Humanistic Systems Collections: The Albums & EPs

Since I starting blogging, I have written posts on a range of topics concerning work…

The Commodification of Human Decency

Many ideas spring up in the world of management and organisational behaviour aimed at ‘treating…

System Safety: Seven Foes of Intervention

In this short series, I highlight seven foes and seven friends of system safety, both for explanation and intervention. Each is a concept, meme, or device used in thinking, language, and intervention (reinforced by more fundamental foes that act as barriers to thinking).  They are not the only foes or friends, of course, but they are significant ones that either crop up regularly in discussions and writings about safety, or else – in the case of friends – should do.

In this post, I outline seven foes of intervention.

The Real Second Victims

In many professions, specific terms – both old and new – are often established and accepted unquestioningly, from the inside. In some cases, such terms may create and perpetuate inequity and injustice, even when introduced with good intentions. One example that has played on my mind over recent years is the term ‘second victim’.

Four Kinds of ‘Human Factors’: 1. The Human Factor

This is the first of a short blog post series, on four kinds of ‘Human Factors’: ‘The Human Factor.

Just Culture in La La Land

It was always going to happen. The wrong Best Picture winner was read out live on…

Just Culture: Who Are We Really Afraid Of?

When we think about just culture, we usually think about accidents and incidents, associated ‘honest…

Human Factors at The Fringe: My Eyes Went Dark

Written and directed by Matthew Wilkinson. A thrilling modern tragedy about a Russian architect driven…

Never/Zero Thinking

There has been much talk in recent years about ‘never events’ and ‘zero harm’, similar to talk in the safety community about ‘zero accidents’. It sounds obvious: no one would want an accident. And we all wish that serious harm would not result from accidents. But as expressed and implemented top-down, never/zero is problematic for many reasons. In this post, I shall outline just a few, as I see them.

Occupational Overuse Syndrome – Human Error Variant (OOS-HEV)

Occupational Overuse Syndrome – Human Error Variant (OOS-HEV) is a condition involving the overuse of the…