Safety Insights: Success and Failure Stories of Practitioners

Public safety, as well as the safety of products and services, is of paramount importance and interest to individuals, organisations and society. Safety successes are achieved every second, but we take them for granted and we do not appreciate the challenges professionals meet to make the world as safe as possible. Safety failures are less frequent but become focal points of stakeholders and the public with a tendency to blame and not comprehend the context and the hard decisions professionals have to make when balancing safety with competing goals.

This edited book includes case studies from industry practitioners exactly as they experience them without relying on the understanding of researchers who conduct studies and try to map the overall situation per case based on multiple interviews, observations and questionnaires. Included are case studies from the aviation, construction, oil and gas, telecommunications, transportation, health and public safety industries. They are stories told by frontline practitioners who work to keep the public safe.

In each chapter, the author, based on his/her professional experience, shares two real cases, one ＂success＂ and one ＂failure＂, explaining the background and approach, and critically reflecting why his/her initiatives and activities worked or didn’t work. They are descriptive of the case, context and tools, techniques, methods and approaches followed and include the valuable safety lesson learned. This book is a forum for professionals to express and share with others their knowledge and experience usually found implicitly or hidden under formal and informal practices.

Nektarios Karanikas is Associate Professor of Health, Safety and Environment at the School of Public Health and Social Work, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology. He was awarded his doctorate in Safety and Quality Management from Middlesex University (UK) and his MSc in Human Factors and Safety Assessment in Aeronautics from Cranfield University (UK). He graduated from the Hellenic Air Force Academy (DR) as an aeronautical engineer and worked as an officer in the Hellenic Air Force for more than 18 years before he resigned at the rank of Lt. Colonel in 2014. Whilst in the Air Force, A/Prof Karanikas served in various positions related to maintenance and quality management and accident prevention and investigations, and engineering, human factors and project management professional qualifications and has been an active member of various prestigious international and regional associations such as the Flight Safety Foundation, International Society of Aircraft Investigators, European Association for Aviation Psychology, Human Factors & Ergonomics Society (Europe Chapter) and Project Management Institute. Dr. Karanikas has published numerous academic journal articles, including papers in top-tier safety journals such as Safety Science and Risk Analysis, peer-reviewed conference papers and book chapters and has been invited to speak at several international and regional summits and workshops. He is a member of editorial boards and a regular reviewer of safety and human factors-related journals, and he volunteers in various activities of professional bodies. During his previous appointment at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, he led a 4-year co-funded project about Aviation Safety Metrics, as well as smaller contract research projects. His collaborative track record with industry is founded firmly in his earlier career as an aeronautical engineer, as his knowledge in occupational and operational safety management. Nektarios willingness to continue adding value to the industry led to his initiative to launch in 2016 the International Cross-industry Safety Conference and the development and delivery of professional development courses in the area of Safety and Risk Management and Safety Investigations.

Mikela Chatzimichailidou is a Systems Assurance Engineer at WSP (UK) and a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University (UK) and Imperial College London (UK). She was awarded her PhD in Complex Systems Safety and Human Factors, as well as her MSc in Systems Engineering Management from Democritus University of Thrace (GR) where she also did her Meng as a Mechanical Engineer. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge she worked on Patient Safety for a Year. During her three years at Imperial College London, Department of Civil Engineering, she led versatile projects ranging from systems safety and human factors to complexity management and systems engineering in transportation and infrastructure. Dr. Chatzimichailidou has published a book on Project and Risk Management, a best practice report with Innovate UK and the Knowledge Transfer Network (UK), 20 peer reviewed papers to international journals and over 40 conference papers. She is a reviewer in numerous international journals, such as Accident Analysis & Prevention, Safety Service and Risk Analysis etc., and conferences. Dr. Mikela Chatzimichailidou as a consulting engineer has been bringing together experience and expertise from across healthcare, aviation, rail and infrastructure in the fields of system engineering, product engineering, system and safety assurance and project management. She has been leading research and consulting assignments for more than a decade both in academia for some of the world’s top universities, and in industry, for a world class design and built environment consultancy. During her career she has worked in both hands-on R&D roles, consultancy and design roles and as a project manager, leading others to deliver client objectives and cutting-edge academic research. Her offering is that she brings experience of both the academic and industrial worlds, is able to bridge the gap and draw the best from each.