaboration and 

cooperation in connection with projects and operational 

activities. They work as a team to provide peer-checks, verify 

certifications and training, ensure detailed safety practices, 

actively peer coach new personnel, and share tools and 

publications. Individuals strive to meet commitments. 

2 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
SAFETY CULTURE TRAIT TALK

WHAT IS A SCENARIO IN WHICH 

THIS TRAIT COULD PLAY A ROLE?

A welder at a vendor facility inadvertently dropped a 

spool of weld wire into a puddle while carrying it to the 

controlled storage area at the end of his shift. When weld 

wire is exposed to water, the flux inside absorbs moisture. 

Once the welding wire is wetted or absorbs an excessive 

amount of moisture, no process can “dry out” the welding 

wire. Dropping a spool of weld wire in a puddle would 

make it unacceptable for use in welding safety-related 

components. Wetted weld wire can potentially result in 

welding defects such as porosity. Wetted weld wire also 

can contribute to hydrogen cracking, which might not be 

detected unless the inspection of the welds is conducted at 

least 48 hours after the weld is completed.

However, the quality inspector responsible for checking 

in the wire believed that the spool would dry out, and 

attached a handwritten note “DO NOT USE SPOOL” to 

prevent issuance while it was still wet. The quality inspector 

accepting the wetted wire did not enter the issue into either 

the nonconformance or corrective action programs, as 

required. Within a few days, the wire developed spots of 

surface rust. Numerous quality inspectors, including the 

lead inspector, who had access to the controlled storage 

area and responsibility to issue and receive the wire on a 

daily basis, observed the spool of wire with the handwritten 

note. Many knew that it had been wetted or that it had 

visible rust spots. No personnel took the appropriate action 

to write a nonconformance or corrective action report. 

Because the issue was not documented in the corrective 

action system, the spool was not segregated from the 

spools ready for issue, the cause of the rust had not been 

determined, and an investigation had not been performed 

to determine whether any nonconforming wire had actually 

been used in a safety-related welding application.

The vendor did not document or investigate the issue 

until a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector 

discovered the spool of weld wire during a walkdown. 

The wire was intended for use on nuclear safety-related 

welds for modular subassemblies for a domestic plant. 

Ultimately, the vendor determined that the spool of wire 

had not been used for production work after it was wetted, 

even though it was on the shelf and could have potentially 

been used. This incident may have been prevented if the 

vendor personnel had exhibited personal accountability for 

their behaviors and work practices. 

Thinking about the scenario discussed above, consider the 

following questions:

1. How does this scenario apply to the safety 

culture trait Personal Accountability?

2. What kinds of communications would have 

reinforced safety as the overriding priority?

3. How could this situation have been handled 

differently, and what might have been the 

outcome?

WHO CAN I CONTACT WITH A 

QUESTION OR SUGGESTION?

The NRC looks forward to continuing to provide you with 

information about the traits of a positive safety culture. If you 

have a question or would like to make a suggestion, please 

contact the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of 

Enforcement, Safety Culture Team, at external_safety_culture.

resource@nrc.gov.

Issue 9, February 2015 3

Sources of Information:

1 “Why is this trait important?” was derived, in part, 

from a literature review (Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. 

ML13023A054) prepared by Pacific Northwest National 

Laboratories for the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory 

Research. 

2 “What does this trait look like?” was derived from 

the Safety Culture Common Language effort (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML13031A343), under the direction of 

the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. Panelists 

from the NRC, nuclear power industry, and the public 

created attributes of a positive nuclear safety culture, 

and examples of each attribute that a nuclear power 

organization should demonstrate in maintaining a 

positive safety culture. Although these attributes and 

examples were created specifically for the reactor 

community, they may also be applicable to various 

other communities and organizations. For purposes 

of Trait Talk, the examples were partially rewritten to 

increase applicability to nuclear as well as non nuclear 

communities. 

3 “What is a scenario in which this trait played a role?” 

was developed specifically for Safety Culture Trait Talk 

for educational purposes only. The scenario is fictional 

and any resemblance to actual events, people, or 

organizations is purely coincidental.
SAFETY CULTURE TRAIT TALK

4 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The NRC’s SCPS provides the NRC’s expectation that 

individuals and organizations performing regulated 

activities establish and maintain a positive safety culture 

commensurate with the safety and security significance 

of their activities and the nature and complexity of 

their organizations and functions. Because safety and 

security are the primary pillars of the NRC’s regulatory 

mission, consideration of both safety and security issues, 

commensurate with their significance, is an underlying 

principle of the SCPS.

The NRC’s SCPS applies to all licensees, certificate holders, 

permit holders, authorization holders, holders of quality 

assurance program approvals, vendors and suppliers of 

safety-related components, and applicants for a license, 

certificate permit, authorization, or quality assurance 

program approval subject to NRC authority. In addition, 

the Commission encourages the Agreement States (States 

that assume regulatory authority over their own use 

of certain nuclear materials), their licensees, and other 

organizations interested in nuclear safety to support the 

development and maintenance of a positive safety culture 

within their regulated communities. The SCPS is not a 

regulation; therefore, it is the organization’s responsibility, 

as part of its safety culture program, to consider how to 

apply the SCPS to its regulated activities.

The NRC’s SCPS, which includes the definition of nuclear 

safety culture and the nine traits of a positive safety culture, 

can be found on the NRC’s Safety Culture Web site. The 

Web site includes additional safety culture information, as 

well as the NRC safety culture case studies, which describe 

how the presence or absence of safety culture traits affects 

the outcome of the events.

WHAT IS THE NRC’S SAFETY CULTURE POLICY STATEMENT?

There are many definitions of safety culture. Most of these definitions focus on the idea that in a positive safety culture 

individuals and organizations emphasize safety over competing goals, such as production or costs, ensuring a safety-first focus. 

The NRC’s SCPS defines nuclear safety culture as the core values and behaviors resulting from a collective commitment 

by leaders and individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment.

Experience has shown that certain personal and organizational traits are present in a positive safety culture. The following traits 

were included in the NRC’s SCPS, although additional traits may also be important in a positive safety culture:

Leadership Safety Values

and Actions

Problem Identification 

and Resolution Personal Accountability

Leaders demonstrate a 

commitment to safety in 

their decisions and behaviors.

Issues potentially impacting 

safety are promptly identified, 

fully evaluated, and promptly 

addressed and corrected 

commensurate with 

their significance.

All individuals take personal

responsibility for safety.

Work Processes Continuous Learning Environment for 

Raising Concerns

The process of planning and 

controlling work activities is 

implemented so that safety 

is maintained. 

Opportunities to learn about ways 

to ensure safety are sought out 

and implemented.

A safety conscious work 

environment is maintained 

where personnel feel free to 

raise safety concerns without 

fear of retaliation, intimidation, 

harassment or discrimination.

Effective Safety 

Communications Respectful Work Environment Questioning Attitude

Communications maintain 

a focus on safety.

Trust and respect permeate 

the organization.

Individuals avoid complacency 

and continually challenge existing 

conditions and activities in 

order to identify discrepancies 

that might result in error or 

inappropriate action.