This study explored the role of psychological safety (PS) on team performance (both perceived and actual performance) in the intensive care unit (ICU). Daily surveys of healthcare providers in 12 ICUs within an integrated health system over a 2-week period were undertaken. Surveys included PS, leader familiarity, leader inclusiveness, role clarity, job strain, and teamwork.… Continue reading Psychological Safety in Intensive Care Unit Rounding Teams

What psychosocial factors dominate in mental ill-health and stress among offshore oil & gas workers? A summary to be posted in the coming weeks explored this in a sample of Australian offshore workers. No surprises with key findings: ·        Fear of speaking up ·        unsatisfactory company-provided facilities ·        work–life interference ·        work status issues ·        micromanaging ·        gender harassment ·        bullying ·        production… Continue reading Psychosocial hazards in the offshore oil & gas sector: bullying & micromanagement [and food rationing?]

What factors across the whole sociotechnical system contribute to and create opportunities for rail accidents? A paper to be posted in the coming weeks explored this question. While there’s newer and more extensive sociotechnical analyses of rail events and SPADs (signals passed at danger), I found this a nice little read. Whereas earlier evaluations of… Continue reading Signals Passed at Danger, rail accidents, and a sociotechnical lens

This study explored the links between safety management system practices, human performance concepts, employee engagement levels and both objective safety performance outcomes and self-reported injuries. Data was collected via surveys from safety managers, supervisors and workers. It’s a survey study, so take from it what you will. Also, as always, caveat emptor around the stability… Continue reading A system of safety management practices and worker engagement for reducing and preventing accidents: An empirical and theoretical investigation

I found this an interesting few paras from Klein & Wright’s 2016 paper, discussing the contributions of macrocognition and NDM (naturalistic decision making). Macrocognition is “the study of cognitive processes affecting people such as firefighters, pilots, nurses, and others who had to wrestle with difficult dilemmas in complex settings under time pressure and uncertainty”. Macrocognition… Continue reading Macrocognition and decision making and expertise

This study explored the learning strategies used by different companies in response to occupational accidents. Seventeen case studies were conducted with organisations from various industries via semi-structured interviews and analysis of documentation. Providing context: ·        Organisational learning can be of any type that improves an organisation’s ability to perform its work better, in this case more… Continue reading Organizational practices for learning with work accidents throughout their information cycle

This study tracked the implementation of a restorative justice approach in a NHS community and mental health trust in the UK. The implementation occurred over a period of 18 months, where restorative justice focused on “understanding, healing, and learning”. Providing background: The restorative approach involved a number of activities. See the below image for a… Continue reading Restorative Just Culture: a Study of the Practical and Economic Effects of Implementing Restorative Justice in an NHS Trust

Which accident learning practices differentiate a high performing mature organisation versus a lower performing one? Summary in the next couple of weeks of a study which explored & ranked learning practices across 17 organisations. Four tiers of learning maturity were observed: At level 1 organisations are doing the minimum, being collecting accident data but having… Continue reading Learning from accidents across learning life cycle

What are the benefits of changing from a retributive to a more restorative justice environment? This study explored the implementation of a restorative justice approach in a NHS trust over a period of 18 months. Summary in the next couple of weeks. A whole host of changes were implemented, see image 2. Some problems with… Continue reading Driving a change from retributive to restorative justice in organisations

This study, with Amy Edmondson as one of many co-authors, explored how different types of near miss and incident event types lead to different learning outcomes. The focus is radiation oncology, but the categories may still be applicable elsewhere. Providing background: ·        Prior work suggests that both near miss events and actual incidents are rare given… Continue reading Missing the Near Miss: Recognizing Valuable Learning Opportunities in Radiation Oncology