Blog
Emotional resilience – making health and safety personal
‘All My Sons’, a play by Arthur Miller, is about greed and human weakness under pressure. A cracked cylinder head and a difficult decision leads to many deaths, including that of a son. It makes me think of a comment made by a participant on…
b.SAFE Reenactment Workshops: transforming safety culture through storytelling
‘Systems that value stories and storytelling are potentially more reliable …. people know more about the system, know more of the potential errors that might occur, and…are more confident that they can handle those errors that do occur’’‘Organisational Culture as a source of High Reliability’…
The new pandemic – burnout in the caring professions
(I first wrote this in June 2020. How much more relevant is it now.) Do any of these apply to you? If all of these do you may well be in danger of, or already suffering from, burnout. And if you’re in the caring professions…
Suicide watch – why mental health matters both to business and safety
You may expect the answer to the question, ‘what’s the biggest killer of men under 5o’, to be an accident or cancer. But the shocking answer is – themselves. Suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 50, and particularly between 40 and…
It’s time for a ‘soft’ SQEP*
* ‘Suitably Qualified and Experienced Person’ A couple of years ago I gave a presentation to the North Wales IOSH branch on behavioural safety and safety culture. There were 70 people – their biggest turnout in four years. As part of the presentation I showed…
How coaching can support a healthy nuclear safety culture
The mindset, skills and tools of coaching have direct correlation to the traits and attributes identified by WANO as being characteristic of positive safety culture. I have previously I blogged about organisational culture , outlining the four things you need to know if you’re looking…
How coaching can support ‘Continuous learning’ in the nuclear sector
This final blog in the series is about the third category of WANO traits – ‘Management systems’, and in particular the role of coaching in continuous learning. The coaching mindset is one of continuous learning, and coaching models provide a framework for the process. Coaching…
Three reasons why coaching skills are invaluable for nuclear leaders
Coaching skills are invaluable for nuclear leaders. They help increase accountability, improve decision making and create a respectful work environment, all vital elements of a healthy nuclear safety culture In my previous blog I used a quotation by Karl Weick. The basic message was, in…
How coaching supports ‘Individual Commitment To Safety’
Coaching can support ‘Individual commitment to nuclear safety’ by increasing accountability, promoting a questioning attitude and improving communication flow. My last article about how coaching can support a healthy nuclear safety culture outlined the three categories of WANO traits: I’m going to take the first…
We need a new approach to safety education
Good listener, communicator, empathetic, ‘psychologist’, compassionate, approachable, motivation of self and others, consistency, team builder, leadership and resilience. No, not the job description of a social worker or primary school teacher. But answers to the question ‘What makes a good supervisor/site manager?’, asked of Alstom…