SafetyInsights.org

An interesting thesis from Dean Wihnan & Søren Chr. Rossé Segel. This thesis took a case study approach, via gamification, focus groups and semi-structured interviews of middle managers and their perceptions of receiving bad news within an energy company. Way too much to cover, so some findings were: Image 3 covers some of the themes… Continue reading To report or not to report: What happens when middle managers receive bad news about safety issues?

Another interesting study which explored some of the limits of psychological safety (PS). This study looked at the role of PS, felt accountability and other factors on New York school performance over 3 years, based on surveys of 170k teachers from 545 schools. Providing background: ·         Prior PS research has highlighted how it likely best… Continue reading When is Psychological Safety Helpful in Organizations? A Longitudinal Study

This coroner’s report describes the workplace death of a worker who was struck by a reversing bucket truck. They highlighted the problem with paper systems and generic inductions/training and instructions that don’t address the specific work-related hazards. (Or, at least, the investigations didn’t delve far enough into the specifics of training.) They also highlight the… Continue reading Coroners inquest: tick and flicking and generic induction training in truck reversing fatality

A fascinating read from Sarah Maslen and Jan Hayes, examining expert blame in the aftermath of the 2011 Queensland floods. Decisions by expert engineers running the Wivenhoe Dam as analysed by the Commission of Inquiry (Commission) is the source of data. There’s way too much in this paper to do it justice. But I’ll take… Continue reading Experts under the microscope: the Wivenhoe Dam case

Are there limits to the benefits of psychological safety? Yes and even *lower* performance in some instances according to a new study. A 2022 study soon to be posted surveyed 170,000 teachers from 545 schools over a 3 year period (wow!), assessing the role of psychological safety, felt accountability and other factors on school performance.… Continue reading The limits of psychological safety – lower performance over time

This mapped findings from incident investigations (considered as reactive safety data) to safety observation data (considered as proactive safety data; presumably from safety walkarounds and in-field inspections). Part of the analysis process used a text clustering algorithm, which sorted key phrases from the investigations which were then linked to the proactive observation data. The data… Continue reading Data-driven Mapping Between Proactive and Reactive Measures of Occupational Safety Performance

In exploring the ritualistic practices involved in audits and the decoupling of planning from operational risk, we found it useful to draw on Hu, Yeo and Griffin’s concept of deep and surface compliance. They differentiate how people can simply comply with a procedure, tick a box or go through the motions, but without really achieving… Continue reading Surface vs deep compliance of safety processes

This study explored the biasing effects of witness opinions and background knowledge held by ‘investigators’ during workplace investigations. 124 participants were involved in an experimental design; not professional investigators as far as I could tell (so note that limitation). In short, they checked the biasing effects of non-factual witness claims on investigator judgments. These judgements… Continue reading Trust but verify: The biasing effects of witness opinions and background knowledge in workplace investigations

Among the most important studies influencing my own research is this excellent 2011 work from Blewett and O’Keeffe. They explore the underlying factors behind ‘failures’ of auditing. First, they flag prior research which had a focus on the auditors themselves – e.g. unintentional errors, deliberate fraud, financial interests and personal relationships They expand this with… Continue reading Weighing the pig never made it heavier: Auditing OHS, social auditingas verification of process in Australia

Do health and safety audits provide comfort rather than treatment for serious safety issues? Our recent study exploring 71 safety audits has been covered in the AIHS December 23 issue of OHS Professional – page 28. Magazine below: Follow this link or click on the image to read the full study: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106348