2017 Visions Conference Presentation Presented by Michelle Oberg

1. Doing Safety Better by
Doing Less Safety

2. Michelle Oberg
PhD Candidate & Aspiring Safety Psychologist
“We believe with sureness and humility that pockets of brilliance are possible to create
anywhere and everywhere”

3. Offer you a paradigm that is possibly more
effective to view safety
Our Overview
Present to you some very interesting research
findings
Find research partners who are interesting in
working with us

4. What’s stopping us from doing safety differently?
If we accept three things:
1. Workers do not go to work to hurt themselves.
2. Safety at its core should be an ethical accountability to people rather than a
bureaucratic responsibility.
3. Our people are the solution to harness and not the problem to control.
Why can’t they have greater control of their own
safety?

5. Tightly Coupled and
Loosely Coupled Systems

6. Tightly Coupled Systems
Centralised Approach
Follow hierarchical
structure to gain approval
for decisions and action.
Highly Dependent
Little slack in the system -
activities are rapid and
irreversible.
Efficient
Not reinventing
the wheel
Standard Process
People are not required
to think for themselves,
there is one correct way
Limited Adaption or Change
Limiting variation in
performance limits
learning as well as
market evolution.

7. Air Traffic Control
Centralised Approach
ATC give orders and
directions to all
aircraft in and around
the airport
Highly Dependent
The KLM pilot made the decision to
take off without clear instructions.
Standard Process
Tenerife Airport was at capacity due to an
evacuation of a near by airport

8. Loosely Coupled System
Blunt
End
Sharp End
Local Decision Making
Management can lose sight of
frontline actions
Autonomy
Suitable for
organisations with
little supervision
Separate Components
Little interaction with
other components of
the system
Innovation
Supports adaptive
capacity and accepts
potential failure
Inefficient
Time is given to brain
storming, learning and
reflecting
System Connection

9. “We used to know we were safe when we had competent managers at
the sharp end.
How do we know we are safe today?
We have the paperwork to show we are safe...
and then we blow stuff up!”
- Prof. Sidney Dekker

10. $ 85,700,000,000

11. 961 Stores
Australia Wide
Same Documents
for all Stores

12. Woolworths Conditions
Control
• Business as usual
- no change
No Rules
• No Safety Rules
• Store Manager
Directed
No Rules + Support

13. Results
One of our stores in the NO RULES
condition won the Safety Award for
Queensland while they were
completing the experiment
Store Managers
who preferred
NO RULES
19/20

14. The Psychology behind
the Research

15. The brain’s golden rule
Your brain accounts for 2% of your body weight
but uses
20% of your body's oxygen
and
25% of your body's energy
As a result our brain is programmed to conserve energy and
THINK THE MINIMUM AMOUNT NECESSARY TO SURVIVE

16. Signature Experiment
Habits are energy efficient
EST. 200,000 – 350,000 ACTIONS PER DAY

17. A PICTURE PAINTS 1000 WORDS
We think in pictures

18. Close your eyes and think about your first car…
Thinking in pictures: An example

19. Framing the picture
Think
Do
Feel
We also build Frames around the
pictures
Frames are a cognitive habit of how
we respond to a topic
Frames save time and energy
Frames leak
Great Car
Love/Joy
Lived in it

20. Great Car
Happy
Go see it
Great People
FriendlyHave a chat
Frames in action

21. Great Car
Happy
Go see it
Great People
FriendlyHave a chat
Safety Frames Leak
I need to check
everything
Micro ManagesAnxious
She doesn’t
trust us
Poor job
Demotivated

22. Safety Frames Leak
22
? ?

23. Locus of Control
Locus: Where something is
situated or occurs
Control: To exercise
dominating influence over;
to direct:
LOC refers to the frames
that we view life as either:
Something we can control
or
Something that controls us.

24. Locus of Control & OHS Research

25. Results

26. So, What’s Next?

27. Challenge!
We are looking for mature
organisations - serious about
safety - to participate in small
pilot projects.

28. 28
The Known Knowns
1. Organisations are clogged with unnecessary rules and processes
2. Employees who are empowered to manage their own safety take responsibility and control for that safety
3. Bottom-up initiatives last longer, are more effective and encourage employee buy-in
4. The Woolworths project demonstrated that removing rules did not increase the risk of incidents and accidents – the
opposite is true
The Questions to be answered
1. Can technology help embed safety at the local level?
2. How can we help support safety professionals and team leaders to shift from a compliance focus to an enhancement focus through
coaching?
3. What is the right mix of bottom up control and organisation monitoring?
We have some initial thoughts and a beta program that will help us answer these questions.

29. Questions, Comments or Violent
Objections?
Michelle Oberg