Today’s paper, “Multiple Systemic Contributors versus Root Cause: Learning from a NASA Near Miss” by Katherine E. Walker et al, examines an incident wherein a NASA astronaut nearly drowned (asphyxiated) during an Extravehicular Activity (EVA 2

Ep. 118 How should we account for technological accidents?

26 days ago 49m 50s

Using the Waterfall incident as a striking focal point, we dissect the investigation and its aftermath, we share personal reflections on the implementation of safety recommendations and the nuances of assessing systems designed to protect us. F

Ep. 117: Can digital twins help improve the safety of work?

Mar 31st, 2024 38m 49s

Using the paper, “Digital Twins in Safety Analysis, Risk Assessment and Emergency Management.” by Zio and Miqueles, published in the technical safety journal, Reliability Engineering and System Safety, we examine intricate simulations that pred

Ep 116. Do audits improve the safety of work?

Mar 17th, 2024 36m 52s

Ben's expertise guides us through an analysis of audit reports and accident investigations, laying bare the counterfactual reasoning that often skews post-incident narratives. It's an eye-opening examination that calls for a reimagined approach

Ep. 115: Why are subcontractors at higher risk?

Mar 3rd, 2024 35m 12s

Safety isn't one-size-fits-all, especially for subcontractors who navigate multiple sites with varying rules and equipment. This episode peels back the layers on the practical safety management challenges subcontractors endure, revealing how tr

Ep. 114 How do we manage safety for work from home workers?

Dec 17th, 2023 40m 16s

Lastly, we delve into the role of leadership in addressing psychosocial hazards, the importance of standardized guidance for remote work, and the challenges faced by line managers in managing remote workers. We wrap up the episode by providing

Ep. 113 When are seemingly impossible goals good for performance?

Dec 10th, 2023 58m 25s

The conversation stems from a review of a noteworthy paper from the Academy of Management Review Journal titled "The Paradox of Stretch Goals: Organizations in Pursuit of the Seemingly Impossible," which offers invaluable insights into the worl

Ep 112 How biased are incident investigators?

Sep 10th, 2023 52m 55s

You’ll hear David and Drew delve into the often overlooked role of bias in accident investigations. They explore the potential pitfalls of data collection, particularly confirmation bias, and discuss the impacts of other biases such as anchorin

Ep. 111 Are management walkarounds effective?

Aug 6th, 2023 36m 6s

The research paper discussed is by Anita Tucker and Sarah Singer, titled "The Effectiveness of Management by Walking Around: A Randomised Field Study," published in Production and Operations Management. Discussion Points:Understanding senior l

Ep. 110 Can personality tests predict safety performance?

Jul 23rd, 2023 41m 4s

The paper reviewed in this episode is from the Journal of Applied Psychology entitled, “A meta-analysis of personality and workplace safety: Addressing unanswered questions” by Beus, J. M., Dhanani, L. Y., & McCord, M. A. (2015). Discussion Poi

Ep. 109 Do safety performance indicators mean the same thing to different stakeholders?

Apr 30th, 2023 58m 34s

Show Notes - The Safety of Work - Ep. 109 Do safety performance indicators mean the same thing to different stakeholdersDr. Drew Rae and Dr. David Provan The abstract reads:Indicators are used by most organizations to track their safety perfor

Ep. 108 Could a 4 day work week improve employee well-being?

Apr 9th, 2023 55m 11s

This report details the full findings of the world’s largest four-day working week trial to date, comprising 61 companies and around 2,900 workers, that took place in the UK from June to December 2022. The design of the trial involved two month

Ep. 107 What research is needed to implement the Safework Australia WHS strategy?

Mar 12th, 2023 46m 58s

Summary: The purpose of the Australian Work Health and Safety (WHS) Strategy 2023–2033 (the Strategy) is to outline a national vision for WHS — Safe and healthy work for all — and set the platform for delivering on key WHS improvements. To do t

Ep. 106 Is it possible to teach critical thinking?

Feb 19th, 2023 54m 47s

Baron's work focuses primarily on judgment and decision-making, a multi-disciplinary area that applies psychology to problems of ethical decisions and resource allocation in economics, law, business, and public policy. The paper’s summary:Rece

Ep. 105 How can organisations learn faster?

Feb 5th, 2023 44m 27s

You’ll hear a little about Schein’s early career at Harvard and MIT, including his Ph.D. work – a paper on the experience of POWs during wartime contrasted against the indoctrination of individuals joining an organization for employment. Some o

Ep. 104 How can we get better at using measurement?

Jan 22nd, 2023 46m 9s

You’ll hear some dismaying statistics around the validity of research papers in general, some comments regarding the peer review process, and then we’ll dissect each of six questions that should be asked BEFORE you design your research. The pap

Ep. 103 Should we be happy when our people speak out about safety?

Dec 4th, 2022 1h 1m

In concert with the paper, we’ll focus on two major separate but related Boeing 737 accidents: Lyon Air #610 in October 2018 - The plane took off from Jakarta and crashed 13 mins later, with one of the highest death tolls ever for a 737 crash -

Ep. 102 What's the right strategy when we can't manage safety as well as we'd like to?

Nov 15th, 2022 41m 36s

The paper’s abstract reads:Healthcare systems are under stress as never before. An aging population, increasing complexity and comorbidities, continual innovation, the ambition to allow unfettered access to care, and the demands on professional

Ep. 101 When should incidents cause us to question risk assessments?

Oct 30th, 2022 1h 1m

The paper’s abstract reads:This paper reflects on the credibility of nuclear risk assessment in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima meltdown. In democratic states, policymaking around nuclear energy has long been premised on an understanding that ex

Ep. 100 Can major accidents be prevented?

Oct 9th, 2022 1h 2m

The book explains Perrow’s theory that catastrophic accidents are inevitable in tightly coupled and complex systems. His theory predicts that failures will occur in multiple and unforeseen ways that are virtually impossible to predict. Charles

Ep.99 When is dropping tools the right thing to do for safety?

Sep 18th, 2022 48m 9s

The paper’s abstract reads: The failure of 27 wildland firefighters to follow orders to drop their heavy tools so they could move faster and outrun an exploding fire led to their death within sight of safe areas. Possible explanations for this

Ep.98 What can we learn from the Harwood experiments?

Sep 4th, 2022 59m 28s

In 1939, Alfred Marrow, the managing director of the Harwood Manufacturing Corporation factory in Virginia, invited Kurt Lewin (a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psycholog

Episode 97: Should we link safety performance to bonus pay?

Aug 21st, 2022 52m 36s

This was very in-depth research within a single organization, and the survey questions it used were well-structured. With 48 interviews to pull from, it definitely generated enough solid data to inform the paper’s results and make it a valuabl

Episode 96: Why should we be cautious about too much clarity?

Jul 31st, 2022 1h 1m

Just because concepts, theories, and opinions are useful and make people feel comfortable, doesn’t mean they are correct. No one so far has come up with an answer in the field of safety that proves, “this is the way we should do it,” and in th

Ep.95 Do Take-5 risk assessments contribute to safe work?

Apr 24th, 2022 56m 27s

Assessing the Influence of “Take 5” Pre-Task Risk Assessments on Safety” by Jop Havinga, Mohammed Ibrahim Shire, and our own Andrew Rae. The paper was just published in “Safety,” - an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal of indus