2025 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 31st Annual Conference

Successfully implementing Safety 2.0 requires strong understanding and support from an organization's executive. This presentation covers how to orient executives to ensure first, that their organization is ready for change, second, to understand the origins and concepts of Safety 2.0 and finally, a forward look at the principles and practices of successful learning organizations.

Laughter and learning share a profound link, a truth that remains largely underutilised in the domain of safety communication. "How laughter can lead to learning" is an innovative workshop designed to bridge this gap, offering a fresh perspective on engaging safety professionals. This session delves into the evolutionary roots of laughter, its health benefits, and its capacity to foster an environment conducive to learning and retention. By integrating humour into safety messages, we can enhance their memorability and impact, ensuring that crucial information is not just heard but retained.

Participants in this workshop will gain:

An understanding of how humour can break down barriers and create a more receptive environment for safety training across diverse audiences.
Practical techniques for crafting and delivering safety messages that use humour to engage and stick with the audience, without undermining the seriousness of the content.
Insights into the effective use of personal storytelling, structure, and delivery in safety communication, tailored to resonate with everyone from frontline workers to senior management.
This hands-on session is structured to encourage participation, practice, and real-time feedback. Through a combination of brief lectures, interactive activities, and group discussions, attendees will learn how to use humour as a strategic tool in their safety communications toolkit.

Facilitated by:

Steve Harvey ( No, Not him!)

Looking for ways to engage frontline employees? This session will provide hands on learning techniques that have been practically applied to engaging the workforce in the utility industry. Topics will provide attendees with skills to facilitate with their workforce and apply to a host of topics ranging from procedure comprehension to human performance techniques.    
Participants will be able to:
- Model practical learning solutions to help facilitate their own learning activities for their specific work group and industry.
- Identify ways to incorporate different styles of learning for increased engagement which results in higher retention of information.
- Apply learning techniques to illustrate complex content such as human performance methodology and safety information required of a workgroup.

The business case for a diverse workforce proposes that diversity can help organizations perform better by promoting innovation, and improving decision-making, adaptability, engagement, and retention. Further, research on elite teams emphasizes the importance of diverse perspectives in dealing with emerging, complex circumstances. This 'diversity of thought' helps form as complete an operational picture as possible as members of the team bring their distinctive backgrounds and experiences to bear on the situation at hand. However, diversity of personnel does not automatically create diversity of thought. Instead, teams (or workgroups) invite diverse perspectives when they create a local culture defined by psychological safety, where members feel welcome to communicate freely. In this talk, I’ll discuss concrete ways to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in teams; these techniques in turn, contribute to a culture of psychological safety. This talk first defines psychological safety, diversity, equity, and inclusion, then operationalizes those terms according to what group actions you would observe if you were seeing these concepts working well versus working poorly within a group. I will then walk through an example, drawn from the US federal wildland firefighting service, of how to intentionally re-design team practices to incorporate inclusion and psychological safety into the regular workflow of the group. This approach is different from common DEI approaches that rely on organization members to gain personal awareness about implicit bias and difference. Instead, my framework trains leaders on how to design an inclusive team culture by making small changes to existing group routines and practices, and intentionally designing new ones.

Part I
In the past, it has been up to writers, reviewers, and approvers of technical procedures to learn the error traps and drivers and to write effective procedures. Often they are not trained and certified, so they do the best they can with what they are provided. When something happens in the field and management suspects that a procedure wasn't followed, they tend to blame the worker and never even look to see if the procedure or process contained systemic drivers. Most managers don't even know what those are. The first half of this session will introduce the Top 5 procedure error drivers and how to recognize and reduce them. The second half will provide a "deviation analysis" tool for understanding why deviations occur and putting actions in place to correct the real problems. In addition, we will introduce a Word add-in called CAPTUER (Completely Automated Procedure Tool for User Error Reduction) which reduces procedure review times by up to 65% while identifying error drivers and making suggestions for resolution. Each attendee will receive a free copy of the CAPTUER add-in and the deviation anlaysis guide.

So you’ve started your exploration of the New View and HOP. Maybe you’ve started the conversation about avoidance of blame and even dabbled in some learning teams. You’ve read a few books and articles and somewhere along the way you heard about Resilience Engineering. It sounds interesting so you pick up some of the Resilience Engineering books. But those seem written more for academics than for people actually doing the work. Some of it makes sense, so you assume there’s something there. But you can’t quite figure out what it all means.

If this sounds like you then this session is for you. I’ll discuss my own exploration of Resilience Engineering, where it came from, and how I have tried to put it into practice in the work I do on a daily basis in real world organizations. It’s more than just learning from everyday work. It’s about supporting people in coping with the complex, messy, sometimes chaotic-ness of work.

Spend enough time discussing safety and human performance, and you’re bound to hear complacency enter the conversation. It’s a convenient boogeyman when things go wrong, but what if complacency isn’t all bad? What if the rituals and repetition we create for ourselves actually make us more adaptable and resilient? Or, maybe it’s not that simple…

In the dynamic world of safety science, adapting and evolving is not beneficial - it's essential. The Incident Cause Analysis Method (ICAM) rooted in James Reason's groundbreaking Swiss Cheese Model, has served as a staple in high risk environments globally for decades. Yet, as we navigate the ever-evolving landscapes of industry and technology, it's vital to recognise that the Swiss Cheese Model, despite it's historical importance , may not capture the entirety of complexity leading to safety events.

This session will provide attendees with an overview of ICAM as well as modern safety science tools and techniques to help you and your organisation shift from a culture of blame to a culture of learning.

In an effort to obtain more understanding of and buy-in for Learning Team use in Georgia-Pacific, I asked our CEO to join me to co-facilitate learning teams at 2 sites with safety opportunities. Session will share the details of what led to that, how the learning teams went, and what the outcomes were, as thoughts for others to consider as they continue their HOP journey.

We’ve all felt it: the sense that we’re pushing against some invisible force that keeps us from doing our best work. For a lot of organizations, that friction is baked into the way we organize, and creating safety, resilience, and a culture that supports it is often in spite of the organization, not because of it. In this session, we’ll talk about how purposeful design can support adaptation and expertise by re-thinking the traditional org chart and focusing on what works.

The journey of organizational change begins as a lonely pursuit. To be successful, it cannot stay that way. This is a practical overview of building community both within your company and beyond to gain, receive, and give support to those focused on the organizational change. Regardless of leadership buy-in, nurturing community and sustaining dialogue through both internal and external communication channels is a crucial, albeit often overlooked, aspect of operationalization. Change leaders, especially those operating as a team of one, need the support of peers. That support and council is an accelerant for successful change. The presentation will provide the audience participants with stories, experiences, trials, errors, and good ideas to build support and direct change through the overlooked but highly practical and effective means of building relationships to understand readiness and promote the organizational change that we know will make an impact within our companies and beyond.

Implementing Human Performance isn’t always easy, but the journey doesn’t end at implementation. This session will allow attendees to hear a testimonial of a continued Human Performance journey at an electric utility. Conversation will include pitfalls, false starts, case study and successes along the way. Attendees should walk away with some helpful ideas on what works, what doesn’t work and a refreshed perspective for defining success in their own human performance journeys.

Part2
In the past, it has been up to writers, reviewers, and approvers of technical procedures to learn the error traps and drivers and to write effective procedures. Often they are not trained and certified, so they do the best they can with what they are provided. When something happens in the field and management suspects that a procedure wasn't followed, they tend to blame the worker and never even look to see if the procedure or process contained systemic drivers. Most managers don't even know what those are. The first half of this session will introduce the Top 5 procedure error drivers and how to recognize and reduce them. The second half will provide a "deviation analysis" tool for understanding why deviations occur and putting actions in place to correct the real problems. In addition, we will introduce a Word add-in called CAPTUER (Completely Automated Procedure Tool for User Error Reduction) which reduces procedure review times by up to 65% while identifying error drivers and making suggestions for resolution. Each attendee will receive a free copy of the CAPTUER add-in and the deviation anlaysis guide.

This is a case study in how to manage SIF risks for work in a highly variable environment.
Many times, in many forums, I asked rooms full of line clearance workers the question “How many of you have run from a falling tree or limb?” Almost all raise their hands. Being struck-by wood kills many line clearance workers every year. As Director of Safety and Human Performance for a line clearance company, I heard early on: “if you do this job long enough, you will get seriously hurt”. We didn’t accept this. We took the approach to learn everything we could about the risk of being struck by a tree or limb…and we discovered some surprising things that helped us better manage the risk of being struck by wood.
A traditional safety approach to managing this risk is: stay out of the drop zone and use 3-way communication before entering. Rules are important but rules are not enough to manage the risks that emerge from quick changing situations that are common in highly variable environments.
Several months into our HOP journey, we had a key insight from Ohio State University Safety Researcher: line clearance is among the most highly variable work he had ever seen, he ranked it second only to the special forces. We realized behavior-based safety was not a good fit…so what next?
We needed to expand from traditional safety, which is often a STATIC view of risk: identify all hazards and risks PRIOR to starting work –and you’ll be ok - to practices that supported noticing emerging risks and uncertainty. We needed to learn as much as we could about how work really happens. We found patterns in the responses to the question “What surprised you?” from 50 struck-by wood events and close calls.
In this talk, I will share how to identify patterns in how people are surprised, which can lead to identifying risk factors to enable getting in front of SIF risks. I will share concepts, tools, and practices we invented (e.g., Uncertainty Gauge, Press Pause, and Stack-up of Risks) that are effective in managing emerging risks which are omnipresent in highly variable work.
4. Abstract: Resilience Engineering FUNdamentals
Beth Lay, President of Resilience Engineering Association and Director at Forge Works
RE/HRO track, Breakout session
Reliability is about producing predictable, desired outcomes. Reliability engineers see people as sources of error as they work in stable, repeatable systems. How do we get better – or more reliable - based on past performance?
Robustness is about being strong and sturdy. How can we make the system able to withstand known risks?
Resilience is about anticipating how we could be surprised and preparing people and our systems to adapt to variability. Resilience engineers see people as sources of adaptation as they work in complex, unstable systems. How can we design systems that gracefully extend to manage surprise? (because we will ALWAYS be surprised!)
Note: We need all three: reliable, robust, and resilient systems.
In this session, we will talk about what it means to move from a focus on control to embracing variability. We will explore Resilience Engineering fundamentals and share tools and practices that enable us to work successfully in variable environments and to be prepared for surprise.

This session will give the journey from the early stages of a Safety
Culture development in a Union environment, which became the leading edge for HOP development in a major utility (Consumers Energy). Very descriptive timeline and challenges which moved the team to best in class performance on many levels. Very engaging speakers with about 18yrs in both disciplines and experience in Partnership Team development in a Union environment.

Part 2

In the contemporary landscape of occupational safety, traditional metrics like Total Recordable Injury Rates (TRIR) and Lost Time Injury Rates (LTIR) have dominated the discourse and practice. However, our book, "Random Noise - Measuring Your Company's Safety Performance," challenges these conventional measures, arguing that they represent mere 'random noise' rather than providing a true reflection of an organization's safety performance.

This groundbreaking work is an assemblage of approximately 15 distinct research studies, meticulously collated and analyzed to scrutinize the efficacy and relevance of TRIR and LTIR in safety management. The book begins by dissecting the inherent flaws in these traditional metrics. We demonstrate, through statistical analysis and real-world case studies, that these rates are largely influenced by random variables and external factors, thus rendering them unreliable indicators of actual safety conditions within organizations.

Moving beyond critique, the book offers a novel perspective on safety measurement. It introduces alternative metrics and methodologies that focus on proactive safety management rather than reactive statistical reporting. These alternatives emphasize the importance of qualitative assessments, employee engagement in safety practices, and the development of a robust safety culture.

One of the core arguments of the book is the need for a paradigm shift in safety measurement - from a numbers-driven approach to a more holistic, culture-oriented methodology. This approach not only provides a more accurate picture of an organization's safety health but also fosters a more engaged and proactive safety culture among employees.

The book is not just a theoretical exposition; it is replete with practical guidelines and tools for organizations seeking to transition from traditional injury rates to more meaningful safety performance measures. These tools are designed to be adaptable across various industry sectors, making the book a valuable resource for safety professionals, organizational leaders, and policymakers.

Learning Outcomes for Conference Attendees:

Understanding the Limitations of Traditional Safety Metrics: Attendees will gain insights into the pitfalls of relying solely on TRIR and LTIR as measures of safety performance, understanding how these metrics can lead to misleading conclusions about an organization's safety health.

Exploration of Alternative Safety Measurement Approaches: Participants will be introduced to innovative, more effective ways of measuring safety performance. These alternatives focus on qualitative assessment, cultural factors, and proactive safety management strategies.

Practical Strategies for Implementing Change: The session will provide attendees with actionable strategies and tools for shifting from a numbers-focused approach to a more holistic, culture-centric safety measurement methodology. This includes guidance on engaging employees and fostering a safety-conscious organizational culture.