SafetyInsights.org

What is the role of safety cultural dimensions in explaining real cases of financial misconduct? Quite a lot, according to this interesting study. It’s open access, so you can read it in full yourself. They drew on cases including from JPMoran, UBS, Batclays, Credit Suisse and more. There’s heaps of findings – I’ve only included… Continue reading Safety Culture in Financial Trading: An Analysis of Trading Misconduct Investigations

A cracking read from Bob Wears and Charles Vincent, exploring how we can come to over-rely on the adaptability of people and systems. I’m using a lot of direct quotes. They note that while “resilience is generally thought of as an unalloyed good …no silver lining is without its cloud” and that in some circumstances,… Continue reading Relying on Resilience: Too Much of a Good Thing?

This interesting paper that you can read in full operationalised a complexity attribute framework, involving: (i) the delimitation of the socio-technical system (STS) (ii) the description of four complexity attributes, namely a large number of elements in dynamic interactions, a wide diversity of elements, unexpected variability, and resilience (iii) the assessment of six management guidelines,… Continue reading Complex socio-technical systems: Characterization and management guidelines

I’m re-reading Robert R Hoffman’s et al.’s excellent book “Accelerated Expertise: Training for high proficiency in a complex world” and they cited this paper (also from Hoffman et al.). It explores human-centred computing from a procurement perspective, but actually is a really cool read about human-centred design. They talk about the “trap of designer-centered design”,… Continue reading The traps of designer centred design, and the benefits of human-centred design

This study explored the relationships between work-life balance, organisational learning capability, innovation performance and organisational performance. Data is from 354 Brazilian companies. Providing background: Their research model is shown below: Results Overall, they found: It’s said that WLB-centric approaches enhance innovation, as reduced WLB conflicts correlate with increased professional motivation and creativity. Further, “Policies emphasising… Continue reading Importance of human factors to innovation and organizational performance

This study in an upcoming summary explored differences between how procedure administrators (representing work as imagined, WAI; the people who create or administer procedural systems) perceive the design and use of procedures versus the realities of procedure users (work as done, WAD) across several large, international chemical sites. Some findings were that: ·        Both administrators and… Continue reading WAI vs WAD in high-hazard procedural systems

This upcoming summary is a cracking read from Bob Wears and Charles Vincent, exploring how we can come to over-rely on the adaptability of people and systems. They argue that while “resilience is generally thought of as an unalloyed good …no silver lining is without its cloud” and that sometimes, resilience  may be inappropriately deployed… Continue reading Relying too much on resilience: silver linings and dark clouds

Not much to say here – this open access primer on S-II and Resilience Engineering may interest you. It covers a few basic themes around: Like anything, I suggest a healthy scepticism and critical perspective (e.g. see image 2 and some of the assumptions of S-I, which I don’t necessarily agree with, nor do I… Continue reading Safety-II and Resilience Engineering in a Nutshell: An Introductory Guide to Their Concepts and Methods

Some interesting excerpts from an upcoming paper I’ve summarised (from Bob Wears & Charles Vincent), discussing how too much reliance on resilient capacities can be counterproductive and potentially harmful. Not discussing these findings here, but they note about how excessive reliance on adaptability, like workarounds, are indicative of first order problem solving. That is, local… Continue reading The harm of too much ‘resilience’ and capacities

This brief paper explored some factors impacting the success of procedural systems based on interviews of key personnel. The researchers visited five refining and chemical sites, and then ranked the key procedural/rule breakdowns. They note that despite the significant industry focus on developing effective procedural systems and practices, “many plants feel they have yet to… Continue reading A study of effective procedural practices in refining and chemical operations