From Safety to Safety Science

Paul Swuste is an associate professor of the Safety Science Group, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, with an MSc degree in Biochemistry (Leiden University, 1978) and a PhD thesis, 'Occupational Hazards and Solutions' (Delft University of Technology, 1996). He has conducted research on risk assessments in high-tech-high-hazard industries, on the history of knowledge developments in safety science and on various occupational hazards. He has published frequently on these topics and co-organised the post-graduate master course 'Management of Safety Health and Environment' from 1994 to 2008.Jop Groeneweg graduated as a cognitive psychologist from Leiden University in the early 1980s. In a career spanning about four decennia, he was involved in many projects, in and outside the university, to improve safety, predominantly in industrial organisations. As a professor of Safety in Healthcare at Delft University of Technology and a human performance expert at Leiden University and the TNO research institute, in the Netherlands, he aims to transfer his knowledge to the medical domain to reduce preventable adverse events while at the same time getting new insights that might help to further improve safety in the industry.Frank W. Guldenmund graduated from Leiden University with degrees in both cognitive psychology and methods and statistics. In February 1992 he joined the Safety Science Group at Delft University of Technology. In his research, he focusses on the management of safety in industrial organisations and on the behavior of people within those organisations. He has been teaching safety science for nearly 30 years to both graduate and undergraduate students as well as to safety practitioners. Since 2002 he has been a trainer in the safety culture program of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), providing lectures and workshops on this topic worldwide. Currently, he is on the board of the Dutch Society for Safety Professionals (NVVK) and responsible for embedding (more) science into the work of safety professionals. He is editor of the society’s journal as well as associate editor of Safety Science.Coen van Gulijk is a senior scientist at TNO Healthy Living, a vising professor at the University of Huddersfield and affiliate researcher of the Safety Science Group of the Delft University of Technology. He is investigating and accelerating the digital transformation of safety models and safety management. He has taught safety science on an academic level in four universities in the Netherlands, one university in Belgium and one in the UK, and actively engages in international networks and scientific dissemination.Saul Lemkowitz was an associate professor of the Chemical Engineering department at Delft University of Technology. He studied chemical engineering at Rutgers University, in the United States, and at Delft. His PhD thesis (Delft, 1975) focused on ‘Phase and corrosion studies of the ammonia-carbon dioxide water system’. Dust explosions and explosion safety in the process industries were his fields of research and education, together with sustainability, industrial ecology and technology and society. He frequently published on these topics. Regrettably, Saul passed away on 13 February 2020.Yvette Oostendorp finished her master's studies at Wageningen University and Research in environmental and industrial hygiene in 1983 and worked as a researcher at Wageningen UR on agreement between qualitative estimates and quantitative exposure measurements. From 1986 until 2004 she worked as an industrial hygienist at an occupational health service. She is author or co-author of several handbooks on chemical risk assessment for professionals in occupational health services. In 2004 she started as a senior advisor at the former Hazardous Substances Council, the advisory council for the Dutch parliament. Since 2012 she has worked at the Dutch Council for Environment and Infrastructure (RLI).Walter Zwaard studied chemistry at Leiden University and received his PhD in 1983. He worked at Leiden University as risk manager, radiation safety officer and lecturer on laboratory safety. From 2004 until 2012 he was a member of the former Hazardous Substances Council. He has published widely on safety issues such as hazardous substances, accident prevention and risk management. He has written a number of books and edited several textbooks on safety. Since 1992 he has worked as a safety practitioner and consultant in both public and private sectors. As an instructor and lecturer, he participates in many courses for risk professionals.

• TIME TRAVELCHAPTER 1 THE BIRTH OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, SAFETY AND SOCIAL STRUGGLE: 1800s–1910UNITED KINGDOMThe century of steamUNITED STATESUS Steel, road to happinessThe Pittsburgh investigationEastman's conclusionsResponsibility for safetyTHE NETHERLANDSThe Netherlands during the century of steamSafety technique according to Westerouwen van MeeterenHeijermans’ causes of occupational accidentsCHAPTER 2 ACCIDENT PRONENESS, SAFETY BY INSPECTION: 1910-1930UNITED STATESThe American management approachBehavioural managementSafety techniqueSafety publicationsProfessionalisation of occupational safetySafety management according to DeBloisHeinrich’s influenceSafety propagandaUNITED KINGDOMSafety researchAccident pronenessThe individual hypothesisBetween thinking and doingThe environmental hypothesisTHE NETHERLANDSIndividual factorsCHAPTER 3 DOMINOS, SAFETY BY TECHNIQUE – PREVENTION: 1931-1950UNITED STATESHeinrich's contributionThe domino metaphorThe National Safety CouncilThe role of the foremanAccident investigation, chance and effectCriticism on HeinrichThe epidemiological triangleUNITED KINGDOMAccidents and their preventionTHE NETHERLANDSLimited knowledge developmentSafety museumSafety inspectorsCHAPTER 4 PREVENTION, BEHAVIOUR AND THE MAKEABLE MAN: 1950 – 1970UNITED STATESModern managementQuality control, product versus processThe latter days of HeinrichDamage controlCriticism on the psychological explanation of accidentsThe hazard-barrier-target modelThe concept of riskReliability engineering ErgonomicsLoss prevention and safety tools, FMEA, FTA, Energy AnalysisUNITED KINGDOMSafety tool, HazopHuman factors and ergonomicsTHE NETHERLANDSTask dynamics, a safety theoryFocus on occupational safetyThe Lateiner methodWorkers’ participationErgonomics and housekeepingCHAPTER 5 RISK, SAFETY AND ORGANISATION – MANAGEMENT: 1970-1990WESTERN EUROPE AND THE NORDIC CONTRIESQuality of legal provisions for occupational managementModels of occupational safetyErgonomics and task dynamicsCauses and prevention of 2,000 accidentsOccupational safety research in the 1980sNORTH AMERICAStructures of organisationsRisk homeostasisOccupational safety research in the 1980sPrevention of accidentsOccupational safety management systems and auditingWorkers’ well-beingSafety and changing technologyTHE NETHERLANDSHuman errorRisk and occupational safetyAcceptability of risks, standards for occupational exposure to carcinogensHumanisation of labourCHAPTER 6 RISK AND MANAGEMENT, SAFETY BY ORGANISATION: 1960-1990WESTERN EUROPE AND THE NORDIC COUTRIESSome major industrial accidents in the 1960s and 1970sFeyzin, 1966Aberfan, 1966Flixborough, 1974Seveso, 1976Los Alfaques, 1978How safety changed after these major industrial accidentsThe nuclear sectorLoss PreventionCanvey Island studyInherent safe designSeveso IThe Disaster Incubation TheoryMan-machine interactionsSome major industrial accidents in the 1980sChernobyl, 1986Piper Alpha, 1988Clapham Junction, 1988NORTH AMERICA, INDIA AND THE FORMER USSRManagement Oversight Risk TreeSome major industrial accidents in the 1970s and 1980sThree Mile Island, 1979Mexico City, 1984Bhopal, 1984How safety changed after these major industrial accidentsRisk approach and risk perceptionNormal accidentsMan-machine interactions THERP and high reliability theorySafety managementTHE NETHERLANDSSome major industrial accidents in the 1960s and 1970sShell Pernis, 1968DSM Beek, 1975NAM Schoonebeek, 1976How safety changed after these major industrial accidentsImpact of vapour gas explosionsFighting blow-outsLoss PreventionOrigin of the Dutch risk conceptCOVO study, LPG studyColoured booksBroad Societal DiscussionResearch on risk perceptionThe Shell casusUniversity Training and Research in SafetyCHAPTER 7 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, SAFETY MANAGEMENT, CULTURE: 1990-2010WESTERN EUROPE AND NORDIC COUNTRIESQuality managementSafety managementThe accident processAccident modelsWorking-on-safetySafety culture and safety climate NORTH AMERICA AND AUSTRALIAQuality management Organisational learning Safety audits Safety interventions Organisational culture THE NETHERLANDSOrganisational learning The concept of well-being ISO madness Risk assessment and evaluation Accidents and accident models Safety interventions Safety culture CHAPTER 8 HIGH-TECH-HIGH-HAZARD SAFETY, CULTURE AND RISK: 1990‒2010 General management schools Risk Accidents in high-tech-high-hazard sectors Domino effects Golden years of safety WESTERN EUROPE AND NORDIC COUNTRIESDeterminants of major accident processes Sloppy management Complexity and socio-technical systems Gas clouds Human failure and human factors Safety culture and inspections Design Metaphors Swiss cheese Drift to danger Models and theories Disaster incubation theory Resilience engineering workshop Risk perception Risk and safety management NORTH AMERICA AND AUSTRALIADeterminants of major accident processes Design, Layers of Protection Analysis (LOPA) Design, process intensification Theories Normal accident theory High reliability theory Case studies Risk perception THE NETHERLANDSDeterminants of major accident processes Metaphors Bowtie Quantification of risk Acceptable risk levels Risk perception Risk and safety management Deepwater Horizon CHAPTER 9 EPILOGUEActs of God The individual and environmental hypotheses, pre-war period Hazards and unsafe acts, pre-war period Occupational safety, post-war period Management and safety management, post-war period Ergonomics, post-war period The environmental and individual hypotheses, post-war period High-tech-high-hazard safety, post-war period Organisational factors The combination of technology, behaviour and organisation Safety and risk management Risk and risk perception Again theories, models and metaphors The fruits of progress Worrying between thinking and doing Safety as a science? Room for optimism The time traveller again Optimise or innovate? The need for cooperation Sorcery Appendix 1: Reported ‘man-made’ incidents and major accidents from public literature, 1990-2010Appendix 2: High-tech high hazard safety, 1950-2010Appendix 3: Occupational safety, 1800s-2010ReferencesIndex