Not much to say here – a couple of extracts that I found interesting around developing ‘ideal’ rule systems. Lots to be said here – there’s volumes of books, journal articles and specialised fields/teams that develop rules, but the attached provide a few summarised points. Images 1 & 2 come from Hale et al. 2003.… Continue reading Ingredients for ideal rule systems and some pitfalls to avoid

This paper interviewed 23 safety professionals from 17 companies, and evaluated JHA documents, surrounding the obstacles and solutions to implementing Job Hazard Analysis/Job Safety Analysis (JHA) in construction. Providing background: Results Overall, obstacles to JHA effectiveness were found to include: The authors discussed several means for improving the process, including use of visual aids, rotating… Continue reading Obstacles and Solutions to Implementing Job Hazard Analysis in Construction: A Case Study

What is the connection between ISO certified systems, like 18001, and symbolic ‘paper systems’? Quite a bit, according to a 2017 study. This study compared 18001 certified to non-certified companies on a range of factors. I’m not summarising it since you can read the full report (link in comments). Some key findings are in the… Continue reading Diagnosis of poor safety culture as a major shortcoming in OHSAS 18001-certified companies

Can stakeholder pressures encourage greenwashing in the adoption of environmental management systems (EMS) and practices? Perhaps so, finds a 2018 paper. I haven’t posted much on environmental science/management, so found this pretty interesting. They undertook a literature review and surveyed 232 Enviro Managers from European companies. Note – corporate greening is the pursuit and adoption… Continue reading Internalization of Environmental Practices and Institutional Complexity: Can Stakeholders Pressures Encourage Greenwashing?

This study evaluated the impact of narrative/story-based approaches to safety messages; e.g. injury stories on actual safety behaviour versus mechanistic instructions without use of anecdotes and ‘traditional abstract safety messages’. Providing background: ·         They aptly ask whether people pay attention to safety and health messages? For one, despite warnings not to hold children in your… Continue reading Using stories to battle unintentional injuries: Narratives in safety and health communication

A study to be posted soon evaluated everyday work via cognitive task analysis to map the factors that enabled surgical staff to navigate complex work and situations. Firstly they note that many official processes and protocols “reflect the work methods intended to meet the demands at the frontline (WAI – work as imagined). However, because… Continue reading Safety as a dynamic non-event and exploring everyday work

Another study on the obstacles of effective JHAs is coming up next week. This paper analysed 30 JHAs and interviewed 23 construction safety professionals. All of the usual players were highlighted regarding problems with JHAs in practice, like: ·        Lack of buy-in to the process: many workers and supervisors recognised that aggressive schedules and multiple competing… Continue reading Obstacles to effective JHA/JSAs in construction

I found this study interesting – they evaluated the viral spread of COVID-19 truth vs misinformation, and some other mis/disinformation. Over 24 million retweets were analysed on Twitter. Overall, they found that : ·        “COVID-19 misinformation is more likely to go viral than truthful information”. ·        Moral emotions moderated this spread: a higher number of condemning emotion… Continue reading Moral Emotions Shape the Virality of COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media

This studied how the timing of decisions to mitigate risks, pre-construction vs construction phases, influenced the type of control against the hierarchy of control (HoC). Data was collected from 23 Australian and American construction projects, including interviews with 288 project staff. Authors first outlined the research and basis for safety-in-design (SiD). Research from others (Behm)… Continue reading The relationship between pre-construction decision-making and the effectiveness of risk control: Testing the time-safety influence curve

This 2020 paper from Størkersen, Dekker and colleagues explores the growth of internally driven overregulation when “governments take a step back”. It’s open access (links in comments), so I’m not summarising it. They document how the “rules, clutter and red tape that often not contribute to safety”, a type of overregulation, is “generated largely internal… Continue reading How deregulation can become overregulation: An empirical study into the growth of internal bureaucracy when governments take a step back