At ASSE’s SeminarFest in January 2014, T. Shane Bush,
president of BushCo Inc., will present “Using the Safety Principles of
High-Reliability Organizations.” Commonly exemplified by nuclear power plants
and military bases, high-reliability organizations (HROs) are companies with
high potential for significant unwanted outcomes that have relatively few
incidents in comparison to their amounts of risk. In his seminar, Bush will
share how the principles of such organizations can be applied to any
organization to improve safety as well as productivity.
“A lot of people say, ‘It sounds good for a commercial
nuclear power plant, but what does this have to do with me producing golf carts
in the middle of Tennessee?’” Bush says, explaining that a lower-risk
organization, such as a factory, can always learn from companies that are
continuously faced with the potential of an adverse incident.
Bush will discuss the five principles of HROs (preoccupation
with failure, reluctance to simplify interpretations, sensitivity to
operations, commitment to resilience and deference to expertise) and how they
can be applied to other organizations to create a business model that promotes
safety while also enhancing productivity, quality and reputation.
1. Preoccupation With
Failure
While the first principle’s name may be misleading, Bush
explains that HROs are not actually preoccupied with failing but are instead
preoccupied with not failing. By constantly looking for ways in which failure
may occur, organizations can not only anticipate and mitigate problems, but
they can also increase production. Safety professionals must study interactions
between people and processes to predict unwanted outcomes due to issues
regarding miscommunication, human error and system process breaks. Knowing how
failure may occur can allow organizations to plan failure into their processes,
eliminating the need to stall operations while finding a solution to a problem
when one arises.
2. Reluctance to Simplify
Interpretations
“When bad news or anything out of the norm is presented,
most people, even in management, tend to want to simplify the interpretation of
it,” says Bush. “In other words, they downplay it. But HROs are exactly the
opposite.” Safety professionals in HROs often amplify minor concerns, a
concept foreign to some based on the high likelihood that a minor problem will
never cause significant harm. However, Bush warns that even small issues should
be responded to as if they were significant threats. In many organizations,
such as at nuclear power plants, a minor problem may not necessarily pose a
safety hazard, yet failure to respond to the issue can damage the company’s
reputation. By having what Bush describes as “a strong response to a weak
signal,” these organizations protect their workers as well as their standing.
3. Sensitivity to
Operations
HROs are generally very mindful of their operations.
Understanding how every process in a given facility works allows safety
professionals to identify how those processes may couple to create a
significant event. According to Bush, focusing on things like regulations and
requirements can be detrimental to safety professionals if it prevents them
from analyzing the operational interactions that often cause serious
incidents.
4. Commitment to
Resilience
To ensure that an organization can bounce back after an
event, it is important to keep operations flexible. Bush notes that
managers should ask themselves, “How do I make sure my operations are not so
rigid to regulations and requirements that if the least little interruption
occurs, it’s not going to throw things into a tailspin?” HROs are always
prepared to respond to failures and do not hesitate in developing new response
tactics.
5. Deference to
Expertise
“HROs depend heavily on the people who know the system best
and that doesn’t necessarily mean the managers, leaders or directors,” Bush
says, noting that expertise most
often refers to the person who is most familiar with the task at hand. Rather
than relying on management to resolve issues, in HROs, the individuals who work
directly with the process in which a problem has surfaced are consulted.
Similarly, the expertise safety professionals have to offer is valued highly,
and safety professionals in HROs often have as much influence in business
decisions as do production managers.
Bush notes that because safety, production, quality and
reputation are all interrelated aspects of an organization, companies are most
successful when they apply HRO principles to every part of their operations.
“If you want to implement this only in your safety arena, then you will have
limited success,” he says. “Instead, take it on as a business model.”
Involving all employees in the process is also a crucial
element of implementing HRO principles in an organization. “Your workers,
whether you know it or not, are compensating for inadequacies in your process
constantly,” Bush says. “Workers are the only part of the process that can
create safety.”
SeminarFest will be held Jan. 25 to Feb. 1, 2014, in Las
Vegas, NV. Register today at http://seminarfest.org/index.php.