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8
It
Can
Happen Here
Everyone has heard some variation of the classic “safety hero” narrative:
Someone – a technician or an engineer, or an especially observant
passerby – notices something suspicious. A warning light. An odd
sound or strange smell. Data that doesn’t add up. Acting on instinct, a
feeling that something just doesn’t feel “right,” they report what they’ve
noticed – and in doing so, they prevent a catastrophic accident.
There’s a reason stories like this are so popular. Everyone loves to
cheer when a hero saves the day and prevents a massive and costly
disaster. But according to Dr. Jan Hayes, associate professor at the
School of Property, Construction & Project Management at RMIT
University in Melbourne, Australia, these stories aren’t the only ones
worth telling.
Not every blinking light means a system failure, after all. And
not every strange sound or unusual smell means a disaster is on the
horizon.
But what about the people who report those non-disasters? They
still deserve recognition. They’re still heroes.
Cultivating Safety Imagination
In her recent book, titled “Nightmare Pipeline Failures: Fantasy
Planning, Black Swans and Integrity Management,” co-authored
with Professor Andrew Hopkins, Hayes examines several well-known
pipeline disasters. While the specifics vary from incident to incident,
there’s one common thread running through each case:
Somebody noticed something. And in every case,
that “something” was explained away as minor
and unworthy of immediate attention.
This tendency to look for alternate – and
less dire – explanations isn’t an indication
of laziness or inexperience. And it’s not
unusual, either. Hayes says it’s a psychological
S A F E T Y M AT T E R S
Dr. Jan Hayes on safety
imagination, chronic
unease, and storytelling
I N N O V AT I O N S
• V O L . V I I , N O. 3 • 2 0 1 5
Because most operators have never
experienced a disaster, they can’t
imagine a disaster actually happening.
SAFET Y IMAGINATION: