Veiligheidsdag Blog 2022

by Denise Harkema

Five workshops, three speakers and one panel; the 2022 Safety Day was all about exchanging knowledge and insights on "Learning from Incidents."

The safety day offered an interactive afternoon with networking opportunities to renew contacts and exchange new experiences on this theme after a long period of remote collaboration.

Sharing perspectives on Learning from Incidents
The impressive story of Karien van der Loo and Patrick van der Sande shows that their approach after the death of Toon as a result of a work-related accident could lead to a turnaround in the company involved. By working together on a safety improvement plan and learning to see safety as an investment, the company has seen many developments. In the meantime, Toon's relatives have gone one step further and a bill is being drafted that will make it mandatory for companies to work with a safety improvement plan.

Jeroen Dijsselblo shared the insights of the Dutch Safety Board, whereby investigations mainly take a sector-wide view of an incident. Recommendations from the OVV's reports are mainly aimed at preventing and/or reducing the recurrence of such incidents. It was indicated that the investigations looked at single, double and triple loop learning.

Leadership, psychological safety and incident dilemmas
The workshop by Ira Helsloot revolved around determining learning potential from incidents and recognizing that learning is not always required. The guidebook Better Learning from Incidents formed the basis for the workshop.

In the workshop of Jop Groeneweg The workshop focused on psychological safety. Via, among others, an interesting analogy with pit stops in Formula 1 and research by Amy Edmondson, he showed that strong psychological safety in leads to better performing teams.

The workshops of Coen den Heijer and Arjen Schneiders both focused more on insights gained from real-world experiences. Coen shared his experience from the 2017 stove incident, which the Research Council of Safety research has been investigating. This workshop included a focus on the impact of such an incident and the investigation on the organization. Arjen Schneiders shared his insights from practice regarding leadership in learning from incidents. During the workshop experience was shared about the role a leader can take in the organization to stimulate better learning from incidents. For this purpose, the step-by-step plan from the previously mentioned guide was used.

During the workshop of Denise Harkema workshop the focus was on sectoral learning. On the one hand, the workshop provided insight into the available knowledge on incident learning at the three levels (individual, organization, sector), but also facilitated a discussion on what is needed to be able to learn with companies at the sector level.

Exchange of knowledge and experience during networking and workshops
Before the afternoon ended with a networking opportunity, some of the speakers and workshop leaders took part in a panel discussion. Led by Bas van Werven, the chairman for the day, the panel members were questioned about what they felt was the next step in learning from incidents. After the panel discussion there was an opportunity to exchange ideas and insights from the day while enjoying some sunshine and snacks.

Tip!
Also read the daily report from Veiligheid Voorop, where the workshop presentations are also made available.