A brief read covering the concept of noise, pertaining to judgements. This is based on the work from Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein. From the article: · While biases in judgements have captured a lot of attention, “it has been suggested that ‘noise’ (defined as an undesirable variability in human judgements) is a highly important, yet under-recognised… Continue reading Why do doctors make poor decisions? Spotlighting ‘noise’ as an under-recognised source of error in clinical practice
Tag: accidents
Compendium: Learning and improvement without incidents
Here’s a mini-compendium of…well, probably a lot of stuff with only a tenuous link to ‘learning’. I tried to focus on learning that doesn’t require incidents, but you’ll find those here, too. There’s >100 articles, mostly full-text. I think I went overboard. Unfortunately, it’s barely sorted. It includes: Shout me a coffee Learning Strengths &… Continue reading Compendium: Learning and improvement without incidents
Human Factors and Ergonomics in Industry 5.0 —A Systematic Literature Review
This open access article may interest people – it explored the future of human factors/ergonomics in Industry 5.0 (I05). Not a summary but you can read the full paper freely. Some extracts: Shout me a coffee Study link: https://doi.org/10.3390/app15042123 LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/benhutchinson2_this-open-access-article-may-interest-people-activity-7300617102564933632-WGPj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAeWwekBvsvDLB8o-zfeeLOQ66VbGXbOpJU
Human factor analysis of cockpit work incidents in high-speed workboats: the mystery hidden between the lines
This study unpacked what investigators look at and how they construct causes in high-speed workboats. It employed a Safety-II / HOP / HF perspective. Tl;dr: human factors are poorly evaluated and largely seen as individual-level factors. Some extracts: · “Although the analysis focused on negative observations, it also identified HFs that supported the activity” · “Many pivotal… Continue reading Human factor analysis of cockpit work incidents in high-speed workboats: the mystery hidden between the lines
Efficacy and Understanding of the Safety Hierarchy of Controls
This PhD thesis from Stephen Young was interesting. They studied evidence supporting the hierarchy of control (HOC), constraints on its efficacy, and more. Way too much to cover. Some extracts: · There isn’t a lot of evidence supporting the efficacy of the HOC · One reason is: “An unequivocal demonstration of efficacy [of the HOC] is problematic,… Continue reading Efficacy and Understanding of the Safety Hierarchy of Controls
An ode to Drs Richard Cook, Jens Rasmussen & Bob Wears: A mini-compendium of their legacies
This is long overdue – but I wanted to cover some of the work from these giants who have played a significant part in modern safety thinking. Focus is on articles I’ve written about or used extracts from, or could find a full-text link for, and higher-cited articles. It’s not systematic – and unfortunately a… Continue reading An ode to Drs Richard Cook, Jens Rasmussen & Bob Wears: A mini-compendium of their legacies
Safety metrics and reports “make no contribution to proving the effectiveness of our crucial systems” – Paper Safe, Greg Smith
A few apt extracts from Greg Smith’s excellent ‘Paper Safe’. If you’ve not yet read this or Proving Safety, then do yourself the favour. Greg argues: · Many indicators in use are measures of activity and usually tell us something has been done · But, “They tell us nothing about the quality or effectiveness of the activity”… Continue reading Safety metrics and reports “make no contribution to proving the effectiveness of our crucial systems” – Paper Safe, Greg Smith
Can serious industrial accidents be eliminated? Article from 1917 equally valid today
Can serious industrial accidents be eliminated? Oof, this was a banger read – from 1917. Talks about: · Focusing on effective workplace design and engineering – not just machine guarding · Not focusing on “careless” workers and such stuff · Focusing on the severity of incidents and not just their frequency · The primary duty of the employer should… Continue reading Can serious industrial accidents be eliminated? Article from 1917 equally valid today
Humans are fallible and we should design out harm: 1913 rail safety article
“What a time to be alive!” – People in 1913, probably. This interesting article from 1913 about rail safety comes to some interesting proposals: human fallibility is a normal and expected thing, that we should seek design and systems solutions where possible, and companies always prioritise profit over ‘safety’ trade-offs: · “In the past, when an accident… Continue reading Humans are fallible and we should design out harm: 1913 rail safety article
Allocation of Blame After a Safety Incident
This single page conference paper discussed an experiment on how blame is allocated following incidents. The scenario was a “realistic, but fictitious” incident involving a worker (both experienced or not experienced, depending on the scenario), whom is killed when touching an energised bus bar while feeding electrical wire into a pedestal. They systematically manipulated the… Continue reading Allocation of Blame After a Safety Incident
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