In almost all of the accident investigations I have been asked to participate in, the local management team was very quick to blame “active failures”. This almost always involves some blame being placed on the human; after all, they were directly involved, and had they “not made the mistakes,” the accident would not have occurred. …...
Understand Active and Latent Failures Read More »
Accident causation models were originally developed in order to assist people who had to investigate occupational accidents so that such accidents could be investigated effectively. Knowing how accidents are caused is also useful in a proactive sense in order to identify what types of failures or errors generally cause accidents. So action can be taken…...
Comparing the Domino and the ILCI causation models Read More »
Often people tend to think that using electronics or technology automatically falls into the realm of an “engineering control” rather than an administrative control. Today’s local news story is a perfect example of this. We have this overpass in Cincinnati that is notorious for catching trucks. I have a local client that I would spend…...
Real world difference between engineering controls and administrative controls Read More »
I have been preaching one simple approach to safety management my entire career after having learned it from the master himself… Claude Bloom. BALANCE is the KEY. There is no one magical approach to managing safety in the workplace. These days the big catchphrases are HOP and Psychological Safety. I am a believer in both…...
My take on “Psychological Safety” and BBS Read More »
This is my “high-level” presentation to management teams on what the journey will look like and the effort it will take. It is one thing to say “we want to be world-class” vs. what it will take to get there AND stay there. Heck, I have yet to find a management group that could collectively…...
The Journey to a Culture of Safety Read More »
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Safety Management Systems (SMS) Implementation Plan Read More »
As one of my favorite authors said in his book “Risk Makes Sense”… Remember that the biggest danger in risk assessment is not the threat itself but the mind space of the person who overlooks, underestimates, ignores, or is perhaps deluded in their assessment of that risk.Dr. Robert Long, Risk Makes Sense If you have…...
Understanding your decisions and the risks Read More »
The three C’s of Behaviors In full disclosure, I am not a behavior specialist or a psychologist, just a safety professional who has spent the last 30+ years studying human behaviors. This 3-C model attempts to demonstrate how workers go from the CONCERNED state, the first of the C’s, to the CONFIDENT state, the last…...
The fairy tale of the 3-C’s (Concerned, Comfortable, Confident) Read More »
This is one for all the Behavior-Based Safety Observation admirers who somehow convinced themselves their BBS process is flawless. Most of us in the safety profession has seen the “gorilla and basketball” video. The study used a video made famous by earlier “inattention blindness” research featured in the 2010 book “The Invisible Gorilla,” by Christopher…...
Sustained inattentional blindness in expert observers Read More »
I am not sure who came up with this, but it is a classic example of far too many organizations…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log in here...
The Hierarchy of Responses, How Hazards Sink to the Bottom Read More »
As many of you know I have taken on a new client (full time) in 2022 and my role in this organization is to build a safety management system (SMS). And let me tell you what, if you thought explaining a RAGAGEP to management was difficult – try explaining that safety is a “process” and…...
The Safety Process through the eyes of a Quality Assurance Process Read More »
As safety professionals, we typically spend a great deal of time training workers. However, the time we are given to conduct this training is shrinking; so we need to be SMART in how we develop our content AND deliver it. The “learning pyramid” has been around as long as I have been alive and it…...
The learning pyramid… what works best Read More »
