The Safety of Work

We use the paper, What Constitutes Effective Manual Handling Training, in order to frame our discussion. The paper is a systematic review that looks at fifty three intervention studies performed over a number of years.Topics:Why training is the cornerstone of the workplace.Why it’s important to evaluate training.The results of the various studies discussed within today’s paper.The varying qualities of studies.Finding what type of manual training is effective.Quotes:“The idea of having some sort of formalized weighting system, is it gets around the accusation of researcher bias.”“There’s maybe something to say that some of that training was actually counter to the way that we now understand, maybe, that people can exert safe and maximal force.”“If you do have residual risk leftover...person-task-fit is directly relevant around this residual risk…” Resources:Feeback@safetyofwork.com

Dave is joined by special guest, Dr. Laura Maguire, a researcher at the Cognitive Systems Engineering Lab at Ohio State University. Her recent research pertains to the topic at hand. Tune in to hear our informative discussion. Topics:● Dr. Maguire’s personal relationship to safety.● Exploring coordinated joint activity in the tech industry.● The difficulty of doing research in the natural laboratory.● What Dr. Maguire noticed during her research.● Why breakdowns in common ground occur.● Why a phone call can involve effortful cognitive work. Quotes:“In cognitive systems engineering, we’re most interested in what are the generalized patterns of cognition and of interpreting the world…”“Doing research in what we call the ‘natural laboratory’ or trying to examine cognition in the wild, is really, really hard.”“Tooling is never going to solve all of the problems, right?”Resources:Feedback@safetyofwork.com

We use the paper, Embracing Complexity, to frame our discussion. Tune in to hear our chat about this important issue. Topics:The definition of a team.What unit to study when researching teams.Compositional and structural features.Mediating mechanisms.Average member attributes and how they contribute to performance.How diversity affects teams.Fault lines.How to measure a team’s success.The positive effect of innovation. Quotes:“A topic that comes up a lot in the research is virtual teams. Who would have guessed that teams meeting over Zoom was going to be a topical and relevant hot-button topic?”“...The research suggests that functional diversity, as well as individual educational diversity have positive relationships with team performance.”“There were some studies that said if there is a general climate in the organization around innovation, then the team will display more innovative characteristics and things like that.” Resources:Mathieu, J. E., Gallagher, P. T., Domingo, M. A., & Klock, E. A. (2019). Embracing Complexity: Reviewing the past decade of team effectiveness research. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6, 17-46.Feedback@safetyofwork.com

We use the following papers to frame our discussion: Development and Test of a Model Linking Safety Specific Transformational Leadership and Occupational Safety and Contrasting the Nature and Effects of Environmentally Specific and General Transformational Leadership. Topics:How leadership is studied.The two-part study conducted in Development and Test.Are environmentally specific and general transformational leadership two different things?How the study in Contrasting the Nature and Effects was conducted.Safety leadership vs. leadership/Why good leadership leads to good safety practices. Quotes:“How much do these things vary and how much do our explanations for these things explain why they vary? And the answer is, they don’t.”“Don’t start measuring and tinkering with the statistical relationships between things until you’ve actually pinned down what those things are.”“I strongly believe that we can’t easily change the values that people hold.” Resources:Barling, J., Loughlin, C., & Kelloway, E. K. (2002). Development and Test of a Model Linking Safety Specific Transformational Leadership and Occupational Safety. Journal of applied psychology, 87(3), 488. DOI: 10.1037//0021-9010.87.3.488Robertson, J. L., & Barling, J. (2017). Contrasting the Nature and Effects of Environmentally Specific and General Transformational Leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.Feeback@safetyofwork.com

Dave isn’t here today. Instead, Drew speaks directly with the author of the paper we intended to use to frame our discussion. Tune in to hear his discussion with Tanya Hewitt.  Topics:Discomfort with non-technical topics.Why some people are seasoned users of reporting systems.Pride in being a fixer.Feedback loops in reporting systems.Questioning the value of given instructions.Why qualitative data can be helpful. Quotes:“If people were very seasoned users of the reporting system, we’d want to really understand, ‘how did they become seasoned users?’ ”“A lot of professionals: That’s where they derive their professional pride, from being able to fix problems.”“[Reporting systems] are complex sociotechnical constructs.” Resources:Hewitt, T. A., & Chreim, S. (2015). Fix and forget or fix and report: a qualitative study of tensions at the front line of incident reporting. BMJ Qual Saf, 24(5), 303-310.Feedback@safetyofwork.com

Drew isn’t here today and in his stead is Professor David Woods. Tune in to hear his discussion of graceful extensibility and how it applies to the current battle with Covid19.Topics:Unwittingly developing theories.Building resilience in organizations.Framing his theory in terms of current events.How the brain deals with changes.What the data from Covid19 will tell us.Net adaptive value.Saturation and decompensation.Proactive learning.Reciprocity.Quotes:“The simple idea is that we are always vulnerable to surprise. Surprise is ongoing.”“[The death rate] is going to be correlated with who anticipated...they will have better outcomes for patients.”“I have to generate, mobilize, and deploy new ways of working, as I start to run out of the capacity to continue.”“Decompensation in our current case is happening at a society level, at large scale jurisdiction levels; it’s happening at hospital systems levels…” Resources:Woods, D. D. (2018). The theory of graceful extensibility: basic rules that govern adaptive systems. Environment Systems and Decisions, 38(4), 433-457.Feeback@safetyofwork.com

We use the following articles to frame our discussion: In Their Profession’s Service and Influencing Organizational Decision-Makers.Topics:The constant frustration of being a safety professional.Rational persuasion and other forms of influence.Publishing outside traditional safety journals.Why it can be hard to define a safety professional’s role.The optics of good connections.Adaptive framing.Why “by any means necessary” is not the key to success.Playing the long game. Quotes:“If you survey CEO’s...they want safety practitioners to have these communication skills, ability to build relationships…”“There is no pattern between these companies and their economic performance and their safety performance…”“There’s some really good advice there...for safety professionals to think about the long game.” Resources:Daudigeos, T. (2013). In their profession's service: how staff professionals exert influence in their organization. Journal of Management Studies, 50(5), 722-749.Madigan, C., Way, K., Capra, M., & Johnstone, K. (2020). Influencing organizational decision-makers–What influence tactics are OHS professionals using?. Safety Science, 121, 496-506.Cialdini, R. B., & Cialdini, R. B. (1993). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. Harper Business.Cohen, A. R., & Bradford, D. L. (2011). Influence without authority. John Wiley & Sons.Feedback@safetyofwork.com

Drew, a researcher who recently published a paper on the effectiveness of storytelling versus factual information, shares crucial insights on attitude changes. He discusses the alarming rise of anti-vaccination sentiments and how personal stories resonate more than mere facts. The conversation dives into how narratives, like those from affected families, can shift perceptions on critical topics, including workplace safety. Drew emphasizes that storytelling may be more impactful in influencing safety practices within organizations than statistical data.

Topics:Divulging our potential conflicts of interest.Hindsight bias.The four different mental processes used in assessing accidents.How the raft ride worked on a good day.The first river raft fatality on record.Various river raft incidents on record.The factors that lead to the accident at Dreamworld.Potential conclusions from this case.Quotes:“When I was reflecting after this incident,  I don’t remember a lot of safety conversation at all.”“There was a number of operational incidents associated with these rides; to do with, kind of, like, spacing and separation of rafts on the ride.”“I think in this particular case, we can almost see the way that hindsight bias is causing the selectivity.”Resources:Coroner's Inquest into Dreamworld IncidentHawkins, S. A., & Hastie, R. (1990). Hindsight: Biased judgments of past events after the outcomes are known. Psychological bulletin, 107(3), 311.Feedback@safetyofwork.com

Exciting new research explores reality-based safety science, aiming to improve safety practices by examining work dynamics rather than just accidents. The conversation critiques traditional research methods and emphasizes the need for collaboration between academics and practitioners. It highlights the importance of direct observation, clear measurement techniques, and understanding the complexities of safety behavior. Also discussed are the differences between case studies and controlled examples, advocating for a partnership that respects both practitioners' and researchers' roles.