Preventing Accidents and Building a Culture of Safety: Insights from a Simulation Model
Name
esd-wp-2009-02.pdf
Size
217.72 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
7a886e345111dd7de383e14945fa6148
Author(s)
Lyneis, John
Madnick, Stuart E.
Date Issued
April 2009
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division
Series/Report no.
ESD Working Papers;ESD-WP-2009-02
Abstract
Research has approached the topic of safety in organizations from a number of different perspectives. On the one hand, psychological research on safety climate gives evidence for a range of organizational factors that predict safety across organizations. On the other hand, organizational learning theorists view safety as a dynamic problem in which organizations must learn from mistakes. Here, we synthesize these two streams of research by incorporating key organizational factors from the safety climate literature into a dynamic simulation model that also includes the possibility for learning. Analysis of simulation results sheds insight into the nature of reliability and confirms the dangers of over-reliance on ‘single loop learning’ as a mechanism for controlling safety behaviors. Special emphasis is placed on strategies that managers might use to encourage learning and prevent erosion in safety behaviors over time.
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