Normal accident theory and learning from major accidents at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

This paper discussed four major NASA accidents in the context of Normal Accident Theory (NAT), high reliability and some other aspects of organisational theory. Then they discuss some ‘remedies’ to counter some of the organisational risk factors. I’ve skipped large amounts of this paper, so much that maybe even parts of this summary won’t make… Continue reading Normal accident theory and learning from major accidents at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Safety Theatre: Where your accidents hide in the green

This article from Dekker discusses how accidents “hide in the green” within organisations. He covers a lot of ground, and I can’t cover all of the key points, so you’ll find my paragraphs pretty disjointed and jarring; so check out the full paper. Firstly, it’s stated that incidents involving fatalities seemed to have a consistency… Continue reading Safety Theatre: Where your accidents hide in the green

Behavior-Based in Hong Kong’s Safety Management Construction Industry

I found this an interesting throw-back to 1997, where Helen Lingard and Steve Rowlinson studied the impact of a BBS intervention in Hong Kong construction. ** Note 1: Noting the findings relate to HK industry from 1997, but there’s some broader learnings I think are really interesting and not just related to BBS, e.g. system… Continue reading Behavior-Based in Hong Kong’s Safety Management Construction Industry

When Things Go Right: Safety II in an Academic Emergency Department

This study explored variability and ED clinician proactive adaptations in order to enhance safety in the face of demands and pressures. Data was based on a cross-sectional survey. Background: ·         Patient safety, according to one agency, is defined as “the prevention of errors, injury, or other preventable harm and reduction of unnecessary harm” ·         They… Continue reading When Things Go Right: Safety II in an Academic Emergency Department

Human Factors and New Views of safety applied to management systems: A systematic literature review

This conference paper from Leonidas Brasileiro, Julio Cesar de Faria Alvim Wasserman and Gilson Brito Alves Lima may interest you. It explored how different concepts under HF and New View have been applied to management systems via literature review (2000 – 2023). Note: I’ve skipped a lot, so check out the paper. Some extracts: ·      “New… Continue reading Human Factors and New Views of safety applied to management systems: A systematic literature review

Hazard identification performance comparison between virtual reality and traditional construction safety training modes for different learning style individuals.

This new study may interest people – it compared hazard identification performance between VR and traditional construction safety training. They also compared the results to different learning styles (which I’ve skipped). Key findings: ·        “both traditional and VR training can improve the efficiency of visual search during individual hazard identification, increase hazard identification accuracy by individuals,… Continue reading Hazard identification performance comparison between virtual reality and traditional construction safety training modes for different learning style individuals.

Safety checklist compliance and a false sense of safety: New directions for research

This discussion paper explored the checklists and false senses of safety. In healthcare they say that probably the best known version of the checklist is the WHO surgical safety checklist. Prior work has generally shown positive effects, like reduced care complications and 30-day mortality rate. Interesting though, studies on compliance rates of the WHO checklist… Continue reading Safety checklist compliance and a false sense of safety: New directions for research

Performance of barrier systems and functions in the construction industry

This study characterised Spanish construction accidents via identified circumstances, the barriers and barrier systems and the specific ways each of the barriers functioned. 241 investigation reports were evaluated. They cover some research on barriers and barrier systems – noting there’s various models and definitions based on perspective. One way to look at them is safety… Continue reading Performance of barrier systems and functions in the construction industry