PreAccident Investigation Podcast

PAPod 500 - Celebrating 500 Episodes of the Pre-Accident Investigation Podcast

Welcome to the 500th episode of the Pre-Accident Investigation Podcast! Join Todd Conklin as he reflects on a decade of insightful conversations, safety moments, and the evolution of ideas in the safety world.
Todd takes us through the origin story of the podcast, sharing how it all began with a simple idea to capture the voices and thoughts of safety professionals. He delves into the importance of consistency, the challenges of podcast production, and the joy of connecting with listeners.
Throughout the episode, Todd highlights the significant changes in how safety is discussed, especially the shift in understanding human error. He emphasizes the value of creating systems that are tolerant and expectant of human mistakes.
As Todd reminisces about the journey, he expresses gratitude to the listeners for their unwavering support and engagement. He looks forward to continuing the conversation, exploring new topics, and bringing more intriguing guests to the show.
Thank you for being a part of this incredible milestone. Here's to many more episodes of learning, growth, and safety!

Safety Moment - The Power of Independent Verification

Welcome to the Pre-Accident Investigation Podcast with Todd Conklin! In this episode, Todd delves into the concept that "two heads are better than one" and explores the value of independent verification in ensuring safety and reliability. He discusses how an additional set of eyes can significantly enhance the ability to catch mistakes and prevent failures, highlighting the importance of collaboration and shared expertise.Join Todd for this short and insightful safety moment as he explains how leveraging the skills and experiences of others can lead to greater resilience and reliability in any system. Remember, learning and safety go hand in hand!Stay safe, stay kind, and keep learning something new every day!

PAPod 499 - Navigating Confusion: A Lesson in System Design

In this episode of the Pre-Accident Investigation Podcast, host Todd Conklin delves into a real-life scenario that underscores the importance of effective system design. Through an engaging story about a confusing airport security line, Todd explores the concept of high reliability and the pitfalls of blaming individuals for systemic failures.Join Todd as he reflects on the principles of highly reliable organizations and how they apply to everyday situations. This episode offers valuable insights into recognizing weak links in systems and emphasizes the need for clear, user-friendly design to prevent unnecessary confusion and errors.Tune in for an enlightening discussion that not only entertains but also provides practical takeaways for improving system reliability and user experience in any organization.

Safety Moment - The Essential Safety Controls

In this captivating discussion, Todd Conklin takes on the topic of workplace safety, highlighting the importance of the 'Start Work' approach compared to the 'Stop Work' method. Although acknowledging the and ethical and moral value of having a 'Stop Work' authority, Conklin makes a stronger case for the 'Start Work' approach.During the conversation, Conklin illuminates how 'Start Work' is all about identifying essential safety controls necessary for work and ensuring their validation and verification before any task commences. This preventive method, as he contends, eliminates uncertainties, allows for better measurement, verification, and monitoring while negating the unreliability of attempting to predict and prevent potential hazards at every turn, a requirement often associated with 'Stop Work'.Consequently, Conklin underscores the importance of celebrating the successful execution of 'Start Work' within an organization, pointing out that deciding not to start a task due to inadequate provisions should be viewed as a success rather than a failure. Amid his discussion, he also cautions against using 'Stop Work' as a finding or blaming individual workers for not employing 'Stop Work'.With an emphasis on safety, Conklin concludes the segment urging listeners to learn something new daily, be kind to one another, and above all, stay safe. Tune in for an enlightening discourse on the power of starting when safe and the crucial role it plays in workplace safety management.

PAPod 498 - Balancing Adventure and Risk in Outdoor Education

In this episode of the Pre-Accident Investigation Podcast, Todd Conklin presents a comprehensive discussion on the risks and consequences associated with outdoor recreational activities, especially school trips to the lake. The conversation emphasizes the crucial need for understanding risk management and implementing practical safety measures in group outdoor settings.Joining the discussion is Associate Professor Mike Brown from Auckland University, an expert with over three decades of experience in outdoor education. He highlights the fatal consequences of underestimating risks in outdoor activities and introduces listeners to his refined process of identifying and preventing accident patterns specific to outdoor education scenarios using real-life examples from coroner's case studies.The episode explores the thrilling allure of outdoor activities versus the imperative of safety, striking a balance between fun and responsible outdoor learning. It offers a profound understanding of the factors that can turn an exciting outdoor adventure into a tragic event, and discusses preventative strategies for future educational excursions.Diving deeper into practical examples, guest Mike Brown discusses a program involving water activities such as stand-up paddleboarding and kayaking, stressing the importance of adequate safety precautions, particularly when engaging with water. Delving into free-time vulnerabilities, complexities around supervision, and the dangers of unpreparedness and uninformed decision-making, the conversation alerts listeners to the critical importance of familiarity with water environment dynamics and adopting a 'fatality prevention mindset'.Concluding on a note of caution, the episode advises that while outdoor activities are mostly enjoyable and successful, the participants need to remain vigilant at all times to avert unfortunate incidents. This thought-provoking episode heightens understanding of the precarious balance between adventure and safety in outdoor education, prompting listeners to think critically about their own safety behaviours.

Safety Moment - "Why" Why is a Starting Point for Discovery

In this episode, Todd Conklin discusses the critical element of understanding local rationale in the workplace and how it can serve as the starting point for significant organizational discovery. Rather than using this information to point fingers or penalize individuals, Conklin encourages managers and leaders to utilize these moments of rationale to investigate and gain insight into the broader challenges and issues within their organizations.Highlighting the essence of curiosity, Conklin proffers that when workers explain why something made sense at a particular moment, leaders should seize this as an opportunity to learn and understand instead of using it as a weapon of accountability. This interest, he asserts, is critical to uncover deep-seated organizational issues that might often be overlooked.Conklin's message encapsulates the importance of becoming smarter in every aspect of our lives, pushing listeners to adopt curiosity as a pathway to greater understanding. He finishes off the episode with a heartfelt note on learning, fun, kindness, and safety, serving as a reminder of the essential things in life and work.

PAPod 497 - What Do We Do Next? A Conversation about Change

In this insightful episode, our host, Todd Conklin, presents a new envisioning of safety at workplaces. He emphasises the need to perceive safety not merely as avoiding accidents, but more importantly, fostering operational capacity.Todd emphasises the necessity to reform the investigative processes, urging to involve workers in learning rather than attributing blame. The dialogue gravitates towards studying regular workflows, a welcome deviation from the standard practice of only probing when mishaps occur.Leadership plays a key role in implementing these philosophical and methodological changes, despite inevitable resistance and nostalgia for traditional ways. Overcoming this barrier, leaders need to foster change and pioneer the path to progress. The value of several upcoming workshops, each offering chances to learn and improve upon safety practices, is highlighted.The role of safety within operations evolves from being a theoretical discourse to a focus on practical interventions. The challenge lies in the sustainable adoption of these new philosophies across the entire organisation in a pragmatic manner. This transition demands new ways of assessing progress and monitoring methods, underlining the importance of understanding our current standing.Building an organisation's capacity to fail safely, rebound from failure and ultimately sidestep predictable accidents is deliberated upon. Yet, this often clashes with organisations rooted in traditional safety philosophies, inhibiting their recovery capacity. Innovations in safety measurements and changing paradigms can help advance towards creating a strong, resilient and future-proof organisation, paving the way for continuous improvement.Finally, the entire process must factor in the unique characteristics of different sectors within the organisation while developing and implementing new safety measures. The ultimate goal is to test and apply innovative solutions to long-standing issues. This initiative invites everyone to partake in and contribute towards strategic change management practices and to remember the importance of learning, enjoyment, and most significantly, safety.

Safety Moment - A Progressive Method of Workplace Safety

In this episode, Todd Conklin delves into a unique phenomenon propelling safety regulations globally. Discussing the intriguing concept of 'sticky', an acronym for 'stuff that kills you', Todd highlights how this approach has impacted organizations and reinvigorated safety dialogues.
In a world where perfect conditions, processes, or people are not guaranteed, the 'STKY' approach encourages identifying the highest risks involved in a task. However, Todd emphasizes that the magic lies not in the identification but in the follow-up questions.
Upon identification of the 'sticky'—the deadliest risk, one ought to ask: 'When that bad thing happens, what keeps us safe?'. This paves the way to identify the essential controls for failing safely. The value of 'STKY' begins to shine through with the critical evaluation of existing safety measures.
In conclusion, Todd points out that the power of 'STKY' lies in the subsequent questions: 'What will kill you?', 'When it happens, what keeps you safe?', and 'Is that enough?'. He advocates for the need to keep learning, to be kind to each other, and above all, to ensure safety at all times.

PAPod 496 - A Deep Dive into a Energy Company's Resilience with Christian Gould

In this enlightening episode, host Todd Conklin talks with Christian Gould from Norwegian energy giant Equinor. The central focus of their conversation revolves around the multifaceted Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) and its effectiveness across diverse cultures, industries, and geographical planes - with a heavy emphasis on the Scandinavian scenario.Gould elaborates on the need to contextualize HOP theories and practices in light of both language and culture. He navigates pivotal discussions on the cultural impact on high-stakes, high-potential events, and dissect how his team is facilitating it.Unravelling insights into how HOP ideologies have been adopted in Scandinavia, Gould notes the one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work. Instead, he walks us through the stumbling blocks they need to bypass, despite an initial perception of these principles being easy to implement.Furthermore, Gould introduces the listeners to tactics they employ to turn obstacles into opportunities, underscoring the impact of language and day-to-day operations rather than just focusing on the outcome. The conversation also veers towards the necessity of psychological safety within workplaces, the pitfalls of blame culture, and how to counter them.Listeners also get a glimpse into the success of learning teams at Equinor. The episode comes to a close with a powerful message - the potential for global principles like HOP to be remodeled according to various cultures and industries. Tune in for a valuable discussion on enhancing the comprehension and application of HOP.

Safety Moment - A Key To Increased Safety

Welcome to pre-accident investigation safety moment with Todd Conklin, where we engage in thought-provoking and insightful discussions about safety. In this episode, Todd explores the concept of conflict in the workplace, not from an interpersonal perspective, but rather as it pertains to processes, practices, and procedures.Conflict areas within your system are often pain points - places where two goals collide. They are complex coupling points that put workers into a position where failure is likely to occur. This episode encourages leaders to seek out such points of conflict - places where the work system doesn't align or makes no sense.The interaction between workers and their operational procedures is critical. Todd shares an anecdote about airline employees discussing a new safety analysis document which, instead of reinforcing safe work practices, ended up hindering the employees and compromising overall safety.This conversation reveals how workers, the users of such systems, can give valuable input about the processes that make sense and those that don't. It is essential for bosses to tap into this wealth of information for the betterment of systems and safety.Catch more such intriguing discussions on safety from Todd Conklin in this episode and remember to practice safety, learn something new every day and most importantly, have fun!