Embracing Differences

In this episode of embracing differences, we will listen to the story of a young seafarer, John William Soria, who suffered life-threatening injuries when he slipped and fell 8 meters deep into a ship’s steel tank and lost consciousness. John came very close to experiencing death in an accident that would change his life forever. Nearly 5 years after this accident, I met with John last week to understand what meaning he makes of this experience. Apart from his insights and reflections, you will discover in this podcast the power of learning by listening.

In this podcast, Dr. Rob Long and Nippin Anand discuss how your ethos (worldview-methodology) directs your ethic (moral system) and all methods in risk and safety evidence an underlying worldview (ethos). Such matters are rarely discussed in the safety industry. Indeed, the associations in safety never discuss their own ethic, even when they discuss ethics (eg. AIHS BoK Chapter on Ethics). This lack of transparency is unethical and fosters confusion in an industry that seeks to claim the word ‘professional’.

In this podcast, Donna Cohen and I discuss the enormous yet largely untouched source of power that is the expertise of frontline staff within organisations. We explore the potential of workers knowledge for organisational learning and quality improvement and discuss the practical and environmental challenges of engaging frontline staff and tapping into their expertise and ideas. We also explore solutions that can counter the impact of top-down organisational design and create better relationships between managers and their teams.

With Nippin Anand. This podcast is aimed at presenting archetypes of safety professionals. The idea is to recognise how we present ourselves in different ways and connect with our consciousness. Knowledge of archetypes can be helpful in creating a learning organisation.

In this episode, I am joined by Gary Klein, a psychologist, and an internationally renowned researcher most famous for his work in naturalistic decision making. We discuss how expertise is both understood and undermined and why we should care about developing and nurturing expertise in an uncertain world.

In high-risk industries, the dominant view about why workers do not speak up to someone higher up in the hierarchy, even when faced with an imminent threat, is the absence of ‘psychological safety'. It follows, therefore, those management initiatives are predominantly focused on creating a safe space for workers to ‘speak up' and share concerns with their co-workers and superiors. Based on their research and practice, Dr. Nippin Anand, Gitte Damm, and Dr. Ruchi Sinha will present perspectives about the complex nature of “speaking up” and why it may not be as straightforward as it may initially appear. If the aim is to understand and improve team performance, we must be prepared to think beyond and face the challenges underlying the goal of creating psychological safety.

With Alison Taylor In this podcast, I explore the emerging relationship between ethics and compliance in an interview with Alison Taylor, the Executive Director at Ethical Systems at New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business. Alison argues that an increased demand for transparency by the consumers and society, the rise of social media, stakeholders’ perceptions and expectations, and the need to maintain a ‘good’ public image means that sustainable businesses will be required to take an ethical approach to governance and compliance.

With Professor Suzette Woodward Many of us are still unsure about pushing the boundaries of innovation and our own belief about safety. Will any of the changes we make as a result of applying human factors in our work practices really benefit our workers and improve our performance? How would our bosses react, what if something goes wrong, how would the regulators view our initiatives. Suzette Woodward is a paediatric intensive care nurse who for the last two decades has specialised in patient safety.  In this podcast, she talks about her life in safety and her motivations. She raises the importance of rethinking the way we do safety and applying the latest concepts of safety-II, psychological safety and a just culture in healthcare.

In this podcast episode, human factors expert and a vivid learner Suzanne Jackson, sets us on a path to learn more about organizational and human factors. Suzanne’s own journey began back in 2010 when she noticed people who had poorly designed workstations but did not want intervention and vice versa. This is a story of her personal education and experiences where she draws from a variety of disciplines including behavioural sciences, psychology, anthropology, qualitative research, political sciences and philosophy. This podcast should interest anyone who is willing to push the boundaries of their worldview and assumptions about what it means to be a safety professional.

With Simon Cassin. The business world and in particular the health and safety industry are perfect examples of ‘Plato’s, cave allegory’ in action. We think we can see things as they really are, but in truth much of what we believe is simply a shadow of reality. In this podcast, Simon argues that without opening our minds to the benefits of philosophical reasoning and thought, the best we can hope for is a blurred and shadowy perspective of reality. Adopting a philosophical approach can help us both think about existing questions from a different perspective and explore concepts that we were previously unaware of. There are philosophers of science, politics, law, ethics, epistemology etc. So why don’t we work together and create a philosophy of safety?  It just makes sense.