Pre-Accident Investigations - Ashgate

Pre-Accident Investigations
An Introduction to Organizational Safety
Todd Conklin, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA
NEW
• Practical, no-nonsense advice on how to avoid accidents
• Written for pressured safety managers, giving them the tools to make
a difference in their organizations
www.ashgate.com/humanfactors

NEW
Pre-Accident Investigations
An Introduction to Organizational Safety
Todd Conklin, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA
Time-pressed professionals looking for
practical guidance to shape their current
or future safety programmes should use
this book.
Pre-Accident Investigations: An Introduction
to Organizational Safety helps to identify
complex potential incidents before they
take place. Based around the ‘New View’
of human error, it offers established
human performance theory in a highly
practical context. Written in an engaging,
conversational style, around several case
studies, the book is grounded in reality, with
examples with which anyone can identify.
September 2012 156 pages
Paperback 978-1-4094-4782-5 £20.00
Hardback 978-1-4094-4783-2 £65.00
ebook PDF 978-1-4094-4784-9
October 2012
ebook ePUB 978-1-4094-8354-0
Free download of Full Contents List, Index and Preface
www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409447825
It is an ideal aid for senior safety
executives who want to spread the safety
message among their colleagues. It is
also an excellent choice for course tutors
looking for a narrative-led primer.
Order your copy today.
Save 10% when you order online: www.ashgate.com

Contents
Foreword; a context setting discussion
Preface
1. A story of failure
2. Why think about failure at all, let alone
think “differently” about failure?
Case study: the Titanic: a story to help you
rethink how you think about failure
3. Change the way your organization reacts
to failure
Pre-accident investigation tool
Case study: aviation accidents are the
unexpected combination of normal aviation
variability
4. Workers don’t cause failure, workers
trigger failure
5. Change is better when you manage
change – and change needs to be
managed
Case study: nine senior managers: a million
different opinions on how to handle a
problem…and nobody willing to change
6. Thinking about where failure will happen;
Case study: a crashing limb: thinking about
where failure will happen
7. Fundamentals training: introducing the
‘new view’ to your old crew
Case study: how to win friends and influence
workers
8. Starting the journey the first steps
9. The four things that matter
Conclusion
Basic reading list for human performance
Index.
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The Author
Todd Conklin is a Senior Advisor at Los
Alamos National Laboratory, one of the world’s
foremost research and development laboratories,
in the human performance and safety integration
programme. Dr Conklin has been working on the
human performance programme at Los Alamos
National Laboratory for the last dozen years of his
25-year career. It is in the fortunate position where he
enjoys the best of both the academic world and the
world of safety in practice.
Conklin holds a Ph.D. in organizational behaviour
and communication from the University of New
Mexico. He speaks all over the world to executives,
groups and work teams who are interested in better
understanding the relationships between the workers
in the field and the organization’s systems, processes
and programmes. He has brought these systems
to major corporations around the world. Conklin
practises these ideas not only in his own workplace,
but also in event investigations at other workplaces
around the world.
For more books of interest, please see overleaf...
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Also of Interest
Behind Human Error
David D. Woods, Ohio State University, USA, Sidney Dekker,
Griffith University, Australia, Richard Cook, University of Chicago, USA,
Leila Johannesen, IBM Silicon Valley Lab, USA and Nadine Sarter,
University of Michigan, USA
'It is rare to come across the definitive book on any complex subject.
But in the case of understanding the nature of "human error" this book
is surely it. It is hard to think of any other volume that comes close.’
Human Factors & Ergonomics Society European Chapter Newsletter
Human error is so often cited as a cause of accidents. There is
perception of a 'human error problem'. Solutions are thought to lie
in changing the people or their role. The label "human error", however,
is prejudicial and hides more than it reveals about how a system
malfunctions.
This book takes you behind the label. It explains how human error
results from social and psychological judgments by the system's
stakeholders that focus only on one facet of a set of interacting
contributors.
2010 292 pages Paperback 978-0-7546-7834-2 £25.00
Hardback 978-0-7546-7833-5 £65.00
ebook PDF 978-0-7546-9650-6
September 2012 ebook ePUB 978-1-4094-8638-1
www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754678342
The ETTO Principle: Efficiency-Thoroughness
Trade-Off
Why Things That Go Right Sometimes Go Wrong
Erik Hollnagel, MINES ParisTech, France
‘Though relatively short, this book packs in a wealth of information and
is very thought provoking. The book is highly recommended to anyone
who wants to make a positive contribution to safety performance in
their given sphere.’
Health & Safety at Work
This book on the ETTO Principle looks at the common trait of people at
work to adjust what they do to match the conditions. It proposes that
this efficiency-thoroughness trade-off (ETTO) is normal. While in some
cases the adjustments may lead to adverse outcomes, these are due to
the same processes that produce successes.
2009 162 pages Paperback 978-0-7546-7678-2 £20.00
Hardback 978-0-7546-7677-5 £65.00
ebook PDF 978-0-7546-9349-9
September 2012 ebook ePUB 978-1-4094-8599-5
www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754678782
www.ashgate.com/humanfactors

Also of Interest
The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error
Sidney Dekker, Griffith University, Australia
‘ No matter if the reader is an upper level executive in an aerospace
company, a member of an accident investigation team, a safety
engineer, or a university student, Sid’s Field Guide is equally as useful.
This book presents important ideas for those who regulate human
factors investigation and research, making it an essential read for the
academician, the research analyst, and the government regulator’
International Journal of Applied Aviation Studies
The old "Bad Apple Theory" of human error promotes the idea that a
system is basically safe, with the exception of a few unreliable people.
Breaking new ground beyond its successful predecessor, The Field
Guide to Understanding Human Error guides you through the traps
and misconceptions of the old view. Sidney Dekker presents the view
that human error is an organizational problem, and suggests how to
apply new theories to your organization, handling questions about
accountability and constructing meaningful countermeasures.
2006 252 pages Paperback 978-0-7546-4826-0 £20.00
Hardback 978-0-7546-4825-3 £65.00
www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754648253
The Human Contribution
Unsafe Acts, Accidents and Heroic Recoveries
James Reason, Professor Emeritus, University of Manchester, UK
‘While humans are normally treated as a hazard and an unsafe system
component, this book looks at the human as a hero – as the single
force that on a significant number of occasions has saved systems from
disaster. Instead of seeing humans as a source of risk, they should be
seen as an indispensable resource for safety. James Reason lucidly
argues for this more balanced view using many examples from the past
and the present, switching effortlessly from domain to domain. Elegantly
and entertainingly written, it is an invaluable supply of information and
inspiration, as well as a pointer to how the thinking about safety should
develop.’
Erik Hollnagel, MINES ParisTech, France
The Human Contribution is vital reading for all professionals in
high-consequence environments and for managers of any complex
system. The book draws its illustrative material from a wide variety of
hazardous domains, with the emphasis on healthcare reflecting the
author’s focus on patient safety over the last decade. All students of
human factors ‒however seasoned ‒will also find it an invaluable and
thought-provoking read.
2008 310 pages Paperback 978-0-7546-7402-3 £20.00
Hardback 978-0-7546-7400-9 £65.00
www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754674023
A12GWY 09/12