What factors prevent senior executives from speaking up and voicing opinions in response to miscommunication during meetings? This interesting study explored such factors of silence among 21 CEOs and senior managers across 7 firms. Not a summary, but you can read the full paper yourself. Prior research found that silence was linked to feelings of… Continue reading What prevents senior executives from commenting upon miscommunication in top management team meetings?
Audit masquerade: How audits provide comfort rather than treatment for serious safety problems
Taking a stab at summarising my study. This explored the findings from 71 audit reports (1st, 2nd & 3rd party) from a large Australian design and engineering construction and maintenance company in Australia. Over 16 separate and independent auditing firms were included in the dataset and 327 audit findings. We were interested in: · How… Continue reading Audit masquerade: How audits provide comfort rather than treatment for serious safety problems
Worker-centered investigation of issues with procedural systems: Findings from interviews with a representative sample of workers in high-risk process industries
This explored the thoughts & perceptions of workers concerning procedure use & purpose via interviews. 20 workers from the process industries (refining, chemical plants etc.) were included. Results For changing procedures, most workers indicated going to their supervisor to start the change process. However, some workers had a negative view of the change process, citing:… Continue reading Worker-centered investigation of issues with procedural systems: Findings from interviews with a representative sample of workers in high-risk process industries
Nudging safety behavior in the steel industry: Evidence from two field studies
I found this interesting – it studied the impacts of different workplace nudge interventions on particular worker behaviours around gas monitor compliance and handrail holding. The setting was a Belgian steel plant. Not a summary – but if it interests you then check out the paper. Nudge effectiveness has recently taken a bit of a… Continue reading Nudging safety behavior in the steel industry: Evidence from two field studies
A culture of openness is associated with lower mortality rates among 137 English National Health Service Acute Trusts
This study explored the role of a culture of openness on mortality rates among 137 English hospital systems between 2012-14. Thanks to sidneydekker.com for flagging this paper during the recent Global Safety conference. Providing background: · It’s said that while many agree about the importance of openness, it has “proved difficult to define and operationalize… Continue reading A culture of openness is associated with lower mortality rates among 137 English National Health Service Acute Trusts
How Metaphors of Organizational Accidents and Their Graphical Representations Can Guide (or Bias) the Understanding and Analysis of Risks
This full open access paper is an interesting read. It explored the role of metaphors in safety. Specifically, they discussed: 1) how metaphors influence the comprehension of organizational accidents 2) how graphical representation of metaphors shape observer comprehension of accidents They note that current sociotechnical systems are characterised by complex interactions and pose a challenge in their… Continue reading How Metaphors of Organizational Accidents and Their Graphical Representations Can Guide (or Bias) the Understanding and Analysis of Risks
My 2018 conference paper: Fantasy planning: the gap between systems of safety and safety of systems
It’s been a while since I shared this, but here’s a brief conference paper I published in `18, exploring fantasy planning and false assurance. (It’s a heavily trimmed version of a much larger paper I hope to one day publish in full.) We explore several angles on the sources and problems of fantasy planning. First… Continue reading My 2018 conference paper: Fantasy planning: the gap between systems of safety and safety of systems
Failure to rescue and 30-day in-hospital mortality in hospitals with and without crew-resource-management safety training
This study evaluated the impact of an integrated Crew Resource Management (CRM) training program on failure to rescue (FTR) mortality. Two hospitals, one control and one intervention, were compared after 3 years. The CRM program in the intervention hospital consisted of a 4-hr comprehensive CRM program and included all surgical services employees (>1,600 people), and… Continue reading Failure to rescue and 30-day in-hospital mortality in hospitals with and without crew-resource-management safety training
Conceptualising learning from resilient performance: A scoping literature review
This full open access paper may interest you – it evaluated the literature to canvass how learning is conceptualized in the Resilience Engineering (RE) research. They found that theoretical conceptualisations of organizational learning from resilient performance are under-developed, and fragmented. RE researchers have thus far conceptualised the process of learning as “understanding the system, sharing… Continue reading Conceptualising learning from resilient performance: A scoping literature review
Higher staff openness scores linked to lower patient mortality in English hospitals
What’s the association between a culture of openness among staff and subsequent patient mortality? An interesting study to be posted soon explored this relationship. Thanks to sidneydekker.com for flagging this paper during the recent Global Safety Innovation Summit 2024. Openness represents an “environment in which communication among patients, staff members, and managers is open and… Continue reading Higher staff openness scores linked to lower patient mortality in English hospitals
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