This study explored the tipping point at which weekly workhours harm sleep in Australian adults – 25 to 64. Data was drawn from >9k people. Providing background they say: Long workhours are one of the main work-related factors affecting sleepiness, short sleep and sleep disturbances Long workhours, in addition to stress, reduce the time available… Continue reading Impact of work hours on sleep quality: a non-linear and gendered disparity
Author: Ben Hutchinson
Assessing the Quality of Safety-Focused Leadership Engagements
This paper developed a leadership engagement assessment scorecard, aiming to gauge the quality of the interaction. Providing background: · Safety performance has “long been measured using lagging indicators such as total recordable incident rate (TRIR) that involve counting the number of injuries” · However, “recent research has shown that these metrics suffer from severe limitations… Continue reading Assessing the Quality of Safety-Focused Leadership Engagements
Why regulators Should Stay away from Safety Culture and Stick to Rules Instead
This banger chapter comes from an equally slapping book ‘Trapping Safety into Rules’. The authors argue why “regulators should stay away from safety culture”. Too much to cover, so just a few points. They open with “Ever since the Chernobyl catastrophe, safety culture has been invoked as a crucial discriminator between good and bad ways… Continue reading Why regulators Should Stay away from Safety Culture and Stick to Rules Instead
Work hours, weekend working, nonstandard work schedules and sleep quantity and quality: findings from the UK household longitudinal study
This explored the links between work hours, weekend working and atypical work schedules on sleep quantity and quality in a UK longitudinal sample. Data came from 25,000 employed men and women – but noting a limitation of self-reported data. For background: · Atypical work patterns, like working >35-40h weeks, weekend working and nonstandard schedules (outside of… Continue reading Work hours, weekend working, nonstandard work schedules and sleep quantity and quality: findings from the UK household longitudinal study
Indicating what Indicators Indicate… a follow-on post about safety indicators
Another post spruiking yesterday’s compendium of indicator research – link here. The attached images highlight some further considerations around indicators – no methodology or logics here, just scattered extracts. · Image 1 highlights that simple lead / lag denominations may not adequately cover the full performance spectrum of indicators. And there’s more detailed analyses than this… Continue reading Indicating what Indicators Indicate… a follow-on post about safety indicators
Research Compendium: Safety & Risk Performance indicators (lead, lag, drive, process safety + more)
This compendium covers several themes relating to safety performance indicators / risk indicators / process safety indicators. The following topics are covered: Indicator definitions Leveson and Systems Engineering/Systems Safety Frameworks, logics and other Indicator Examples (probably what most people want to see) Psychosocial Indicators Caveats, limitations, advice on indicators Relationship with Performance and Other Measures… Continue reading Research Compendium: Safety & Risk Performance indicators (lead, lag, drive, process safety + more)
Behavioral Observations Reduce the Probability of Injury for a Week
Here’s one that may interest (trigger) people. This poster presentation highlights the effects of behavioural observations on reported safety incidents the following week. They looked at data over two years from a chemical manufacturing plant and oil refinery plant respectively. I’m always a bit sceptical on studies which rely on behavioural observations, and more importantly,… Continue reading Behavioral Observations Reduce the Probability of Injury for a Week
Wrong, Strong, and Silent: What happens when automated systems with high autonomy and high authority misbehave?
This article from Dekker and Woods discusses the ‘risks of literal-minded automation’, being a “system that can’t tell if its model of the world is the world it is actually in”. This issue manifests in automated systems being wrong, strong and silent—and while the issue has existed for at least 70 years, the risk “looms… Continue reading Wrong, Strong, and Silent: What happens when automated systems with high autonomy and high authority misbehave?
A Systems Thinking Approach to Leading Indicators in the Petrochemical Industry
I’m putting together the next Research Compendium, covering indicator definitions, frameworks and examples. Showing my own bias is a focus on Nancy Leveson’s work. This post has some extracts from her article ‘A Systems Thinking Approach to Leading Indicators in the Petrochemical Industry’. This is based on what Leveson calls “assumption-based indicators”. That is, developing… Continue reading A Systems Thinking Approach to Leading Indicators in the Petrochemical Industry
Harnessing the power of ChatGPT to promote Construction Hazard Prevention through Design (CHPtD)
This study compared whether ChatGPT can assist in hazard recognition during Construction Hazard Prevention Through Design (CHPtD) sessions (e.g. safety in design). Via randomised controlled experimental design, 162 civil and construction engineering students were tasked with hazard recognition activities with or without ChatGPT assistance. Providing background: CHPtD “places emphasis on identifying potential workplace hazards that… Continue reading Harnessing the power of ChatGPT to promote Construction Hazard Prevention through Design (CHPtD)
