Safety Clutter David Provan Safety Science Innovation Lab

“Methodology, whilst masquerading as the epitome of rationality, may thus operate as an irrational ritual, the enactment of which provides designers with a feeling of security and efficiency at the expense of real engagement with the task at hand. ” - Wastell (1996) The fetish of technique: Methodology as a social defence Safety Science Innovation Lab

What is clutter “The accumulation and persistence of ‘safety’ work that does not contribute to operational safety” Safety Science Innovation Lab

Safety Clutter is Industry Wide Duplicate permits Different rules for the same work Paperwork + what really goes on Safety Science Innovation Lab

Underlying questions for safety work 1. Contribution: How much safety value does it add? 2. Confidence: How do we know that (evidence or belief)? 3. Consensus: Do all stakeholders involved agree? Safety Science Innovation Lab

Explaining safety clutter 1. Clutter by Duplication: Two or more activities that fulfill the same function Inter-organisational : Multiple-relationship : Inter-system duplication : Within-system duplication: Industry standardisation 2. Clutter by Generalisation: Requirements standardised across organisation Conservatism : Symbolic Application : Attempted simplification : Least common-denominator: 3. Clutter by Over-specification: Unnecessary translation of practice into documents Safety Science Innovation Lab

Causes of safety clutter SAFETY RULES AND FORMS ARE EASIER TO ADD THAN TO TAKE AWAY • Incidents • Requests • Safety Profession • Regulation Safety Science Innovation Lab

Negative effects of safety clutter Safety Clutter in organisations has the following consequences: 1. Damages employee ownership of safety (e. g. company requirements vs supporting work) 2. Creates the problem of in-differentiation (e. g. between necessary and unnecessary activity) 3. Bad for adaptability (e. g. flexibility to perform work in multiple ways and sequences) 4. Erodes trust (e. g. excessive checking and reporting shifts focus from safety to compliance) 5. Creates additional trade-offs between safety and productivity (e. g. time and resources) Safety Science Innovation Lab

Key Findings – Safety Practices 1. The crews follow strong routines with built-in safety practices. 2. Explicit safety documents and practices have very little to do with maintaining the safety of routine work. 3. There is some variation and improvisation in response to unexpected circumstances. 4. Explicit safety practices have even less impact when work is varied or improvised. Safety Science Innovation Lab

Key Findings – Effect of Clutter 1. Explicit safety practices mainly creates work for supervisors and above 2. Explicit safety practices create work for crews only at specific times (e. g. inductions and pre-starts) or in exceptional cases (e. g. unexpectedly needing a permit) 3. Explicit safety practices take supervisors off site Safety Science Innovation Lab

Key Findings – Productivity 1. Decluttering substantially improves the amount of non-paperwork that a supervisor can do 2. Decluttering improves crew productivity, mainly by saving time at the start of the day. This doesn’t directly translate into more work performed per day Safety Science Innovation Lab

Key Findings – Compliance 1. In decluttered mode, crews are more meticulous about completing and signing documents 2. In decluttered mode, delivery partners are better at communicating / reporting incidents and issues up to the project manager level Safety Science Innovation Lab

Key Findings – Trust and Locus of Control 1. The trust and Locus of Control had high internal consistency – we believe that they are reliable measures 2. There was no significant change in any of the dimensions of trust or locus of control between cluttered and decluttered mode 3. Site observations show more positive proactive safety behaviours, and fewer negative safety behaviours in decluttered mode Safety Science Innovation Lab

Key Findings – Summary 1. For these crews, on these projects, reducing the amount of explicit safety activity was good for productivity and communication 2. There was some safety benefit, but it was subtle, because the safety practices and procedures were only minor annoyances Safety Science Innovation Lab

Restrictions on the findings 1. These are single delivery partner projects, doing repeating work 2. The delivery partners are mature, and have been working with the client for some time 3. The projects do not involve on-site engineering decision-making, or following detailed prepared plans or diagrams 4. The projects do not involve co-ordination with other delivery partners Safety Science Innovation Lab

Questions david. provan@griffithuni. edu. au Rae, A. J. , Provan, D. J. , Weber, D. E. , & Dekker, S. W. A. (2018). Safety Clutter: The accumulation and persistence of ‘safety’ work that does not contribute to operational safety. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety Science Innovation Lab