Simplicity in Safety Investigations A Practitioner's Guide to Applying Safety Science

This innovative book aims to bring the science of safety into a simple and practical approach to investigating workplace incidents. As a basis, it uses the ideas of some of the great safety science thinkers of our time. These include Sidney Dekker, Todd Conklin, Erik Hollnagel, Daniel Kahneman, James Reason and Dylan Evans, alongside others and the author’s own extensive industry experience. Simplicity in Safety Investigations: A Practitioner's Guide to Applying Safety Science will better equip readers to deal with incident investigations by helping them understand the science behind investigation techniques, and by exploring coaching and leadership styles that helpthem ask better questions both beforeand after workplace incidents. The first two chapters of the book focus on our mindset as we approach and undertake investigations, and the simple things we all must do before an investigation starts. The thirdchapter is a step-by-step guide on how to undertake both simple and more detailed workplace incident investigations. Chapter 4 is reserved for a more detailed review and set of explanations around the science and thinking behind the method and approach. This book serves as an easy-to-follow, real-world reference for supervisors, managers and safety practitioners across many industries.

Acknowledgments Preface What level of investigation should we do? Using this book and the techniques described within it for positive investigations Some essentials 1 Mindset and approach 2Before you investigate Team formation, structure and roles The art of facilitation and using a coaching style Your conversations and questions (before and after an event) 3The investigation process Scene preservation. Interviewing (versus taking statements) Generous listening The interview conversation Data and information gathering How to run an effective and efficient PEEPO Determining Work-As-Done, Work-As-Normal and Work-As-Intended Determining Work-As-Done, Work-As-Normal and Work-As-Intended in the case of more detailed incident investigations Exploration of the gaps between Work-As-Done, Work-As-Normal and Work-As-Intended Build the story (Incident Pathway Statement) SMARTS actions Reports 4The technical and scientific stuff Task complexity, procedural complexity and adequacy, and situational complexity Resilience and resilience engineering Risk intelligence, risk identification and risk management Drift (procedural or practical drift) Internal decision and sense-making Intense task focus Answering a different question What-You-See-Is-All-There-Is (WYSIATI) and plan continuation Shared Space as it relates To safe work spaces Effective ‘core competency training’ and ‘awareness induction’ Individual actions and assessments Systems of work and their interrelationships It is all obvious when you know the outcome (hindsight bias) Accountability and authority mismatch Equipment, tools and plant design Task planning, assignment, acceptance and monitoring Leadership Other cognitive biases and heuristics The efficiency – thoroughness trade-off (ETTO) 5Conclusion Appendices: A. Interviewing – Having meaningful conversations B. Incident Cause Analysis Method (ICAM) process Bibliography and reading list.Index

Ian Long has worked for over twenty years in Health and Safetyroles in the minerals extraction and processing industry. As the managing director of his own consultancy business, he now provides in-the-field coaching and coach-the-coach activities with leaders, along with training and facilitation of fatality and other significant incident investigations.