Re: Safety Culture

[Bob Flood <bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

At 06:23 PM 7/18/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Douglas Minnema said the following:
>
>>     Why does a worker violate a procedure rather than stop work when
he/she 
>>     perceives a problem?  Often the answer is that the worker thought that 
>>     he/she knew the work better than the procedure writer, and either
had no 
>>     confidence in the procedure or believed that his/her way was better.
>
>This is a very real cause, and, has happened many times. Back in my 
>power reactor days, this has happened many times.

It's worse in the academic environment. It's a case of "familiarity breeds
arrogance." The person facing the hazard reaches a point where s/he
believes that s/he doesn't need to follow the procedure because 1) s/he
knows the system or activity so much better than anyone else, 2) s/he knows
the situation better than those safety/HP guys, and 3) s/he can handle this
hazard with no problems. It represents accumulation of knowledge and
experience until the person develops a complete disregard for standard
procedures, safety program requirements, and the hazard itself, all based
on a feeling of superior knowledge. It's at that point that the PHD sticks
his finger in the socket.


Bob Flood
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
(415) 926-3793     bflood@slac.stanford.edu
Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are mine alone.