David Provan, PhD Student at Griffith University, delivers a presentation around “Safety – I, Safety – II and the role of a Safety Professional”
There are two distinct models of safety that organizations can adopt; these can be described as a model of ‘control’ or a model of ‘adaptability’. More recently these models of safety have been labelled Safety-1 and Safety-2 respectively. These models primarily differ in their view of how to safety is best created in daily work. Safety-1 attempts to align and ‘control’ the organization and its people through its determination of what is safe. Safety-2 conversely, attempts to facilitate its people to be able to safety ‘adapt’ to unknown situations and contexts. While there exists a large body of literature discussing these models of safety, and specific approaches within these models, the role of safety professionals is rarely considered. The purpose of this presentation is to outline the implications for safety professionals from these two competing models of safety – how does the role of a safety professional change?
ABOUT DAVID PROVAN
I am the Founder and Executive Consultant of Safety 21. We help organisations re-orientate their safety resources and programs for the 21st Century. Creating customised change ‘from the inside-out’. I have spent the last 15 years directly advising company Boards and Executive teams in relation to safety and environmental management.
• I have developed and implemented strategies that have resulted in the elimination of fatalities and serious incidents, and all incident rate reductions of >90%.
• I transformed a large organisational safety and environment function that resulted in >$30m annual reduction in direct labour cost, and dramatically improved its effectiveness.
• I re-designed an organisations governance and management system that resulted in a 90% reduction in corporate bureaucracy, whilst improving safety culture and safety and environmental performance.
• I led safety and environment throughout the full lifecycle of a $25 billion oil and gas mega-project.
Some of these achievements were recently showcased in the ‘Safety Differently’ film documentary where I perform the opening voice-over. My key strength lies in my ability to connect with all people at all levels of organisations, having empathy for their situation, and enabling them with strategies to improve their personal effectiveness. I am also a member of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University where I conduct part-time research. I am a highly sought-after public-speaker at international safety conferences, particularly in respect of: ‘the future role of safety professionals and safety teams’, ‘the practical application of resilience engineering, safety differently and safety II’, and ‘influencing Boards and Executive teams for safety’.
