Nuclear safety culture blog

Author:	BobCudlin	Created:	7/23/2009 2:27 PM
We try to identify items from around the world - news events, meetings, publications - that have implications for nuclear safety culture professionals. Some items exemplify progress in the field while others show how much work remains to be done. In all cases, we believe our experience, insight and interpretation of these items add unique value.

Vermont Yankee (part 1)

By BobCudlin on 3/3/2010 8:39 AM

This week saw a very significant development in the nuclear industry and the potential consequences of safety culture issues on a specific plant, a large nuclear enterprise and the industry. As has been widely reported, the Vermont Senate voted against the extension of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant’s operating license. In part it appears this action stemmed from the recent leakages of tritium at the plant site but perhaps more significantly, from how the matter was handled by the plant owner, Entergy.

The fallout of these events has not only put into question the future of the Vermont Yankee plant, triggered the interest of the NRC and a requirement that Entergy officials testify under oath, it may also have consequences for Entergy’s plans to spin-off six of its nuclear plants into an independent subsidiary.

SimCity Baghdad

By BobCudlin on 2/26/2010 3:13 PM

"SimCity Baghdad" is the title of an intriguing article from The Atlantic magazine (Jan/Feb 2010 issue). It describes a new computer game called UrbanSim that allows U.S. Army officers to train in counterinsurgency tactics that are being implemented in Iraq. Many of the benefits of simulation described in this case are the same as for managing nuclear safety culture.

What is Italian for Complacency?

By BobCudlin on 11/12/2009 10:33 AM

It is “compiacimento”. In a recent speech to a conference in Rome, Italy, NRC Commissioner Klein again sounded the warning about complacency as a latent flaw that can undermine nuclear safety. We have written a number of posts on this blog on the subject and continue to emphasize it as otherwise . . . . we would be complacent.

NRC Safety Culture Initiatives

By BobCudlin on 10/13/2009 6:41 AM

A recent speech by Chairman Jaczko of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission outlines the NRC’s current initiative regarding safety culture and safety conscious work environment. We believe it is significant that almost all of the Chairman’s public comments include references to NRC safety culture initiatives.

Social Licking?

By BobCudlin on 10/6/2009 6:57 AM

I just read a book review of some interesting social science that could be of great relevance to building and sustaining safety cultures. But I couldn’t resist the best quote of the review, commenting about some of the unusual findings in recent studies of social networks, to wit, “In fact, the model that best predicted the network structure of U.S. senators was that of social licking among cows.”

“Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game. It is the game.”

By BobCudlin on 9/24/2009 2:48 PM

The quote is from Lou Gerstner, retired Chairman of IBM, and appears in an interesting presentation by the management team at Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Company. In it they put forth their perspectives on addressing culture change within their organization.

Air France

By BobCudlin on 9/18/2009 6:48 AM

A recent Wall Street Journal article indicates that Air France is taking an unusual step in asking its partner airline, Delta, to help assess its safety practices.

Quote of the Day

By BobCudlin on 9/17/2009 7:00 AM

“So it appears that man is capable of controlling the climate, but not the atom. God is laughing.”

The Davis Besse Hole

By BobCudlin on 9/16/2009 5:52 PM

Most people remember the 2002 discovery of the corrosive hole in the Davis Besse reactor vessel head. But what about the seven year regulatory hole the plant and its organization fell into as a result of the reactor vessel head incident?

A LearnSafe Afterthought

By BobCudlin on 9/12/2009 10:57 AM

The line of thinking in the Wahlström and Rollenhagen paper and the LearnSafe project appears to provide a strong nudge away from thinking of safety culture in terms of a set of beliefs and values. Or of thinking of safety culture as something apart from the how the multiple, complex decision processes within an organization are occurring.

Schrodinger’s Bat

By BobCudlin on 9/10/2009 7:33 AM

Is safety culture a concept unto itself or a state that is defined by many constituent actions? Some of our thinking about safety culture in developing NuclearSafetySim led us to focus on safety management as opposed to safety culture. Safety management includes the key levers of organizational performance and the integrated effect of the manipulation of these levers results in a safety culture “value” in the simulation. Thus all the dynamics flow from actions and decisions to a safety culture resultant, not the reverse.

Is Safety Culture the Grand Unifying Concept?

By BobCudlin on 9/8/2009 6:37 PM

I thought I would use this question as an entre back into some of Professor Bernhard Wilpert’s work with what became known as the LearnSafe project. LearnSafe research led to the question of whether it is useful to put forward safety culture as a top level concept that somehow is responsible for or “produces” safety. Or would it be better to think of it as an organic process that continuously evolves and develops within an organization.

FAA Moves Away from Blame and Punishment

By BobCudlin on 9/3/2009 1:52 PM

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took another step toward a new safety culture by reducing the emphasis on blame in the reporting of operational errors by air traffic controllers. Effective immediately, the names of controllers will not be included in reports sent to FAA headquarters on operational errors.

The Complacency Thing Again

By BobCudlin on 9/2/2009 8:45 AM

Commissioner Klein’s recent address to the ANS once again hits on the complacency issue.

EdF Faces Conflicting Pressures

By BobCudlin on 9/1/2009 6:57 AM

Workers at Electricite de France are raising concerns about conflicting pressures to work faster, achieve higher capacity factors and provide competitive electricity. While it remains to be seen the extent of such concerns, it is apparent that central ownership does not provide a shield against many of the same pressures experienced by U.S. plants.

Bernhard Wilpert

By BobCudlin on 8/28/2009 7:47 AM

As mentioned in a prior post we will be highlighting some of the work of the late Bernhard Wilpert, a leading figure in research on the role of human behavior in high reliability organizations. He emphasized the interaction of human, technology, and organizational dynamics. His tools for human factors event analysis have become the standard practice in German and Swiss nuclear plants.

Can Assessments Identify Complacency? Can Assessments Breed Complacency?

By BobCudlin on 8/26/2009 8:07 AM

Can assessment detect complacency in an organization and its potential for latent risk to the organization’s safety performance? Complacency is a particular risk in organizations experiencing few operational challenges, e.g., today’s nuclear industry where the vast majority of plants are operating at high capacity factors and experiencing few significant operational events.

Assessment Results – A Rose is a Rose

By BobCudlin on 8/24/2009 8:23 AM

The famous words of Gertrude Stein are most often associated with the notion that when all is said and done, a thing is what it is. We offer this idea as we continue to look at the meaning of safety culture assessment results – are the results just the results, or do they signify some meaning or interpretation beyond the results?

Safety Culture Assessment

By BobCudlin on 8/17/2009 6:43 AM

Both the NRC and the nuclear industry appear aligned on the use of safety culture assessments as a response to performance issues and even as an ongoing prophylactic tool. But, are these assessments useful? Or accurate? Do they provide insights into the origins of cultural deficiencies?

Signs of a Reactive Organization (MIT #6)

By BobCudlin on 8/6/2009 3:55 PM

One of the most important insights to be gained from a systems perspective of safety management is the effectiveness of various responses to changes in system conditions. We can use our NuclearSafetySim model to illustrate single vs double loop approaches to managing problems.