How one company reduced incidents by 50%... with discussion?
Jake Mazulewicz, Ph.D.
I help technical experts prevent dangerous & expensive errors ? Human Reliability / HOP ? Workshops ? Keynotes ? Event Reviews
In Sweden, several years ago, about 850 truck drivers participated in a unique study.
Researchers wanted to test out an interesting discussion-based process for reducing driving incidents.
Here’s what they did.
- Drivers divided up into small teams. A skilled facilitator joined each team.
- The teams discussed their experiences while driving, and listed the major risks and problems they encountered.
- After some soak time, the teams reconvened to split their ideas into:
? A list of risks that could best be addressed by management
? A list of risks that they themselves could effectively address
- They sent the first list off to management.
- After more soak time, the teams met to focus on the 2nd list. Together with their facilitator, they discussed actions they could take as individuals and as a team to reduce the risks and solve the problems they faced. At the end of the meeting, each person wrote down actions that he or she planned to take to address the problem. But they kept these plans private. They did not discuss them.
- Then, the drivers went back to their jobs.
Results?
The control group — those that did not participate in any discussions — showed no change. They had about the same number of incidents as before the study.
But the ~850 drivers in the experimental groups decreased driving accidents by about 50%.
To learn more, see pp.107-109 in “Managing Maintenance Error” by James Reason. Or click here for the original study.
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What would happen if you used a method like this to help your team solve a tough, persistent problem?
#humanreliability #humanperformance #HOP #reliability #safety
Human Performance Coach/LeaderFactor Psychological Safety/Crucial Learning/Safety II
3 年Thanks Jake for sharing this information!!
Human & Organizational Performance Program Manager
3 年Good thought-provoking article, Jake. I wonder how much Hawthorne Effect played into the study? The act of getting people together who know the risk and exposure just makes total sense - the workers not only know the problems, but quite often already have thought up solutions and are wanting to be heard.
I help equipment manufacturers and machine users select and operate rolling element bearings through design, calculation, and analysis by focusing on reliability and performance.
3 年How does this works when you have a team that must work amongst other teams within the same department and outside of the department. The story makes sense when each individual is sole owner of the results. What happens when a process includes multiple groups of people to get the result?
RCM facilitator-Reliability Engineer at IKCO ???? ????? ????? ?????
3 年Good method for transferring individual experiance to others and learning as a team member, In my view, the power point of this method to other problem solving approaches is the last part ..." But they kept these plans private. They did not discuss them"? Thanks Jake Mazulewicz, ph.D.? for sharing it
Vice-President ? P&L | Engineer in Business | Partnerships | Strategy & Roadmaps | Implementation | Technology | Safety | Transformation | Process Improvement ?
3 年Emilie Viengchaleune