A really interesting 2000 paper from James Reason exploring some apparent paradoxes in safety. A paradox is “a statement contrary to received opinion; seemingly absurd though perhaps well-founded” (p3). The pursuit of safety “abounds with paradox”, and in modern complex sociotechnical systems, things aren’t always what they seem. That is, some beliefs and traditions in… Continue reading Safety paradoxes and safety culture

This studied the impact of OHSAS 18001 certification (18001) on safety performance across 5,147 Spanish firms. First, they covered existing research – finding limited work. Findings across studies were inconsistent, with some finding improvements in safety performance and in others no improvement. Some existing work suggests that safety management system (SMS) & certified system adoption… Continue reading OHSAS 18001 certification and work accidents: Shedding light on the connection

Another from the Reason files (I have a few more of these). The image below explores the maturity cycle organisations go through regarding the role of people. First, problematically, people are seen as hazards. And according to management logics, hazards should be controlled and the variability damped. This focus separates people and behaviour from the… Continue reading Of heroes, villains, error traps and accidents

This systematically reviewed the evidence on incident reporting systems (IRS) in healthcare. Of 43 studies, 8 compared IRS with other healthcare methods and 35 explored the effectiveness of IRS on settings, structures and outcomes. It’s a 41-page review, so I’ll only provide some key findings and not the discussion around the findings. Results Key findings… Continue reading How effective are incident‐reporting systems for improving patient safety? A systematic literature review

This study explored the reliability and utility of risk matrices for ranking hazards relating to public leisure activities. A driving factor for this study is previous research identifying “serious mathematical defects and inconsistencies” in risk matrices. Many of these issues aren’t just user-related but actually inherent and structural to the matrix itself. The study was… Continue reading Further Thoughts on the Utility of Risk Matrices

This explored shared the shared understandings held by UK construction workers towards safety by applying complexity theory. It involved interviews, document review, and site observations. The authors first explains that construction projects have the traits of complex systems, with networks of interrelationships, multiple companies/subcontractors and long supply chains. Further to the multi-nodality of construction projects,… Continue reading Managing “a little bit unsafe”: complexity, construction safety and situational self-organising

Another interesting extract from James Reason below. Jim discusses some paradoxes in safety. A paradox is “a statement contrary to received opinion; seemingly absurd though perhaps well-founded” (p3). It’s noted that the pursuit of safety “abounds with paradox” (and likely all forms of organisational work). I’ll post a summary of his paper in the next… Continue reading Safety paradoxes

This explored the impact that critical events have on healthcare staff and how they “move on” from the events via interviews, memos and field notes. The ‘second victim’ lens was used to situate the findings. Critical events are “’a sudden unexpected event that has an emotional impact sufficient to overwhelm the usually effective coping skills… Continue reading Moving on after critical incidents in health care – A qualitative study of the perspectives and experiences of second victims

ABSTRACT Shift work, defined as work occurring outside typical daytime working hours, is associated with an increased risk for metabolic syndrome (MetS) due to several biological and environmental changes. The MetS refers to the clustering of several known cardiovascular risk factors, including insulin resistance, obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. This systematic review aims to evaluate the… Continue reading Shift work and the risk for metabolic syndrome among healthcare workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This explored the challenges encountered in organisations for staff to raise safety concerns, particularly focused around barriers for frontline insights via formal reporting systems. Providing background, it’s noted: Organisations may move towards comfort seeking rather than problem seeking behaviours, resulting in people remaining silent or leaders failing to hear Soft intelligence poses challenges for organisations.… Continue reading Making soft intelligence hard: a multi-site qualitative study of challenges relating to voice about safety concerns