The construction industry takes an orthodox approach to safety: Finding root causes, quantifying risk, and often blaming frontline workers. However, safety has reached a plateau and the limitations of this approach are starting to be acknowledged. A sociotechnical systems approach (as applied in the ConCA model) presents new opportunities to understand accident causation by linking immediate accident circumstances with the distal shaping and originating influences. 32 construction safety managers, consultants, and experts contributed their views regarding the hazards of construction (both human and physical) and the difficulties managing these. The findings provide an insight into the work of construction safety managers and their decision making which is influenced by industry-wide pressures and worker attributes over physical hazards. Construction suffers from a wide range of pressures; a combination of both top-down, from the client, and bottom-up challenges from the workforce it attracts. The original ConCA model has been revised to reflect the findings. By applying systems thinking, the relationships between negative perceptions of workers' risk-taking and these challenges can be crystallised. The results support integrating safety into primary activities to increase engagement, learning legacies to transfer knowledge between projects, multi-disciplinary teams to raise risk awareness, empowerment to combat their feelings of dissatisfaction and disloyalty, and collaboration in risk management to incorporate workers' expertise and ensure they feel valued.
Objective. To design an integrated dyspepsia module for first year pharmacy students that combines clinical and professional practice with fundamental sciences in five different science subject areas. Methods. The approaches used in designing this module are described with emphasis on strategies adopted to integrate science and practice, and the new ways of working adopted by the design team. Students' views and experiences of the module and its integration were explored using questionnaires. Results. A high proportion of students reported positive views and experiences of the module, the integration and its impact (as self-reported) on their learning and practice. The assessment of student performance indicated learning and attainment was at an appropriate level for a first-year module. Both the student grades and research results indicate a positive student learning experience. Conclusion. The dyspepsia module provides a flexible and effective template for the integration of science and practice in theme-based modules, with students reporting positively about the integration, including their perception of its contribution to improving their learning and understanding. New and more collaborative ways of working are required when designing integrated modules.
In 2005 the 'Contributing factors in Construction Accidents' framework (ConCA) introduced a sociotechnical systems approach to risk management in construction. ConCA demonstrated the value of exploring distal factors and identifying underlying or latent causes: It promoted an understanding of construction accidents as systemic accidents and challenged an industry-wide culture of blaming frontline workers. A decade later the original article has been cited by research from 37 countries, shaping inquiries and initiatives to improve safety in both the UK and Australia. But to what extent has systems thinking infiltrated practitioners and policy-makers' views? Despite broader views of contributing factors, many practitioners still view workers in a negative light, holding them responsible for accidents because of complacency, cynicism about safety, or a high-tolerance for risk. This paper evaluates the impact of the ConCA framework, updates it, and develops our understanding of the relationships between immediate circumstances and distal factors, as seen by an expert panel of participants (n = 32). A more in-depth 'ConCA+' framework is proposed. It challenges the negative perceptions of workers, and supports shifting the emphasis of risk management away from worker behaviors and towards resolving wider systemic issues. New directions are proposed which show how knowledge management, job design, technological innovation, empowerment and collaboration should be the focus of future work.
Health and safety inductions are ubiquitous in construction but tend to be poorly designed and suffer low levels of worker engagement. In this paper we report on the evaluation of an innovative, full day, actor-based health and safety induction called EPIC, currently being used on London's Thames Tideway Tunnel megaproject. As of March 2019, more than 14,000 individuals had attended EPIC. This evaluation examines the impact of EPIC from the perspective of participants and other stakeholders, and considers the utility of actor-based immersive health and safety inductions for use more widely, in both construction and other sectors. Using a mixed-method, longitudinal approach to data collection, EPIC is evaluated against Kirkpatrick's (1959) 'four levels' framework of reactions, learning, behaviour change and results. This paper discusses factors which support and hinder actor-based inductions, and the challenges involved in assessing the impact of inductions on subsequent behaviour and health and safety outcomes.
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