This is the first in a series of posts on The Archetypes of Human Work, on The Messy Reality archetype.
Tag: safety-II
The analysis of work cannot be limited to work as prescribed in procedures etc (le travail prescrit), nor to the observation of work actually done (le travail réalisé). Similarly, it cannot be limited to work as we imagine it, nor work as people talk about it. Only by considering all four of these varieties of human work can we hope to understand what’s going on.
You’re six years old. Mum’s in hospital. Dad says she’s done something stupid. She finds…
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.
Again, a familiar smoke pattern has emerged from the ashes of a high-profile accident. The…
Following most major accidents, one phrase is almost guaranteed to headline in the popular press:…
During the last few years, different ways of thinking about safety have challenged prevailing worldviews…
This is a keynote address from Velocity Europe 2014 in Barcelona on 17 November. I…
Occupational Overuse Syndrome – Human Error Variant (OOS-HEV) is a condition involving the overuse of the…
OVER BLACK WE HEAR THE DULL SOUNDS OF INDUSTRY; A MUFFLED MASS OF MACHINES, GEARS, STEAM.…
Humanistic Systems 