The Folly of Safety-III

Hollnagel’s response to some of the recent (and somewhat bizarre) articles on ‘Safety-III’. Spoiler: It’s not charitable. I’m relying on a lot of direct quotes. Providing context, Hollnagel argues: ·         Introduction of Safety-I and Safety-II (SI / SII) to characterise two opposite means of safety was “met with surprisingly large interest” and “also with some… Continue reading The Folly of Safety-III

Designing for resilient performance & worker participation: design principles

This review explored how to design for worker participation, drawing on the design of resilient systems. Not much to say – the extracts cover core resilient design principles. Some extracts to contextualise the images: ·        Participation refers to “the worker’s influence in decision-making related to safety, involving information sharing between people” ·        “Design for resilient performance Design… Continue reading Designing for resilient performance & worker participation: design principles

Root-Causal Factors: Uncovering the Hows & Whys of Incidents

This 2016 article from Fred Manuele explores some facets of causality in investigations. It’s based mainly on two key sources: Hollnagel’s 2004 ‘Barriers and accident prevention’ and Dekker’s 2006 ‘Field Guide to Understanding Human Error’. Won’t be much new for most but has some nice arguments from authors like Hollnagel, Dekker and Leveson. First he… Continue reading Root-Causal Factors: Uncovering the Hows & Whys of Incidents

The systems approach to medicine: controversy and misconceptions — Dekker & Leveson

This was a really brief discussion paper from Dekker and Leveson, covering systems thinking in medicine. Three parts – see comments. Nothing new for most, but they cover: ·        “The ‘systems approach’ to patient safety has recently led to questions about its ethics and practical utility” ·        E.g. A recent paper from a retired neurosurgeon questioned systems… Continue reading The systems approach to medicine: controversy and misconceptions — Dekker & Leveson