How is Safety-II Being Applied in Practice and is it Working?

Abstract

After a safety incident occurs, most organizations react deliberately to investigate exactly what happened and why. Safeguards and corrective actions are put in place that will minimize its chance for recurrence. Those deemed responsible are held accountable and injured parties are given appropriate medical treatment. Additionally, successful safety performance is measured by the absence of those injuries and incidents. These traditional methods used to analyze outcomes and for measuring safety performance remain focused on what has gone wrong, as opposed to analyzing what usually goes right and the number of intended and acceptable outcomes in everyday activities is as high as possible. This is the main premise of Safety-II, also known as the New View of safety. This thesis researches Safety-II methodology and its success by those who have adopted it, and contrast it against the traditional (Safety-I) approaches commonly used today. The safety professionals that contributed to this research were all selected because of their endeavors in instilling these methodologies. These individuals either work directly for large, global commercial or governmental enterprises, or serve as consultants. All have many years of practical experience in managing occupational safety and demonstrated a high level of commitment to creating and sustaining a safe workplace. Their responses to the questions posed to them all acknowledge the benefit that implementing the tenents of Safety-II has had on their respective organizations, not only in terms of safety, but also of profitability, morale and a more productive and engaged workforce.