safety

We are the grease in the cogs

By Dave English

Powerful four minute video by professor and pilot Sidney Dekker introduces what we find when we stop looking at accidents, and instead study highly reliable organizations. It’s resilience: the ability to accommodate change and absorb disturbances without catastrophic failure. And it’s not about reducing negatives, but rather promoting positives. The four behaviors that resilient teams practice are: Don’t take past success as a guarantee of future safety. Keep a discussion of risk alive even when everything looks safe. Bring in different and fresh perspectives. Invite doubt, stay curious and openminded. Invest in safety when others say no. We are not error … Continue reading We are the grease in the cogs

All dangers are over?

By Dave English

“He that will not sail till all dangers are over must never put to sea.” ~ Thomas Fuller. He wrote this towards the end of the 1600’s. So we’ve known for a long time that ‘perfect safety’ or zero-accidents is kinda silly. There are always dangers in the deep and in the air.

We are responsible …

By Dave English

“We are responsible for the incident and its consequences.” ~ Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman on the fatal Philadelphia derailment. Whatever the engineer’s actions in speeding into the curve, it’s refreshingto see a CEO actually take responsibility for a crash. System Safety and Just Culture moving beyond the safety dept? (Guardian newspaper story 2 June 2015.)  

Risk is our business

By Dave English

“Risk is our business” ~ Captain James T. Kirk, starship Enterprise. In Star Trek Season 2, episode 22. First aired 9 Feb 1968. It’s … Kirk … and … a bit … cheesy.  But he captures some of the difference between safety, static, and risk, active. If safety was our business we would never fly. Risk management is our business. Flying safely is the result. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toG6aSQFF7Y

Sleep and air crew fatigue management.

By Dave English

“As long as human beings are pilots . . . fatigue will be a critical safety issue that demands our attention.” Sleep and Air Crew Fatigue Management, excellent serious article in Business & commercial Aviation magazine. Airmanship demands alertness. Quotes Sully Sullenberger, the NTSB’s Mark Rosekind, and many more.