In high-stakes industries where safety is paramount, accidents and incidents are often quickly attributed to human error. This knee-jerk reaction to blame individuals has deep roots in organisational culture and leadership attitudes. However, this blame-oriented approach can hinder the development of truly resilient and safe systems. In this article, we will explore the limitations of focusing solely on human error, the benefits of adopting a systemic approach to safety, and how organisations can change their mindset to create robust, resilient systems.

Incident investigation is a central role of safety professionals and a vital process for safety management in organisations. However, despite their importance, incident investigation processes often need to be more effective as learning tools across organisations. In this article, we will explore what an effective incident investigation process looks like, the science of human factors and the theory of just culture as they relate to incident management and investigation.

Decluttering a safety management system is an important task that can help ensure that your organisation effectively manages risks and keeps employees safe. A cluttered and disorganised safety management system can be confusing, hard to navigate, and even create additional risks if important information is not easily accessible. In this blog post, we'll discuss the steps you can take to declutter your safety management system and keep it organised, up-to-date, and effective.

The Health and Safety profession has made great strides in safety performance over the last 50 years, technology has become safer to use, and techniques such as HAZOP and bowtie analysis have given us ways to think about and manage hazards. This approach has served the industry well, but safety performance has recently stalled. 

Have you ever been involved in a safety investigation where you felt like you were being interrogated?

You felt like you've done something wrong, and the intention was more to find out how you should be punished than how your organisation could learn. 

Sadly many of us have either had that or heard about others that have had that particular experience, yet the fact is that such an approach does very little to improve safety.