Improving The Safety of Work.
What does the evidence really say about improving the safety of work? Join Dr Drew Rae and Dr David Provan each week as they break down current safety research and what it means for decisions, systems, and day-to-day work.
Feb 22, 2026
Ep. 135: Is speaking up always a good thing for safety?
In this episode, Drew and David examine workplace communication dynamics through Amy Edmondson and Anita Williams Woolley's 2021 paper "Reflections, Voice and Silence in Workplace Conversations," published in the Journal of Change Management. The discussion challenges the simplistic assumption that speaking up is always beneficial for safety, introducing a four-quadrant framework that distinguishes between productive and unproductive forms of both voice and silence. The hosts explore how withholding, disrupting, contributing, and processing behaviors shape meeting effectiveness and organizational safety outcomes.
Feb 08, 2026
Ep. 134: Does caring about psychosocial safety mean we have to stop telling jokes at work?
In this episode, David Provan and Drew Rae examine workplace humor through the lens of psychosocial safety, discussing Helen Lingard, Rita Zhang, and Katie Chan's 2025 paper "Not Just a Joke: Women's Experiences of Workplace Humour in the Australian Construction Industry" published in the Journal of Management in Engineering. The research reveals that 65% of women in construction experience sexual harassment, with humor frequently weaponized to mask discrimination and maintain male dominance in a workforce that is 97% male.
Nov 23, 2025
Ep. 133: How do policies and metrics shape the outcome of investigations?
In this episode, Drew and David examine how organizational policies and performance metrics can inadvertently constrain learning from safety investigations. They discuss "Closing Investigations: The Role of National Policy in Shaping Structural, Organisational and Relational Constraints on Learning from Patient Safety Incidents" by Mesinioti, Macrae, Sheard, Hampton, Louch, and O'Hara, published in Safety Science. The research, based on NHS England's investigation system handling over 2 million patient safety events annually, reveals how rigid timelines and compliance requirements often prioritize closure over meaningful learning.
Sep 14, 2025
Ep. 132: How much should we worry about the invasiveness of team support AI?
This episode examines research on electronic team monitoring AI systems and their psychological impact on workers. David Provan and Drew Rae discuss a July 2025 study from Cognition, Technology and Work by German researchers exploring how perceived invasiveness of AI monitoring affects team members' stress levels and acceptance. The research included two experimental studies testing different levels of monitoring invasiveness and purposes, from basic email counting to biometric stress monitoring.
Aug 31, 2025
Ep. 131: How can we make automated systems team players?
In today's episode, David and Drew look at how to design automated systems that work effectively with human operators, drawing from Klaus Christoffersen and David Woods' 2002 chapter "How to Make Automated Systems Team Players." The hosts challenge the traditional binary thinking about automation problems, where solutions focus either on replacing humans with more automation or reducing automation to give humans more control. Instead, they explore a systems approach that considers human-automation coordination as the primary design challenge.
Aug 03, 2025
Ep. 130: What are the problems with Just Culture models?
In today's episode, David and Drew examine the fundamental problems with just culture models through analysis of a BP case study from the Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries titled "From Individual Behavior to System Weaknesses: the Redesign of the Just Culture Process in an International Energy Company." The discussion centers on how these frameworks, originally designed by Jim Reason to reduce individual blame, often become tools for discipline rather than system improvement, despite well-intentioned redesign efforts.
Feb 23, 2025
Ep. 129: How can we use swapping as a strategy for decluttering?
In today’s episode, David and Drew explore the concept of behavioral substitution as a strategy for decluttering safety practices, examining a 2023 paper from the JBI Evidence Implementation journal titled "The Big Six Key Principles for Effective Use of Behaviour Substitution." The discussion centers on how healthcare's approach to de-implementing low-value practices can inform safety professionals' efforts to replace ineffective safety measures with more valuable alternatives.
Feb 16, 2025
Ep. 128: What are the attributes of an effective supervisor?
In today’s episode of the Safety of Work podcast, hosts Drew Rae and David Provan examine the attributes of effective supervision through analysis of McPherson, L., Federico, M., & McNamara, P. (2016). "Safety as a Fifth Dimension in Supervision: Stories from the Frontline" published in Australian Social Work. The study, focused on child and family practice supervision, provides valuable insights into supervisory relationships that can be applied broadly to safety management. Through interviews with 10 practitioners and 10 supervisors, the research identifies eight core themes including safety, emotional support, learning and growth, and leadership behaviors.
Feb 09, 2025
Ep. 127: Should safety education focus on hard skills
In this episode, we examine the role of narrative skills in safety education through Robson, Holgate, and Randhawa's 2021 Oxford study "Storycraft: The Importance of Narrative and Narrative Skills in Business." Based on interviews with FTSE 100 business leaders, the research challenges traditional distinctions between 'hard' and 'soft' skills in professional education. We explore a framework of five core narrative competencies - narrative communication, empathy and perspective-taking, critical analysis, creativity and imagination, and digital skills - examining how these relate to communicating organizational values, achieving persuasive outcomes, and managing change initiatives.
Jan 26, 2025
Ep. 126: Is it time to stop talking about safety culture?
Welcome to our first episode for 2025. Is it time to rethink the traditional notion of "safety culture" in today's organizations? Join us as we explore this provocative question, inspired by the article, “Seeking a scientific and pragmatic approach to safety culture in the North American construction industry” by Fred Sherratt, Emi Szabo, and Matthew R. Hallowell in Safety Science Volume 181, January 2025.