Still genuinely surprised that our last paper on audit failures has generated, relatively speaking, so much interest: now the second-most accessed paper in the Process Safety Progress journal. [* It shows as number 1 but that’s a glitch in the matrix. There’s a study on ‘red squirrels tests’ that has HEAPS more views.] No doubt… Continue reading Audits, excessive compliance focus and risk blindness
Author: Ben Hutchinson
The limits and of lost time injury and other injury measures: ‘risk blindness’
This Safe Work Australia report mentioned yesterday, authored by O’Neill & Wolfe, discussed measuring & reporting on WHS. One section dived into the limits of injury measures. Some highlights: · “a single injury number or frequency rate is too aggregated to provide meaningful information to guide business decisions” · “the majority of LTIs have relatively short-term consequences… Continue reading The limits and of lost time injury and other injury measures: ‘risk blindness’
The Illusive Pipedream of Zero Harm: A South African Mining Industry Perspective
Not much to say here – nor anything particularly new to practitioners – just thought this was an interesting extract from a study that unpacked South African mining company OHS annual reports. They highlight: · “where the injury rates and OD rates show a decreasing trend over time, this should not be construed to mean that health… Continue reading The Illusive Pipedream of Zero Harm: A South African Mining Industry Perspective
Poor psychosocial safety climate increases teleworker vulnerability to suicidal ideation
A poor psychosocial safety climate (PSC) increases teleworker vulnerability to suicide ideation, according to a new Japanese study. 1,988 participants were surveyed in a cross-sectional design. Key findings: · “poor PSC had a direct effect on an increase in suicidal ideation, even after controlling for task-level occupational factors in both teleworkers and nonteleworkers” · “the association between… Continue reading Poor psychosocial safety climate increases teleworker vulnerability to suicidal ideation
The ironies of ‘human factors’
This brief book chapter from Hollnagel & Dekker adopts Lisanne Bainbridge’s idea of ironies, in the context of contemporary human factors practice. Can’t cover all the points. Highly recommend you check out Bainbridge’s original paper, though (link in comments). Ironies in this context is a “solution which expands rather than solves or eliminates a problem,… Continue reading The ironies of ‘human factors’
Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Occupational Health and Safety Management System Certification Program on Firm Work Injury Rates in Alberta, Canada
This study explored the effects of Alberta’s Certificate of Recognition (COR) and SECOR program on reported firm-related injuries. (Yes, another that’s relying on incident data…) >14k certified firms were matched with >11k non-certified firms from 2000-2015. They note: “In a systematic review on the effectiveness of OHSMSs, Robson et al. [6] found that although most… Continue reading Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Occupational Health and Safety Management System Certification Program on Firm Work Injury Rates in Alberta, Canada
The Twenty Foot Rule and Safety Leadership
This brief conference paper discussed the ‘twenty foot rule’ of leadership. I’ve only covered a few points, as much of it reads as an instructional piece on key items to set up the process, whereas I’ve focused more on the general gist and rationale (so easier you just read the paper if you’re interested). The… Continue reading The Twenty Foot Rule and Safety Leadership
Safety Culture or: How cultures can both sensitise or blind us to danger
I’ve long been critical of the construct, and application of, ‘safety culture’ (at best, I’d probably be described as from the interpretive camp—e.g. ‘culture-as-metaphor’). I’ve covered lots of articles why – and others have argued far more nuanced reasons. So, I’m not covering that now. But in saying that, I’ve always found the following definition… Continue reading Safety Culture or: How cultures can both sensitise or blind us to danger
Effectiveness of training in reducing accidents in construction companies
This study evaluated the impact of construction safety training on accident rates in Spanish industry. Data from 1,283 Spanish construction companies over 11 years were analysed. They studied the effects of training in the same year of the accident, and the prior three years. I’m not really sure what to make of these findings –… Continue reading Effectiveness of training in reducing accidents in construction companies
Foundations of Safety Science: Resilience Engineering and 3 analytical traps for resilience practitioners
Post 3 from ch.11 of the Foundations of Safety Science, exploring Resilience Engineering (RE) and the adaptive perspectives. This part focuses on 3 analytical traps for resilience practitioners/scholars to be cognisant of (you may recognise these from Johan Bergstrom’s youtube vid – link in comments). Extracts: · The first trap is the reductionist trap · Whereas “the… Continue reading Foundations of Safety Science: Resilience Engineering and 3 analytical traps for resilience practitioners
