DIVIDED OPINIONS RAISES QUESTIONS FOR SAFETY DIFFERENTLY
(originally posted 01-02-2017, re-uploaded 21-10-20)

 

In December 2016, Health and Safety at Work (official magazine of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM)) ran an article entitled “Safety Differently – What comes after zero?”. According to the article, Construction Company Laing O’Rourke plans, in January 2017, to commence the roll out of a “controversial programme” being called “Safety Differently” across its sites.

Statements within the article have generated diverse comments from well wishers and sceptics alike. Having deliberated, I now believe those statements, the questions they have raised and the answers to come, warrant wider airing and analysis.

Below, I set out the first of a number of statements from the article along with some initial exploratory questions (ADQ1. – ADQ6.) regarding them. In the first instance, those questions are posed for the specific attention of RDC Director Difford, and I have asked Paul not to reference “Redressing the Balance – A Commonsense Approach to Causation” (Difford 2011) in respect of any element of the required research.

Note: whilst the page and paragraph references below relate to the hard-copy edition of the magazine, the general text in the on-line version is the same.

As for the remaining statements highlighted to me, I have referred them to the RDC for separate attention by other members of the RDC review panel. Those parties may professionally address the statements as they see fit.

Once all of the above is in place here, I will invite further comment from the membership and wider communities.

Update: Please find my questions here and please note that Health and Safety at Work is no longer the official magazine of the IIRSM. Please also note that the article now appears to have been removed from the internet.

Alan Dell MBE Hon FIIAI
IIAI Executive Committee Chairman

 

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