Latest / Safe As Podcast / E57: Safety clutter - paper tigers and non-value adding work

Transcript

E57: Safety clutter - paper tigers and non-value adding work · Safe As Podcast

• 0:06
  Is safety work caught in a trap where despite best intentions by
• 0:12
  creating more onerous paper processes disconnected from
• 0:15
  operational risk? Good everyone.
• 0:18
  I'm Ben Hutchinson and this is safe as a thrifty analysis of
• 0:21
  safety and risk research. Visitsafetheinsights.org for
• 0:25
  more research. Today's paper is from Ray ET al
• 0:29
  2018, called Safety clutter, The accumulation and persistence of
• 0:34
  safety work that does not contribute to operational
• 0:37
  safety. Published in Policy and Practise
• 0:40
  in Health and Safety, the paper explores the concept of safety
• 0:45
  clutter. The authors define it as the
• 0:47
  accumulation of safety procedures, documents, roles and
• 0:51
  activities that are performed in the name of safety but don't
• 0:54
  contribute to the safety of operational work.
• 0:58
  This matters because safety clutter isn't just a nuisance,
• 1:01
  it's a real problem. It drains time, resources and
• 1:05
  attention that could be spent on improving the safety and
• 1:08
  efficiency of work. It also breeds cynicism and
• 1:11
  service compliance and can even hamper innovation and
• 1:14
  productivity. As one supervisor mentioned in
• 1:18
  the paper, we've lost the plot. It's all about safety.
• 1:22
  By forgetting about productivity and quality, we forget the
• 1:25
  contractors run a business. People think they're safe
• 1:28
  because of all the paperwork where they're actually not.
• 1:32
  We're here to run a business, not safety.
• 1:35
  So this study identifies 3 main mechanisms that generate safety,
• 1:39
  clutter, duplication, generalisation and over
• 1:43
  specification. Duplication happens when similar
• 1:48
  activities fill the same safety function but add no extra
• 1:51
  safety. For example, contractors might
• 1:55
  have to complete multiple inductions, sometimes 5 separate
• 1:58
  ones covering the same material. This can mean a full day of work
• 2:02
  just to get on site, even for a short job.
• 2:05
  Other examples are completing nearly identical permits for
• 2:09
  hazardous work. Generalisation is when
• 2:12
  requirements that make sense in one situation are applied
• 2:15
  everywhere, like rules meant for high risk work getting imposed
• 2:19
  on all jobs. So workers end up filling out
• 2:21
  detailed work method statements for even the simplest tasks.
• 2:25
  This leads to indifferentiation. It's no longer clear which
• 2:29
  activities are truly dangerous and neat focus, the study notes.
• 2:34
  So much additional work was introduced with the same
• 2:37
  resource levels that the quality of the outputs for all permits
• 2:40
  suffered and over specification, which refers to turning good
• 2:45
  practise into rigid documented processes.
• 2:49
  The creation of supporting documents adds secondary tasks
• 2:53
  like reading and filling out forms, which can distract from
• 2:56
  the primary job. Over time, these forms become
• 3:00
  more complicated as new hazards are added and the process
• 3:03
  becomes more prescriptive, ultimately limiting flexibility.
• 3:07
  So what does safety clutter persist?
• 3:10
  The authors argue it's due to two key asymmetries.
• 3:14
  One, it's easier to add or expand safety work than to
• 3:18
  remove or reduce it. And two, there are many triggers
• 3:22
  for adding safety activities but fewer opportunities to remove
• 3:26
  them. This creates a ratchet effect.
• 3:29
  The number and complexity of safety activities only over
• 3:32
  increases. Even attempts to simplify often
• 3:35
  result in more clutter, not less.
• 3:38
  They argue that several forces drive this ratchet effect.
• 3:42
  Responses to accidents and incidents often trigger new
• 3:45
  safety work, even if it doesn't actually address the core
• 3:48
  problem. The need to demonstrate safety
• 3:51
  to stakeholders leads to more paperwork and administrative
• 3:54
  activities. And compliance with goal based
• 3:57
  regulatory regimes encourages organisations to do a little
• 4:00
  more to prove they've met standards, often resulting in
• 4:04
  excessive documentation, even if the regulations don't actually
• 4:08
  require that paperwork. Safety Collider isn't just
• 4:11
  inefficient, it can be harmful. It damages employee ownership of
• 4:16
  safety work. It erodes trust and reduces
• 4:19
  adaptability. Workers may pay lip service to
• 4:23
  safety but disengage from meaningful activities.
• 4:27
  Excessive checking and auditing shift the focus from safety to
• 4:30
  compliance, distancing safety work from operational work.
• 4:34
  So what can practitioners do about safety clutter?
• 4:37
  The authors offer several practical recommendations.
• 4:41
  One, start conversations about clutter.
• 4:44
  Challenge the value of specific safety activities without
• 4:48
  undermining the overall commitment to safety.
• 4:50
  Use the term clutter to gently question practises that may be
• 4:54
  wasteful. 2 Find the low hanging fruit.
• 4:59
  Ask workers what safety activities they'd like to start,
• 5:01
  stop, do more of, or do less of. Identify processes that could be
• 5:06
  stopped without negative consequences 3.
• 5:10
  Conduct controlled trials for removing clutter.
• 5:13
  Frame clutter removal is a research problem.
• 5:16
  Test the impact of removing specific activities and and
• 5:19
  gather evidence about their effects.
• 5:21
  This shifts the burden of proof. New safety activities must be
• 5:24
  justified, not just added by default. 4 Redefine the role of
• 5:29
  safety professionals. Safety professionals should
• 5:32
  focus on evidence based practise.
• 5:34
  Challenge the assumption that more safety activity is always
• 5:37
  better. To sum up, safety clutter is a
• 5:40
  pervasive issue that undermines both safety and productivity.
• 5:44
  By understanding its mechanisms and drivers, and taking evidence
• 5:47
  based steps to reduce it, organisations can create safer,
• 5:51
  more efficient workplaces. That's it on Safe As I'm Ben
• 5:55
  Hutchinson. Please help share, rate and
• 5:57
  review, and checkout safetyinsightsorg for more
• 6:01
  research. Finally, feel free to support
• 6:04
  Safe As by shouting a coffee link in the show notes.