The systemic origins of many accidents have led to heightened interest is the way organizations identify and manage risks. The term organizational safety culture' has become common within the literature and seeks to explain the fact that organizations their willingness and ability to conduct safe operations. The activities and stuctures which are thought to represent a °good° safety culture are well documented. However, a model was lacking which would explain the failure of many organizations to develop a organizational culture which would support safety initiatives. Ti thesis seeks to l that gap. A model which aimed to enumerate the factors which impact upon a organizations ability to develop a positive safety culture is presented and tested. A open systems perspective is the development of the model allowed this work to build upon previous treatments of safety culture by incorporating factors within the operating environment. The application of the model is discussed.