This studied the association between duration of night shift exposure and mortality in a large sample, controlling for lifestyle factors and age & stratifying by age & occupational group. First, authors note that previous work has demonstrated associations between shift work involving night work & higher risk of ischemic heart disease, diabetes, occupational incidents &… Continue reading Night work, mortality, and the link to occupational group and sex

One of several studies looking at the longer-term impacts of sleep disruption. This study specifically explored at the restorative role of weekend recovery sleep on metabolic factors, following insufficient sleep over a standard 5-day workweek. Some key findings were that: ·        Sleep loss increased after-dinner energy intake and reduced insulin sensitivity ·        An additional 1.1 hr of… Continue reading The impacts of workweek sleep loss on metabolic health

This explored the indirect effects of psychosocial safety climate (a type of safety climate and not psychological safety) on workarounds via mediation of physical fatigue, cognitive weariness and emotional exhaustion. Sample was 562 staff across the health sector in Quebec. Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is an organisational climate composed of individual perceptions of practices, procedures… Continue reading How can we decrease burnout and safety workaround behaviors in health care organizations? The role of psychosocial safety climate

This surveyed members of the Dutch Society for Safety Science (NVVK) and their views on what safety interventions are used and what they believe are effective. 297 members responded to the survey (which had pre-defined responses and a free-text area), which consisted of four main parts relevant to this paper: 1.     What does your company do… Continue reading What works in safety: The use and perceived effectiveness of 48 safety interventions

One of many dozens of papers exploring the propagation of misinformation (and disinformation) on social media platforms, like Twitter. This particular study evaluated ~126k stories tweeted by ~3 million period, classified as true or false based on assessments from six independent fact-checking organisations. Key findings were that: ·        “Falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more… Continue reading The Spread of True and False News Online

This studied procedural departures in community pharmacies, using Safety-I and Safety-II to help frame and discuss the findings. 24 participants (pharmacists & support staff) were interviewed using the critical incident technique. S-I was framed mostly as the absence of incidents & a negative view of procedure departures, whereas S-II was framed as people attempting to… Continue reading Understanding procedural violations using Safety-I and Safety-II: The case of community pharmacies

A continuation of some empirical generalisations that influence or limit macrocognitive system performance from Hoffman and Woods. 1. Kluge generalisation: Work systems create pressures on workers to adapt via use of workarounds and kluges (improvising or fitting together an ill-assorted collection of parts or functions). There’s virtually always some gap between the original design objective… Continue reading Macrocognitive system generalisations: workarounds, stretched systems and fluency

This earlier paper (2002) explored a range of reporting filters that take place against work-related injuries. That is, a range of filters exist which influence whether incidents/injuries are reported, and if reported, influence how those events are categorised, notified, and acted upon. Because of the paper’s age consider this more of an interesting snapshot, as… Continue reading Occupational Injury and Illness Surveillance: Conceptual Filters Explain Underreporting

A couple of discussion papers from Hoffman and Woods, describing several “empirical generalizations” about macrocognitive work. You may want a strong coffee. These “generalizations” (that they referred to as “law-like”, but law is too strong in my view) often appear as consequences of limits on systems that carry out cognitive work. For instance, limits on… Continue reading Macrocognitive system generalisations: cognitive vacuum, systems as surrogates, Mr Weasley & trust

One of several studies that explored the relationship between leadership and sleep deprivation. This looked at how sleep influences charismatic leadership via two controlled lab studies that manipulated the sleep of either leaders or followers. Providing background it’s said: ·        Charismatic Leadership (CL) is defined as “inspiring followers through intellectual stimulation which fosters an impression that… Continue reading Too tired to inspire or be inspired: sleep deprivation and charismatic leadership