Episode Details

Seven hours before the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, four senior executives were on-site congratulating the crew for achieving seven years without a lost-time injury. It wasn’t that these leaders ignored risk; it’s that they were systematically blinded to it by a focus on the 'wrong' metrics. In this episode, we break down Andrew Hopkins’ analysis of that final visit to explore the important distinction between personal safety and process safety. We look at why injury measures may be next to useless in preventing major disasters. This isn't a story about incompetent people or 'bad apples', but how well-intentioned leadership behaviours can quietly reinforce organizational risk blindness.Source: Hopkins, A. (2011). Management walk-arounds: Lessons from the Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout. Safety Science, 49(10), 1421-1425.Support the channel at: https://buymeacoffee.com/benhutchinsonMore research at SafetyInsights.OrgOutro music "Dark Synth Wave" by ElephantGreen (PixaBay.com)