The Safety of Work

By David Provan

What's The Safety of Work about?

Do you know the science behind what works and doesn’t work when it comes to keeping people safe in your organisation? Each week join Dr Drew Rae and Dr David Provan from the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University as they break down the latest safety research and provide you with practical management tips.

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The Safety of Work episodes:

05.26.2024
Ep. 120: What does the literature say about safety professionals?
Join us for a special episode where we navigate the intriguing world of safety professionals viewed through the lens of literature. Today, we celebrate Dr. David Provan’s first published paper, “Bureaucracy, influence and beliefs: A literature review of the factors shaping...
04.28.2024
Ep. 119: Should we ask about contributors rather than causes?
Listen in as we explore the ever-evolving field of accident investigation research, where the shift from pinpointing causes to understanding contributors is gaining traction.
04.14.2024
Ep. 118 How should we account for technological accidents?
Have you ever considered who shoulders the blame when technology fails us catastrophically? Today’s paper by Dr. Katherine Elizabeth Kenny, “Blaming Deadmen: Causes, Culprits, and Chaos in Accounting for Technological Accidents” examines the complex web of causes behind technological accidents. We...
03.31.2024
Ep. 117: Can digital twins help improve the safety of work?
Could the key to transforming workplace safety lie within the realm of virtual reality? In today’s episode, we explore the exciting domain of digital twins—a technological marvel with the potential to overhaul how we approach operational safety across various industries.
03.17.2024
Ep 116. Do audits improve the safety of work?
Could what we perceive as the bedrock of workplace safety be merely an illusion? Safety audits are supposed to be our safeguard, but Ben Hutchinson, PhD student from the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University, is here to shatter...
03.03.2024
Ep. 115: Why are subcontractors at higher risk?
Have you ever wondered about the tightrope walk that subcontractors do, balancing on the edge of safety in high-hazard industries? Our exploration into the world of subcontracting safety is eye-opening and crucial, as we dissect the factors that leave these...
12.17.2023
Ep. 114 How do we manage safety for work from home workers?
Who would have thought that ‘safety in the workplace’ would eventually extend to our homes? As we navigate the new normal, work-from-home arrangements have emerged as a key component of business continuity plans. This episode unravels the intricacies of health...
12.10.2023
Ep. 113 When are seemingly impossible goals good for performance?
Can you envision your organization setting a goal that seems impossible to achieve? Join David and Drew as they dissect the paradox of stretch goals and discuss the overarching impact of aspirational objectives on an organization's performance. We take you...
09.10.2023
Ep 112 How biased are incident investigators?
David and Drew discuss a research paper published this year in the Journal of Safety Research entitled “Exploring Bias in Incident Investigations: An Empirical Examination Using Construction Case Studies” by Sreeja Thallapureddy et al.
08.06.2023
Ep. 111 Are management walkarounds effective?
In this episode, David and Drew discuss the role and impact of senior leadership safety visits and management walkarounds in safety management programs. The episode explores how management walkarounds can influence staff perception and the effectiveness of safety programs, and...
07.23.2023
Ep. 110 Can personality tests predict safety performance?
In this episode, David and Drew dig into the potential link between psychology and workplace safety, specifically how personality tests could predict safety performance. They’ll review the research on the connection between personality traits and safety performance, examining how traits...
04.30.2023
Ep. 109 Do safety performance indicators mean the same thing to different stakeholders?
In this episode, we’ll discuss the paper entitled, “Tracking the right path: Safety performance indicators as boundary objects in air ambulance services”, by Jan Hayes, Tone Njølstad Slotsvik, Carl Macrae, Kenneth Arne Pettersen Gould. It was published in Volume 163...
04.09.2023
Ep. 108 Could a 4 day work week improve employee well-being?
In this episode, we’ll discuss a study suggested through LinkedIn by Bridget/Brigid? one of our listeners. Published by a research and consultancy/advocacy organization called Autonomy, the paper is titled, “The Results Are In: The UK's Four-Day Week Pilot”. Published in...
03.12.2023
Ep. 107 What research is needed to implement the Safework Australia WHS strategy?
In this episode, we’ll discuss the Australian Work Health and Safety (WHS) Strategy for 2023–2033 put out by Safe Work Australia - an Australian Government statutory agency established in 2009. Safe Work Australia includes Members from the Commonwealth, and each...
02.19.2023
Ep. 106 Is it possible to teach critical thinking?
In this episode, we’ll discuss a 1993 paper by Jonathan Baron, titled “Why Teach Thinking - An Essay” published in Applied Psychology: An International Review. Jonathan Baron is an American psychologist and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of...
02.05.2023
Ep. 105 How can organisations learn faster?
In this episode, we’ll discuss a paper from one of the giants of organizational psychology, Edgar Schein. Schein recently passed away at age of 98. His work has influenced not just safety practitioners but also safety academics over the past...
01.22.2023
Ep. 104 How can we get better at using measurement?
Welcome to our first episode of 2023. In this episode, we’ll discuss the paper entitled, “Measurement Schmeasurement: Questionable Measurement Practices and How to Avoid Them” authored by Prof. Jessica Kay Flake and Assoc. Prof. Eiko I. Fried. It was published...
12.04.2022
Ep. 103 Should we be happy when our people speak out about safety?
In this episode, we’ll discuss the paper entitled, “Repentance as Rebuke: Betrayal and Moral Injury in Safety Engineering” by Sidney W. A. Dekker, Mark D. Layson & David D. Woods. The paper was part of a series published in the...
11.15.2022
Ep. 102 What's the right strategy when we can't manage safety as well as we'd like to?
In this episode, we’ll be discussing the paper entitled, “Managing risk in hazardous conditions: improvisation is not enough” by Rene Amalberti and Charles Vincent (2019), published in BMJ Quality & Safety. Though the paper is focused on the healthcare industry,...
10.30.2022
Ep. 101 When should incidents cause us to question risk assessments?
In our last episode, we touched on nuclear safety, and so we’ve decided to dig a little deeper into that topic on today’s podcast. We’ll be discussing the paper entitled, “Disowning Fukushima: Managing the credibility of nuclear reliability assessment in...
10.09.2022
Ep. 100 Can major accidents be prevented?
In our very special 100th episode, we attempt to answer our title question with a discussion around the book, “Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies” by Charles Perrow. This book was first published in 1984, but later editions were released...
09.18.2022
Ep.99 When is dropping tools the right thing to do for safety?
The reluctance to drop one’s tools when threat intensifies, and the reasons behind not dropping them, is the focus of the paper we are examining in this episode. We are discussing the 1996 paper “Drop Your Tools: An Allegory for...
09.04.2022
Ep.98 What can we learn from the Harwood experiments?
Can an 80-year-old research experiment provide any valuable insight into today’s work environments?
08.21.2022
Episode 97: Should we link safety performance to bonus pay?
In this episode, we’ll be discussing another listener-suggested paper, from the journal of Safety Science, May 2022 - “Rewarding safety performance: Improving safety or maintaining beliefs?” by Bitara et al.
07.31.2022
Episode 96: Why should we be cautious about too much clarity?
After a long unplanned break, we’re back! During the break, we were very happy to see our inboxes fill up with topic ideas from our listeners, and in this episode, we’ll be digging into one of those suggestions - “The...
04.24.2022
Ep.95 Do Take-5 risk assessments contribute to safe work?
We realized that this episode will be our first “three-person” podcast discussion.We’ve invited Jop Havinga, co-author of today’s paper and fellow Griffith University colleague, to join us. Our discussion today centers around the paper “Should We Cut the Cards?"
04.17.2022
Ep.94 What makes a quality leadership engagement for safety?
Our discussion today centers around the paper entitled: “Assessing the Quality of Safety-Focused Leadership Engagements” by Siddharth Bhandari, Matthew R. Hallowell, Caleb Scheve, James Upton, Wael Alruqi, and Mike Quashne– published by the American Society of Safety Professionals in January...
03.30.2022
Ep.93 Do the benefits of Lifesaving rules outweigh the negative consequences?
Our discussion today centers around a 2017 Journal of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) paper, Golden safety rules: are they keeping us safe? by Samantha J. Fraser and Daryl Colgan. Although the paper was published in a...
03.13.2022
Ep.92 How do different career paths affect the roles and training needs of safety practitioners?
Our discussion today centers around a Safety Science paper from 2008 titled, “Reflexive approach to the activity of preventionists and their training needs: Results of a French study” (Volume 46, Issue 8, October 2008, Pages 1271-1288 Safety Science by Alain...
02.27.2022
Ep.91 How can we tell when safety research is C.R.A.A.P?
Our discussion today centers around the Sarah Blakeslee one-page reference guideline for citing research sources (Blakeslee, Sarah (2004) "The CRAAP Test," LOEX Quarterly: Vol. 31: No. 3, Article 4.) The paper is not peer-reviewed, but it is a helpful and...
02.13.2022
Ep.90 Does formal safety management displace operational knowledge?
Our discussion today centers around a 2014 paper by a group of Norwegian academics (Almklov, Rosness, & Størkersen) entitled “When safety science meets the practitioners: Does safety science contribute to marginalization of practical knowledge?” From the Journal of Safety Science,...
01.30.2022
Ep.89 When is the process more important than the outcome?
Our discussion today centers around the intriguingly titled paper, “The fetish of technique: methodology as a social defense,” by David Wastell. Although it was published in 1996, its basic tenets are still useful and relevant today. We will examine how...
01.16.2022
Ep.88 Why do organisations sometimes make bad decisions?
In this week’s episode, we tackle a topic that may or may not change the way you think about solving problems in an organisation. We delve deeper into an interesting paper on organisational decision making called A Garbage Can Model...
01.02.2022
Ep.87 What exactly is Systems Thinking?
In today’s episode, we discuss another in our series of foundational papers: “Applying Systems Thinking to Analyze and Learn from Events” published in a 2011 volume of Safety Science by Nancy Leveson. Leveson is a renowned Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics...
12.19.2021
Ep.86 Do we have adequate models of accident causation?
In today’s episode, we discuss the paper “Risk Management in a Dynamic Society: A Modelling Problem” published in a 1997 volume of Safety Science by Jens Rasmussen (1926‑2018). Rasmussen was a renowned professor and researcher at the Riso Laboratory in Denmark. ...
11.28.2021
Ep.85 Why does safety get harder as systems get safer?
In this week’s episode, we tackle an interesting conundrum in safety through a paper written by René Amalberti. The idea he poses is that aiming for zero errors in the workplace should not be the goal - in fact, some...
10.31.2021
Ep.84 How do orgasnisations balance reliable performance and spontaneous innovation?
How do orgasnisations balance reliable performance and spontaneous innovation? This is the key question that the paper we are discussing today tries to answer.
10.17.2021
Ep.83 Does the language used in investigations influence the recommendations?
The paper we are discussing today is about the language used in incident reports and whether it influences the recommendations made based on these reports. We run through the findings in this paper which include the process of writing three...
09.26.2021
Ep.82 Why do we audit so much?
Today we jump head-first into a research paper that we have both found to be really interesting and thought provoking.
09.12.2021
Ep.81 How does simulation training develop Safety II capabilities?
Drew Rae and David Provan are back in today’s episode discussing research findings in the field of maritime safety through simulator training.
08.29.2021
Ep.80 What is safety clutter?
In today’s episode - our 80th episode no less- we do a deep-dive into a term coined by Dr Drew Rae himself, namely, Safety Clutter. Clutter in safety procedures are a thorn in the side of many employees and contractors....
08.08.2021
Ep. 79 How do new employees learn about safety?
Today we discuss the safety of younger workers in the workplace. The research paper was brought about because of a finding that workers under the age of 30 are between 60 and 70 percent more likely to be injured on...
07.25.2021
Episode 78: Do shock tactics work?
In this episode, we take a deep dive into a research paper about using fear or shock tactics to inspire behavior change when it comes to health and safety communication. Motor vehicle safety adverts are one of the more common...
07.11.2021
Ep.77 What does good look like?
Dr. Drew Rae and Dr. David Provan have a great discussion in this episode around a recently published research paper around the features of safety in maternity units. While these features can’t be exactly applied to all industries as a...
06.27.2021
Ep.76 What is Due Diligence?
Greg Smith is both a safety lawyer and a safety professional. He graciously reached out to me after listening to our episode a couple of weeks ago on whether the capacity index is a good replacement for incident-count safety metrics,...
06.13.2021
Ep.75 How are stop work decisions made?
Welcome back to the Safety of Work podcast! Though Drew is out for this episode, this means we’re graced by the insightful Dr. Jop Havinga, a colleague of ours from the Safety Science Innovation Lab. Dr. Havinga is a great...
05.30.2021
Ep.74 Is a capacity index a good replacement for incident-count safety metrics?
Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Safety of Work podcast! Today, we are discussing whether the capacity index is a good replacement for incident-count safety metrics.
05.16.2021
Ep.73 Does pointing and calling improve action reliability?
Welcome back to the Safety of Work podcast. Today, we discuss whether “pointing and calling” improves reliability of action.
05.02.2021
Ep.72 How visible is high-vis clothing?
On today’s episode, we discuss the visibility of high-vis clothing. Are they actually “high-vis”?
04.18.2021
Ep.71 Do double checks improve safety?
Today, we discuss whether mandatory double-check policies actually improve safety in the workplace.

What's The Safety of Work about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Safety of Work episodes:

Ep. 120: What does the literature say about safety professionals?

Ep. 119: Should we ask about contributors rather than causes?

Ep. 118 How should we account for technological accidents?

Ep. 117: Can digital twins help improve the safety of work?

Ep 116. Do audits improve the safety of work?

Ep. 115: Why are subcontractors at higher risk?

Ep. 114 How do we manage safety for work from home workers?

Ep. 113 When are seemingly impossible goals good for performance?

Ep 112 How biased are incident investigators?

Ep. 111 Are management walkarounds effective?

Ep. 110 Can personality tests predict safety performance?

Ep. 109 Do safety performance indicators mean the same thing to different stakeholders?

Ep. 108 Could a 4 day work week improve employee well-being?

Ep. 107 What research is needed to implement the Safework Australia WHS strategy?

Ep. 106 Is it possible to teach critical thinking?

Ep. 105 How can organisations learn faster?

Ep. 104 How can we get better at using measurement?

Ep. 103 Should we be happy when our people speak out about safety?

Ep. 102 What's the right strategy when we can't manage safety as well as we'd like to?

Ep. 101 When should incidents cause us to question risk assessments?

Ep. 100 Can major accidents be prevented?

Ep.99 When is dropping tools the right thing to do for safety?

Ep.98 What can we learn from the Harwood experiments?

Episode 97: Should we link safety performance to bonus pay?

Episode 96: Why should we be cautious about too much clarity?

Ep.95 Do Take-5 risk assessments contribute to safe work?

Ep.94 What makes a quality leadership engagement for safety?

Ep.93 Do the benefits of Lifesaving rules outweigh the negative consequences?

Ep.92 How do different career paths affect the roles and training needs of safety practitioners?

Ep.91 How can we tell when safety research is C.R.A.A.P?

Ep.90 Does formal safety management displace operational knowledge?

Ep.89 When is the process more important than the outcome?

Ep.88 Why do organisations sometimes make bad decisions?

Ep.87 What exactly is Systems Thinking?

Ep.86 Do we have adequate models of accident causation?

Ep.85 Why does safety get harder as systems get safer?

Ep.84 How do orgasnisations balance reliable performance and spontaneous innovation?

Ep.83 Does the language used in investigations influence the recommendations?

Ep.82 Why do we audit so much?

Ep.81 How does simulation training develop Safety II capabilities?

Ep.80 What is safety clutter?

Ep. 79 How do new employees learn about safety?

Episode 78: Do shock tactics work?

Ep.77 What does good look like?

Ep.76 What is Due Diligence?

Ep.75 How are stop work decisions made?

Ep.74 Is a capacity index a good replacement for incident-count safety metrics?

Ep.73 Does pointing and calling improve action reliability?

Ep.72 How visible is high-vis clothing?

Ep.71 Do double checks improve safety?