SafetyInsights.org

Our recent study of 44 major or fatal accident reports in the process, chemical, pipeline, mining, oil & gas industries explored how audits failed prior to the accident (according to the investigation). In the first post (link below), I covered the first two categories of audit failures (1 Audits involve a failure to understand, 2… Continue reading Major accident audit failures p.2: A failure to manage and a failure to focus

This study explored the interactions between US miners’ risk avoidance and locus of control on near miss incidents on the job. Data was from >1.3k US miners via survey. Providing background: ·         Several theories exist attempting to understand how individual workers collectively view risk and risky behaviour ·         Decision-making frameworks “suggest that the concept of… Continue reading The role of risk avoidance and locus of control in workers’ near miss experiences: Implications for improving safety management systems

What are the links between risk perception, safety climate, safety leadership and rule departure/adaptation? An upcoming summary explored these links in a sample of 390 power grid construction workers. Note: While this study talks of compliance (and associating rule following as ‘correct’ or ‘compliant’) and violations (I’ve never liked ‘violation’ because it’s so loaded and… Continue reading Risk perception, safety climate, leadership and rule departures

An absolute banger of a paper will be posted soon – co-authored by one of my favourites: the late, great Bob Wears. This paper talks about the corrupting, but understandable, factors that lead us to focus on constructing the past via hindsight and outcome bias in diagnostic failures (e.g. first stories over second stories). Out… Continue reading Replacing hindsight with insight and moving towards second stories of performance

Not much to say here – this paper exploring the potential role of S-II and adaptive thinking in the management of future gas systems may be of interest. It’s open access, so I’m not summarising it. Some extracts attached as images. (P.S.: As with many concepts, try not to take the ideas of S-II too… Continue reading Incorporating Safety-II in future gas systems

This ethnographic study explored the ritualistic and ceremonial functions of a Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) in an urban teaching hospital. It’s a pretty interesting read that I can’t do justice. Providing background: Results Observing the use of the SSC in practice revealed: ·       The use of the SSC was found to function as a ceremonial… Continue reading The ritualisation of the surgical safety checklist and its decoupling from patient safety goals

This study explored the relationships between leader humility, psychological safety and employee engagement. Data came from 140 workers via an online survey platform. Providing background: ·         Since the 1930s, >65 classification systems have been developed to describe the dimensions of leader behaviour ·         Two outcomes have commonly being used to frame effective leadership: followers’ psychological… Continue reading Humble Leadership: Implications for Psychological Safety and Follower Engagement

Pretty chuffed that our brand spanking new study on major accident audit failures is already the fifth most read paper in the Journal of Process Safety Progress (* at least according to their stats, I don’t know how rapidly these lists change, nor their entire scope). No doubt this has largely been driven by kind… Continue reading Major audit failure paper ranked in top 5 most ‘read’ list of journal of Process Safety Progress

What are the links between risk avoidance and locus of control in workers experiencing near misses? A study to be posted soon explored these links from >1.3k US miners. First, risk tolerance/avoidance/propensity is an individual’s tendency to take or avoid risks, and risk avoidance is an “emergent trait that can change”. Locus of control is… Continue reading Links between locus of control, risk avoidance and near misses in mining

Can safety checklists become ritualistic performances disconnected from their core goal, thereby increasing risk? A new study to be posted soon explored this question. Cliff’s notes: Possibly yes. Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) practices in a Canadian hospital Operating Room were observed via an ethnographic approach, combined with interviews, surveys and document analysis. Overall they found:… Continue reading Surgical Checklists behaving badly…new study suggests they can result in ritualistic practices decoupled from their core goals