This study evaluated the relationship between project management and safety management in the Norwegian construction industry. Data was from 111 unique projects and 26 firms. They assessed projects on a range of different project management capacities and safety management. Providing background: · While a robust body of research has looked at both project management/production, and… Continue reading An analysis of the relationship between project management and safety management in the Norwegian construction industry
Author: Ben Hutchinson
Foundation of Safety Science: Resilience Engineering and complex systems pt2
Post 2 from ch.11 of the Foundations of Safety Science, exploring Resilience Engineering (RE) and the adaptive perspectives. Some extracts: · RE sees failures not necessarily as breakdowns or malfunctioning of normal functions, but “the converse of the adaptations necessary to cope with the real world complexity” · Performance of individuals and organisations across all level “must… Continue reading Foundation of Safety Science: Resilience Engineering and complex systems pt2
Does sending Safety Toolbox Talks by text message to Residential Construction Supervisors increase Safety Meeting Compliance?
This US study evaluated whether distributing construction safety toolboxes, with workplace fatalities, to supervisors by mobile phone would increase their compliance delivering toolboxes each month, 56 construction supervisors in Oregon were recruited and received a link to a toolbox talk by text message every two weeks for three months. This is based on a tool… Continue reading Does sending Safety Toolbox Talks by text message to Residential Construction Supervisors increase Safety Meeting Compliance?
Foundations of Safety Science: Resilience Engineering and safety as the presence of capacities
More extracts from Foundations of Safety Science, this time from Ch.11 on Resilience Engineering and the adaptive perspective. This is 1 of probably 2 or 3 more posts. Some extracts: “Resilience engineering is based on the premise that we are not custodians of already safe systems. Complex systems do not allow us to draw up… Continue reading Foundations of Safety Science: Resilience Engineering and safety as the presence of capacities
Safetywashing: The Strategic Use of Safety in the Construction Industry
This paper investigated the influence of safetywashing in the case of 106 Indian newspaper articles relating to construction and 439 reader comments. Namely, they were interested in: · What safetywashing strategies are used? · What are the effects of safetywashing? Providing context: · Numerous safety strategies are used, ranging from design, technology and interpersonal. Some… Continue reading Safetywashing: The Strategic Use of Safety in the Construction Industry
Risk shifting and disorganization in multi-tier contracting chains: The implications for public safety
Not sure if I’ve already posted this, but this study draws on qualitive data from 36 face-to-face interviews with personnel from a case study organisation (CSO), which is involved in large-scale infrastructure projects working around buried assets like high pressure gas pipelines. The study looks at how, specifically, contractual arrangements with subcontractors, economic pressures and… Continue reading Risk shifting and disorganization in multi-tier contracting chains: The implications for public safety
Escaping Failures of Foresight
An interesting discussion paper from David Woods, in response to a paper from Andrew Hopkins discussing process safety indicators (see my article from a few weeks back). ** I haven’t done a good job of this – so suggest you read the original paper. You might want a strong coffee. Woods takes a bit of… Continue reading Escaping Failures of Foresight
Ideological diversity of media consumption predicts COVID-19 vaccination
A bit different to my usual, but this study (including the giant Paul Slovic among authors), examined how the ‘ideological diversity’ of media consumption predicted COVID vaccination hesitancy & trust in science. Data from >1.6k surveys. For background: · “Personal vaccine hesitancy is associated with various demographic, social, and psychological factors” · E.g. elderly, those with higher… Continue reading Ideological diversity of media consumption predicts COVID-19 vaccination
Warnings and Hazard Communications
This book chapter explored research on the design and efficacy of written warnings and hazard communications, like you’d find in product information booklets, labels etc. It’s a whole chapter, so I can only touch on some points. First they say that, overall, safety warnings are a “third line of defense behind design and guarding”, they… Continue reading Warnings and Hazard Communications
Safety climate and fatigue have differential impacts on safety issues: Safety climate, fatigue, and safety issues
This study explored the role of safety climate and fatigue on safety issues and outcomes, based on survey of >11k US naval personnel. Note: Self-reported data. They found: · “Results indicated a differential effect on the relationship between safety climate and safety outcomes; that is, safety climate affected underreporting the most, followed by likelihood of experiencing… Continue reading Safety climate and fatigue have differential impacts on safety issues: Safety climate, fatigue, and safety issues
