Business

The Safety of Work

by David Provan

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Latest episodes

Ep. 138: How can we improve the conversations we have around injury reporting?

September 27, 2026 · 38 min

Drew and David discuss how falling injury rates can hide rising severity, why one country's data showed serious injuries but almost no minor ones, and how different reporting practices can make aggregate numbers meaningless. Most…
Ep. 137: Are we lying about our safety performance?

September 20, 2026 · 56 min

The discussion traces how bonus structures, unrealistic targets, and "green" dashboards (99.4% on-time closure, later revealed as closer to 60%) pushed the lie from front-line workers up through management, with middle managers who once…
Ep 136: What is the symbolic purpose of injury rates?

April 29, 2026 · 44 min

David and Drew unpack six organizational uses of injury metrics — from controlling work and motivating the workforce to self-promotion and risk signaling — before distilling these into four broad symbolic meanings: management control…
Ep. 135: Is speaking up always a good thing for safety?

February 22, 2026 · 41 min

Drawing on Edmondson's extensive psychological safety research, the episode provides practical guidance for safety leaders seeking to improve workplace conversations. The framework reveals that effective safety communication requires more…
Ep. 134: Does caring about psychosocial safety mean we have to stop telling jokes at work?

February 8, 2026 · 45 min

The conversation explores how humor serves psychological purposes beyond entertainment, often functioning to establish power hierarchies and devalue professional contributions. Through survey data and qualitative interviews, the research…

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Ep. 133: How do policies and metrics shape the outcome of investigations?

November 23, 2025 · 52 min

The discussion explores three critical constraint categories: structural elements like mandatory timelines, organizational factors including resource capacity, and relational dynamics affecting investigator access to information. Drawing…
Ep. 132: How much should we worry about the invasiveness of team support AI?

September 14, 2025 · 41 min

The findings reveal that invasiveness drives negative reactions more than the stated purpose of monitoring, with participants showing skepticism about AI's ability to accurately measure teamwork quality. The hosts emphasize that even…
Ep. 131: How can we make automated systems team players?

August 31, 2025 · 36 min

The discussion centers on two key design principles: observability, which ensures humans can understand what automated systems are doing and why, and direct ability, which allows humans to steer automation rather than simply turning it on…
Ep. 130: What are the problems with Just Culture models?

August 3, 2025 · 1 hr 0 min

You'll hear about BP's attempt to create a fairer process using eight new questions that focus more on system factors like management influence, procedural clarity, and organizational goal conflicts. They discuss how even this thoughtfully…
Ep. 129: How can we use swapping as a strategy for decluttering?

February 23, 2025 · 39 min

You’ll hear six key principles for effective behavioral substitution, drawing parallels between healthcare and safety contexts. They discuss how these principles can guide both the removal of ineffective practices and the implementation of…
Ep. 128: What are the attributes of an effective supervisor?

February 16, 2025 · 57 min

The discussion challenges traditional views of supervision by emphasizing the importance of psychological safety and predictable relationships between supervisors and workers. Through analysis of interviews with both supervisors and…
Ep. 127: Should safety education focus on hard skills

February 9, 2025 · 44 min

Drawing on insights from business leaders and contemporary educational theory, we propose that effective safety professionals require both technical expertise and sophisticated narrative capabilities. The findings suggest significant…

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About the show

Do you know the science behind what works and doesn’t work when it comes to keeping people safe in your organisation? Each week join Dr Drew Rae and Dr David Provan from the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University as they break down the latest safety research and provide you with practical management tips.