Management systems require clearly written procedures that are fit for their purpose of controlling all aspects of safety. However, there is a great difference between having excellent procedures on paper and having procedures that are understood and applied consistently and conscientiously by all staff. There is a need for balance in the number and extent […]
To perform a safety culture survey, a business does not need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on some external consulting company. Here are just seven (7) questions that need to be asked and discussed at the highest levels of the organization. Get ready, as these will generate a lot of emotions as senior
Organizations typically go through several phases in developing and strengthening safety culture. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) identifies three (3) stages:
Transactional Analysis is a valuable approach to the understanding of human behavior and action. Developed by Dr. Eric Berne, author of the book, “Games people play” While we communicate with others, we share not only facts & information, but also emotions, values, benefits & traditions. So the starting point of all engagements is:
What’s more culturally dangerous? A manager/Supervisor who is unable to identify at-risk behavior A manager/Supervisor who can identify at-risk behavior but turns a blind eye to it
I was first exposed to the “The Warm Fuzzy Tale” by Claude M. Steiner (1969) in my first organizational psychology course at Murray State Univesity in 1990. At the time, with zero actual field experience in safety, I thought it was hyperbole, academic nonsense, etc. But once I got into fieldwork, beginning with my first
One of my favorite safety sayings came from Dr. William (Bill) Corcoran from the USA’s Nuclear Safety Program. He firmly believed that latent failures were more to blame for accidents than human errors. And he proved this over a distinguished career of 50+ years in nuclear engineering with a major slant towards nuclear safety through
Whenever I think about Routine and Situational violations, my mind goes back to my childhood days when Life cereal came out. The commercial involved two older kids talking about the cereal, and neither wanted to try it. And there sat little Mikey, so they pushed the bowl over to Mikey and said, “let’s get Mikey
Think about it… Here are the ten (10) elements of your SMS. Of course, we want all 10 to perform in the bulls-eye, but we know safety is a continuous improvement project that takes years. Which process (Target A or Target B) is more advanced, more capable of achieving the desired results, and the one
In our profession, we live and sadly die by rules. Whether they are government regulations or company rules, unfortunately, our profession and our approach to safety were based on compliance with these rules. Luckily, by the time I came around in the early 1990s, we saw a serious shift in the chemical process industry with
A professional life lesson in our safety profession, from Dr. E Scott Geller… Dance with those who want to dance! Probably the best bit of advice I have ever received from a mentor. Some folks are not on board with real safety management principles; most of the time, we know who is with
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.
