On the rationale of resilience in the domain of safety: A literature review

Resilience is becoming a prevalent agenda in safety research and organisational practice. In this study we examine how the peer-reviewed safety science literature (a) formulates the rationale behind the study of resilience; (b) constructs resilience as a scientific object; and (c) constructs and locates the resilient subject. The results suggest that resilience engineering scholars typically motivate the need for their studies by referring to the inherent complexities of modern socio-technical systems; complexities that make these systems inherently risky. The object of resilience then becomes the capacity to adapt to such emerging risks in order to guarantee the success of the inherently risky system. In the material reviewed, the subject of resilience is typically the individual, either at the sharp end or at higher managerial levels. The individual is called-upon to adapt in the face of risk to secure the continuous performance of the system. Based on the results from how resilience has been introduced in safety sciences we raise three ethical questions for the field to address: (1) should resilience be seen as people thriving despite of, or because of, risk?; (2) should resilience theory form a basis for moral judgement?; and finally (3) how much should resilience be approached as a trait of the individual

Inspiring confidence in newly diagnosed macular degeneration patients: through information provision via a web-based medium

This graduation project is related to macular degeneration. Macular degeneration affects the macula, a central pit on the retina which is responsible for the highest visual acuity due to the densely packed cone photoreceptors. Symptoms of macular degeneration can vary in the early stage from blurred vision to abnormal dark adaptation (Jager et al., 2008) however in late stage macular degeneration symptoms can be much more invasive including partial and complete loss of the central vision. In order to cope with the loss of central vision patients could prescribe to what is called eccentric viewing. Eccentric viewing is a technique where the peripheral vision is used to see. Using eccentric viewing as a method to cope with macular degeneration requires, for optimal results, practice. This can be done through training. This project was originally aimed at designing a training method for eccentric viewing with the use of motivating game elements. By speaking to experts from Visio and Bartimeus as well as patients throughout the research phase it became apparent that eccentric viewing was not deemed necessary. Instead other problems were addressed which had a higher priority in solving. These problems include the lack of provided information after the official diagnosis, the attitude of the ophthalmologist during the diagnosis and the perceived gap between the diagnosis and the Low-Vision clinics. By creating a patient journey and examining the different problems that occur during that journey a choice was made to focus on a combination of the lack of information after the diagnosis and the gap between the diagnosis and the Low-Vision clinics. Six different topics of information were defined which play part in the lack of information. These six topics are: information about the condition, information about aids, make it easier, information about peer support, training / revalidation support and information about involved instances. Together these six topics cover most of the aspects surrounding macular degeneration. To convey this information to the target group a web-based medium is used. Due to the special target group guidelines have been defined which help in designing a website for visually impaired people. This has resulted in a framework where the necessary information can be placed in. Because of time restrictions one of the six topics which was defined was further developed. That topic is ‘Make it easier’. It resulted in a collection of tips from “experienced” macular degeneration patients on making Activities of Daily Living (ADL) easier to perform. In total 20 different tips were gathered through a brainstorm session, an online survey and telephone contact with Bartimeus. These tips were spread over three different themes: cooking, grocery shopping and public transport. Each tip was accompanied by an image, a descriptive text and a spoken quote. Finally an evaluation test has been conducted with two participants to verify whether the proposed design succeeded. The results from the evaluation show the potential success of the design but are not conclusive. Therefore further testing needs to be done with more participants over a longer period of time.Design for Interactio

Situation awareness: some conditions of possibility

Situation awareness (SA) has become a ubiquitous object of knowledge in our discourses of human performance and accident explanation. Based on Michel Foucault's archaeological approach, in this paper, we examine SA by mapping the 'conditions of possibility' for this object to emerge. By highlighting the logic that SA builds upon, the political need that it intends to address, and the knowledges that delimitate it in its constitution, we aim to display the contingent nature of this object. Ultimately, we argue that as a discursive object, SA has effects. © 201

Rule- and Role-Retreat: An Empirical Study of Procedures and Resilience

To manage complex and dynamic socio-technical systems places demands on teams to deal with a range of more and less foreseeable situations. Three groups of participants with different maritime experiences were studied using the same simulation of a ship to better understand the role of generic competencies (e.g. information management, communication and coordination, decision making, and effect control) play in such high-demand situations. Groups with moderate maritime experience were able to balance contextual knowledge with use of generic competencies to successfully manage unexpected and escalating situations. Novices, lacking contextual knowledge, performed less well. Groups with the most maritime expertise remained committed to presumed procedures and roles and did not perform as well as the other two groups. The results suggest that training to operate complex socio-technical systems safely and effectively should go beyond procedures and include development of generic competencies. This could provide operators with better tools to enhance organizational resilience in unexpected and escalating situations

Rule- and Role-Retreat: An Empirical Study of Procedures and Resilience

To manage complex and dynamic socio-technical systems places demands on teams to deal with a range of more and less foreseeable situations. Three groups of participants with different maritime experiences were studied using the same simulation of a ship to better understand the role of generic competencies (e.g. information management, communication and coordination, decision making, and effect control) play in such high-demand situations. Groups with moderate maritime experience were able to balance contextual knowledge with use of generic competencies to successfully manage unexpected and escalating situations. Novices, lacking contextual knowledge, performed less well. Groups with the most maritime expertise remained committed to presumed procedures and roles and did not perform as well as the other two groups. The results suggest that training to operate complex socio-technical systems safely and effectively should go beyond procedures and include development of generic competencies. This could provide operators with better tools to enhance organizational resilience in unexpected and escalating situations