Are our use of reported injury measures, like TRIFR or LTIFR, ‘good enough’ representations, or beset with foundational statistical flaws? Today’s report is from Hallowell et al., 2020, titled ‘The Statistical Invalidity of TRIR as a Measure of Safety Performance’. From the CSRA. Make sure to subscribe to Safe AF on Spotify/Apple, and if you… Continue reading Safe As podcast #11: The fault in our stats (injury measures)
A webinar I’m presenting with HSI Donesafe: Getting started with Evidence-Based Practice, a practical guide
If you want to learn all of my secret squirrel research techniques – e.g. how I find it, access full text articles, interpret and more, then this webinar is for you. We’ll discuss how practitioners can turn the body of scientific research into a force for good, rather than an elephant’s graveyard of great insights… Continue reading A webinar I’m presenting with HSI Donesafe: Getting started with Evidence-Based Practice, a practical guide
Relationships between occupational stress and occupational safety and health outcomes amongst construction workers: A meta-analysis of evidence from the past twenty years
This meta-analysis investigated the effects of occupational stress (OS) on safety and health outcomes in construction. 20 studies over 20 years, including >6k construction workers was included (not such a big sample given all of the research in construction safety, indicative of the relatively poorer quality of research that didn’t meet their inclusion criteria). [Trigger… Continue reading Relationships between occupational stress and occupational safety and health outcomes amongst construction workers: A meta-analysis of evidence from the past twenty years
Most viewed articles over three years: people love adaptive philosophies and have a bone to pick with investigations
Since people occasionally ask, here’s the most popular articles on my blog from over the past three years and 1200 posts. The earlier research compendiums rank at the top (which is interesting, since I later discontinued them due to lack of interest from the community). By a decent margin, a collection of articles on the… Continue reading Most viewed articles over three years: people love adaptive philosophies and have a bone to pick with investigations
How Much Content Do LLMs Generate That Induces Cognitive Bias in Users?
This study explored when and how Large Language Models (LLMs) expose the human user to biased content, and quantified the extent of biased information. E.g. they fed the LLMs prompts and asked it to summarise, and then compared how the LLMs changed the content, context, hallucinated, or changed the sentiment. Providing context: · LLMs “are… Continue reading How Much Content Do LLMs Generate That Induces Cognitive Bias in Users?
Safe AF #10: Are safety myths –like most accidents due to human error –holding us back?
Are our safety myths–like most accidents being the result of human error–holding back genuine improvement within safety? Can myths like these actually hamper learning, and increase operational risk? Today’s article is from Besnard, D., & Hollnagel, E. (2014). I want to believe: some myths about the management of industrial safety. Cognition, Technology & Work, 16, 13-23. Make… Continue reading Safe AF #10: Are safety myths –like most accidents due to human error –holding us back?
Fatal, non-fatal, and near misses, oh my. Are they connected? Does it matter?
Is there a connection between minor and major potential incidents? Do non-SIFs illuminate the potential for SIFs? Well…maybe. Check out my pod episodes # and # for two studies which explored this question. PS. More pods focusing on different SIF studies have been recorded, so make sure to subscribe on Spotify/Apple, and join my Safe… Continue reading Fatal, non-fatal, and near misses, oh my. Are they connected? Does it matter?
The fallacy of relying on rules for robust risk management in complex high-risk environments
A few extracts from chapter 11 in Foundations of Safety Science by Bergström and Dekker I found interesting. Here they discuss research in healthcare how: · Nursing was found to have some 600 rules specifying a ward nurses daily work · But, nurses could recite just 2-3 of the 600 rules that “supposedly specify their job” · Despite… Continue reading The fallacy of relying on rules for robust risk management in complex high-risk environments
How certification shifts work away from functional issues to rustling paperwork
Does certification, like under ISO 18001, or likely 45001, only have positive effects, or does it also introduce unintended byproducts, like a focus on managing the paperwork and not ‘real’ issues, and oversimplifying psychosocial issues? Safe AF podcast #9 explored the byproducts of certification – just 9 mins of your life. Links below. They observed… Continue reading How certification shifts work away from functional issues to rustling paperwork
The Folly of Safety-III
Hollnagel’s response to some of the recent (and somewhat bizarre) articles on ‘Safety-III’. Spoiler: It’s not charitable. I’m relying on a lot of direct quotes. Providing context, Hollnagel argues: · Introduction of Safety-I and Safety-II (SI / SII) to characterise two opposite means of safety was “met with surprisingly large interest” and “also with some… Continue reading The Folly of Safety-III
SafetyInsights.org 