This paper discussed different types of drift and applied them to the case of railway  accidents. It was a fascinating paper, but a real challenge to summarise. I suggest you read the full paper if you’re interested in the topic as I can’t do this justice. Note. This summary is very fragmented. This is because… Continue reading The diversity of systemic safety drift: the role of infrastructure in the railway sector

Do behavioural interventions work? This 2023 systematic review evaluated the evidence. Summary to be posted in the coming weeks. While I’m not a proponent of behavioural approaches, I post this in response to comments on LinkedIn about how “behavioural/BBS programs don’t work”. I think to make this statement we should first look to the evidence.… Continue reading Systematic review of behavioural safety interventions

Are the institutional responses following workplace deaths adequate for the surviving families? A study to be posted explored this question via interviews with surviving family members, following traumatic workplace deaths. Probably the most difficult topic I’ve written about, as it’s such an irreducibly personal and devastating outcome for the families. This paper found that: (Noting… Continue reading Workplace deaths and the lasting pain and tragedy for surviving families

This studied the reasons why construction workers don’t report work-related injuries. Surveys were completed by 135 workers. Results The main findings were all of the expected and well-known reasons of why people don’t report work-related injuries; so nothing particularly surprising here. Main reasons included: Authors discussed some of the results. This included industry/profession differences in… Continue reading Construction Workers’ Reasons for Not Reporting Work-Related Injuries: An Exploratory Study

This study reports on a failed BBS program implemented in the Singapore construction industry. Interestingly, they also analysed the findings from a systems dynamics perspective. Given the (largely unnecessary) tribalism between behavioural and systems perspectives, it was cool to see at least a little harmony here [* although it was systems dynamics and causal loop… Continue reading A system dynamics view of a behavior-based safety program in the construction industry

Can injury prevention efforts, like zero harm, go too far? So asks a paper focused on Vision Zero approaches in road safety. This paper developed a statistical model and tested it to see what the impacts would be for society if a comprehensive vision zero program was implemented in order to eliminate road fatalities. (Note:… Continue reading Can zero harm efforts go too far? Some theoretical data suggests ‘Yes’

This study ran one-on-one online interviews with offshore oil and gas workers to understand their experiences with psychosocial safety and health. Data was via 37 participants (37 male and 4 female). 17 were permanent, 4 casual and 7 contractors, and 1 casual contractor. All worked 12 h days with no days off, while offshore. Providing… Continue reading Psychosocial Safety and Health Hazards and Their Impacts on Offshore Oil and Gas Workers

Can the drift metaphor risk simplifying complex organisational phenomena, and result in generic cookie-cutter explanations and remedies? A fascinating paper to be summarised discussed this in the context of rail infrastructure and rail accidents. The author suggested a starting point is to expand on the drift metaphor. He found four general theoretical categories of drift:… Continue reading Systemic drift and rail accidents

“When two worlds collide… Your world was made up Of things sweet and good My world could never fit in” A summary to be posted interestingly used systems dynamics modelling/insights to evaluate a failed BBS intervention in the construction industry. The BBS program used 5 key interventions: goal setting, feedback, activity-based training, rewards, punishment (which… Continue reading Systems dynamics modelling of a failed BBS intervention

This explored the concept of Latent Error Detection (LED) within junior and senior naval air engineers from the Royal Navy helicopter squadrons. LED describes situations where potential system failures are successfully recovered by individuals via system-triggered detections of hidden errors. E.g. An individual forgets to replace an oil cap or a bolt and then an… Continue reading Latent error detection: A golden two hours for detection