This was cool – they evaluated the relationship between reportable quantity accidental HAZCHEM releases as a function of refinery interactive complexity and coupling, as per Perrow’s Normal Accident Theory (NAT). 94 US refineries were included. Background: ·        According to NAT, “technical system risk is determined by the interaction of two characteristics associated with the organization and… Continue reading Evidence of an Interaction Involving Complexity and Coupling as Predicted By Normal Accident Theory

This 2019 paper from Nektarios Karanikas and colleague explored the adoption (or not) of New Safety Thinking Practices (NSTPs) in aviation investigation reports from five aviation authorities. Not a summary but you can read the whole report. Some extracts: ·        All elements of the studied NTSPs were visible across the sample, but to different extents ·        They… Continue reading Tracing New Safety Thinking Practices in Safety Investigation Reports

This older paper (1983) from Don Norman is pretty interesting – exploring design approaches to performance variability. There’s MUCH newer and comprehensive work on the topic (including his book and newer papers), but still a decent read. Caution is advised because of the paper’s age (particularly with the psychological elements; although, you may find the… Continue reading Design Rules Based on Analyses of Human Error

This was cool – it explored the role of hindsight in shaping traffic accident judgements. It also constructed a hindsight / foresight diagram comparing what the ‘culpable’ driver knew prior to the accident compared to what was learnt after. It’s said: ·        “hindsight bias refers to the tendency for after accident observers to believe falsely that the… Continue reading Hindsight Judgment of Driver Fault in Traffic Accident Analysis: Misusing the Science of Accident Reconstruction

This new study may interest people – it explored whether working time loss and expenditure following compensable injury can be predicted by organisational characteristics, in this case via Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC). PSC refers to “a positive system level factor that reflects how the organisation values and prioritises the psychological health (humanity) of its employees.”… Continue reading Psychosocial Safety Climate as an organisational level determinant of working time lost and expenditure following workplace injuries and illnesses

This paper from Edmondson and Besieux discusses proposed a framework to distinguish between productive and unproductive forms of voice and silence. Summary next week. Frequently conversations at work at said to be “unsatisfying, unproductive, or both”, like meetings with little input. Speaking up isn’t always productive – like complaining endlessly or expecting someone else to… Continue reading Productive vs unproductive conversations – matrix from Amy Edmondson

An interesting 2018 paper from Dave Grattan, discussing the importance of human factors in barrier effectiveness. This paper covers A LOT – I’ll touch on a few points but suggest you check out the paper. Points: ·        Current approaches have emphasised “hardware reliability over human reliability”, which is “misleading because it blinds us to the reality… Continue reading Improving barrier effectiveness using human factors methods

I found this read a little different from recent others – it compared several accident perspectives in explaining the Titanic sinking. Note. I expect many will disagree with their classifications (as did I). Maybe don’t take the exact findings too literally, but it’s interesting to ponder the findings nevertheless – no less WYLFIWYF. They used… Continue reading Titanic viewed from different perspectives on major accidents