This study explored the relationship between occupational risks, accidents and economic performance of construction firms. Data came from 502 Spanish construction sites over a 6-year period. Providing background, it’s noted: ·         Companies have a difficult time factoring in the economic consequences of unsafety since they rarely have accurate estimates of the economic impact of accidents… Continue reading Occupational risks, accidents on sites and economic performance of construction firms

Another coroner’s report critical about written instructions/JSAs and the like; as they often seem to be. For one, why bother developing instructions etc. if you don’t get people to read them, train them in work practices, or even have the instructions on site for reference? Safety in this context isn’t a numerical statistical risk, but… Continue reading Coroner concludes that JSAs and written safety plans “inadequate to describe how the work was performed and the associated safety considerations”

This study explored the adverse impacts that project complexity have on safety performance and the moderating role played by a resilient safety culture in the construction sector. Structural equation modelling was performed based on interviews. A conceptual mapping of their hypotheses are shown below: Providing background: ·         The authors discuss research about resilience engineering and… Continue reading Impact of Project Complexity on Construction Safety Performance: Moderating Role of Resilient Safety Culture

How well do permit to work (PTW) processes in practice align to the documented process? An upcoming summary explored the difference between WAI and WAD via FRAM modelling of a permit to work process in oil & gas. Unsurprisingly, they found some key differences in the PTW as imagined/prescribed versus in practice. Differences between WAI… Continue reading Permit to work in oil & gas and a false sense of safety

Is good safety good business? According to data from >500 Spanish construction sites – not so much. A study to be posted evaluated the relationship between economic performance and a composite risk indicator comprised of incidents and 10 site risk variables. Overall, they found a quadratic relationship between safety investment and economic performance. That is:… Continue reading Good safety may not be good business based on relationship between accidents and economic performance in construction

Is there a link between certification to ISO 45001 and safety incident performance? According to a 2023 study, as the number of organisations certified to ISO 45001 across the EU increases, the number of accidents at work in EU member states decreases. They found that “the number of organizations certified to ISO 45001:2018 does affect… Continue reading Association between certification to ISO 45001 and improved safety performance across the EU

Our free open access paper can be read via the link below. Some of the key findings in this sample were: ·        What are the characteristics of assigned actions? o   A spread of audit findings involving the rectification of administrative defects and physical actions to rectify hazard-related defects. o   The most frequently assigned actions targeting administrative aspects involved… Continue reading The audit masquerade and the focus on paperwork over operational risk

This paper explored the collapse of the UK construction and facilities company Carillion from the perspective of the Normalisation of Deviance (NOD). Too much to cover in this, so I’ve skipped large sections. Providing background: ·         NOD was first introduced by Diane Vaughan in her Challenger Launch Decision book ·         It occurs when “individuals within… Continue reading Normalising deviance in construction project organizations: a case study on the collapse of Carillion

Can a focus on compliance distract us from managing risk? Perhaps, according to a coronial investigation. Described in this coroner’s report was the drowning of an Operations Supervisor at an organics facility during a flash flood event. Regrettably, the supervisor was caught in an overflowing leachate drain. Some findings in this report were that: An… Continue reading Coroners report: rules not playing nicely, and too much focus on compliance over managing risk

This paper discussed 6 fallacies of biases and 8 sources of bias that influence decision making and investigations. The focus is more on forensics and the like, but still a useful read. Note that bias isn’t an inherently bad or undesirable thing. First, six fallacies of bias are presented: For ethical issues, “Many incorrectly think… Continue reading Cognitive and Human Factors in Expert Decision Making: Six Fallacies and the Eight Sources of Bias