Event Details
Cost
AIHS Member: Complimentary
Non-Members: Complimentary
Contact
Type
Organisations sometimes set out to create cultures of safety using the hearts and minds approach, that is, running workshops for employees encouraging them to think differently about safety.
In contrast, the claim here is that the key to developing a culture of safety is having the right organisational structure. This means ensuring that the people with special responsibility for safety are sufficiently senior and sufficiently powerful to be able to discharge their responsibilities effectively. This is illustrated using the Columbia space shuttle accident. The lecture includes a case study of BP, looking at its organisational structure before and after the Deepwater Horizon accident.
The lecture concludes with some remarks about how even the best structures can be undermined by corporate incentives payments that focus on production, profit, and cost reduction.
Event Details
Cost: AIHS Member: Complimentary | Non-Members: Complimentary
About the event
The Dr Eric Wigglesworth AM Memorial Lecture is presented in conjunction with the AIHS’s Annual Education Awards. Now in its tenth year, the Dr Eric Wigglesworth AM Memorial Lecture is an annual event presented by the Australian Institute of Health & Safety. The event was established to recognise the pioneering contributions and engagement of Dr Wigglesworth in the field of occupational health and safety.
Your Speaker
Andrew Hopkins
Andrew Hopkins is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Australian National University in Canberra. He was an expert witness at the Royal Commission into the 1998 Exxon gas plant explosion near Melbourne. He was a consultant to the US Chemical Safety Board in its investigation of the BP Texas City Refinery disaster of 2005, and also for its investigation into the.BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010. He has written books about all these accidents. More than 90,000 copies of his books have been sold. He has been involved in various government WHS reviews and has done consultancy work for major companies in the resources sector, as well as for Defence. He speaks regularly to audiences around the world about the causes of major accidents. He has a BSc and an MA from the Australian National University, a PhD from the University of Connecticut, and is a Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia.
OHS Education awards
The AIHS OHS Education Awards provide an opportunity for University Students studying Occupational Health and Safety, who demonstrate high levels of achievement and initiative, to be recognized by The Australian Institute of Health & Safety.
During this session, we will be announcing the winners of:
1. National OHS Education (Postgraduate) Award
2. National OHS Education (Undergraduate) Award.
3. Dr. Eric Wigglesworth OHS Education (Research) Award.