SafetyInsights.org

This study explored the conceptualisation and language of ‘unsafety’ based on a large dataset of nearly 4000 Safety Observation reports (SOR) from a large infrastructure construction project. E.g. How do people identify and define safety, unsafety, unsafe acts and conditions based on content analysis of the reports. While we often talk about ‘safety’, our practices… Continue reading The antecedents and development of unsafety

What are the types of bureaucracy encountered in offshore oil & gas and how does it affect operational work, HSE, and time on the floor? A study to be summarised explored this question. Data came from surveying 187 offshore managers in a Norwegian oil company. Key findings: ·        Expectedly, managers didn’t spend enough time on the… Continue reading Safety management, bureaucracy, and incident systems drowning in seas of information

What are the relationships between safety culture measures, total injury rates and financial performance? A new study to be posted shortly explored these links in 829 European firms from 29 European countries. Overall they found: ·        Safety culture improves safety performance since it significantly reduces the number of accidents at work. ·        The better the safety performance,… Continue reading Safety culture, safety performance and financial performance

This is a really interesting study that assessed the shelf life of safety climate (SC) assessments and how far into the past and future can it predict incidents (and incidents predict SC). As SC is a snapshot at that particular moment, it’s unknown how long that assessment provides meaningful info about the organisation. Surveys were… Continue reading The shelf life of a safety climate assessment – how long until the relationship with safety critical incidents expires

I stumbled upon this 2001 article about decision making. Short read – 6 pages. Not a summary since you can read the whole article. They propose three approaches to making sensemaking & decisions (image 2) 1.      Thinking first – works well when the issue is clear and data is reliable.  Whereas a conventional belief may be… Continue reading Decision Making: It’s not what you think

Another study looking at the boundary effects of psychological safety (PS). Using two protocols, they evaluated the role of PS and two mediators – fear of failure and work motivation, all as group-level constructs via aggregated group member ratings. Note: I’ve skipped heaps of stuff in this paper. One thing I liked is that they… Continue reading Slacking Off in Comfort – A Dual-Pathway Model for psychological safety climate

This resulted from the roller, for whatever reason, bumping out of gear and then freewheeling down a sloping driveway. I’ve skipped a lot of the technical factors in this case and focused on a few items. The coroner observed: ·     Prior experience of the workers meant they relied on each others’ competencies and experience ·     No formal… Continue reading Coroner’s inquest: dangerous plant design, overreliance on assumption of worker expertise

An interesting discussion paper from David Woods and Richard Cook exploring the ambiguity of incidents – that is, as signs of either or both resilient capacities and brittleness. This was a really tough paper to summarise and I can’t do it justice – so suggest you read the full paper (link in comments). Adaptive capacity… Continue reading Incidents – Markers of Resilience or Brittleness?

Another study highlighting potential limits of psychological safety (PS). Using two protocols, they evaluated the role of PS and two mediators – fear of failure and work motivation, all as group-level constructs via aggregated group member ratings. Summary posted next week. Key findings:• PS was shown to display “two concomitant, opposite effects on positive risk-taking… Continue reading Psychological safety and the negative effects of work motivation

This studied how incentives and punishment for workers & supervisors influences incident reporting. Surveys were completed by 1,020 carpenter apprentices. Use of incentives and punishments is argued to be somewhat controversial. Authors argue that the idea of rewards and punishments is rooted in ideas about most incidents being related to unsafe behaviours rather than unsafe… Continue reading Safety, Incentives, and the Reporting of Work-Related Injuries Among Union Carpenters: ‘‘You’re Pretty Much Screwed If You Get Hurt at Work’’