• myGriffith
    • Staff portal
    • Contact Us⌄
      • Future student enquiries 1800 677 728
      • Current student enquiries 1800 154 055
      • International enquiries +61 7 3735 6425
      • General enquiries 07 3735 7111
      • Online enquiries
      • Staff phonebook
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Griffith Research Online
    • Journal articles
    • View Item
    • Home
    • Griffith Research Online
    • Journal articles
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

  • All of Griffith Research Online
    • Communities & Collections
    • Authors
    • By Issue Date
    • Titles
  • This Collection
    • Authors
    • By Issue Date
    • Titles
  • Statistics

  • Most Popular Items
  • Statistics by Country
  • Most Popular Authors
  • Support

  • Contact us
  • FAQs
  • Admin login

  • Login
  • Safety clutter: the accumulation and persistence of 'safety' work that does not contribute to operational safety

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Rae159320.pdf (835.9Kb)
    Author(s)
    Rae, AJ
    Provan, DJ
    Weber, DE
    Dekker, SWA
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Rae, Drew J.
    Dekker, Sidney
    Provan, David J.
    Weber, David E.
    Year published
    2018
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    In this paper, we provide a description of a previously unlabelled and under-theorised problem in safety management – ‘safety clutter’. Safety clutter is the accumulation of safety procedures, documents, roles, and activities that are performed in the name of safety, but do not contribute to the safety of operations. Safety clutter is a problem because of the opportunity cost of ineffective activity, because clutter results in cynicism and ‘surface compliance,’ and because clutter can hamper innovation and get in the way of getting work done. We identify three main mechanisms that generate clutter: duplication, generalization, ...
    View more >
    In this paper, we provide a description of a previously unlabelled and under-theorised problem in safety management – ‘safety clutter’. Safety clutter is the accumulation of safety procedures, documents, roles, and activities that are performed in the name of safety, but do not contribute to the safety of operations. Safety clutter is a problem because of the opportunity cost of ineffective activity, because clutter results in cynicism and ‘surface compliance,’ and because clutter can hamper innovation and get in the way of getting work done. We identify three main mechanisms that generate clutter: duplication, generalization, and over-specification of safety activities. These mechanisms in turn are driven by asymmetry between the ease and the opportunity of adding or expanding safety activities, and the difficulty and lack of opportunity for reducing or removing safety activities. At the end of the paper, we provide some concrete suggestions for reducing safety clutter, based on our analysis of the problem.
    View less >
    Journal Title
    POLICY AND PRACTICE IN HEALTH AND SAFETY
    Volume
    16
    Issue
    2
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14773996.2018.1491147
    Copyright Statement
    © 2018, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.
    Subject
    Public Health and Health Services
    Policy and Administration
    Law
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/382962
    Collection
    • Journal articles

    Footer

    Disclaimer

    • Privacy policy
    • Copyright matters
    • CRICOS Provider - 00233E

    Tagline

    • Gold Coast
    • Logan
    • Brisbane - Queensland, Australia
    First Peoples of Australia
    • Aboriginal
    • Torres Strait Islander