Being Human in Safety-Critical Organisations

Author: Dik Gregory, Paul Shanahan
Publisher: TSO (The Stationery Office)

If human error only starts to explain how accidents happen in complex, adaptive systems, what does the rest of the explanation look like? And what can be done as a result? If complex systems are fundamentally different from merely complicated ones, what does this mean for us - the people who have to live and work in them?

Through a reanalysis of real events, this book integrates recent thinking from psychology, resilience engineering, complexity theory and cybernetics.

Intimidated? Don't be.

The result is a clear story of why people do what they do, how they mostly get it right, why they sometimes get it wrong, where safety really comes from, and why and how organisations need to fundamentally change their assumptions about people if they want to become safer.

Key features

• How to improve operational safety via human behaviour
• How to manage human behaviour and motivate success
• Explores everyday issues of people at work and what can go wrong
• Practical guidance for all safety-critical industries
• Real-life stories