Ep. 118 How should we account for technological accidents?

The Safety of Work

Using the Waterfall incident as a striking focal point, we dissect the investigation and its aftermath, we share personal reflections on the implementation of safety recommendations and the nuances of assessing systems designed to protect us. From the mechanics of dead man's systems to the critical evaluation of managerial decisions, our dialogue exposes the delicate balance of enforcing safety while maintaining the practicality of operations. Our aim is to contribute to the ongoing conversation about creating safer work environments across industries, recognizing the need for both technological advancements and refined human judgment.

Discussion Points:

• Drew loves a paper with a great name
• The circumstances surrounding the Waterfall rail accident
• How the “dead man system” works on certain trains
• Recommended changes from investigation committees
• In the field of safety, we seem more certain about our theories
• Exploration of narratives and facts in accident investigations
• Dead man's system and Waterfall derailment's investigation
• Post-accident list of operator failures
• Safety theories and organizational fault correlation critiqued
• Evolution of railway safety
• Discussion on managerial decisions amidst imperfect knowledge
• The importance of context in incident investigations
• Safety management systems and human judgment
• Insights on enhancing organizational safety
• Theoretical conclusions
• Practical takeaways
• The answer to our episode’s question is, “yes, keep it in mind as a digital tool”

Quotes:

“I find that some of the most interesting things in safety don't actually come from people with traditional safety or even traditional safety backgrounds.”- Drew

“Because this is a possible risk scenario, on these trains, we have what's called a ‘dead man system.” - David

“Every time you have an accident, it must have objective physical causes, and those physical causes have to come from objective organisational failures, and I think that's a fairly fair representation of how we think about accidents in safety.” - Drew

“They focused on the dead man pedal because they couldn't find anything wrong with the design of the switch, so they assumed that it must have been the pedal that was the problem” - Drew

Resources:

The Paper: Blaming Dead Men

The Safety of Work Podcast

The Safety of Work on LinkedIn

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