[SystemSafety] Australian System Safety Conference 2018, May 23 to 25, Melbourne

[Les Chambers]

Peter and Fredrik 
Given that culture is often defined as a shared belief system I disagree that it's affect is indirect. The whole purpose of developing a safety culture is to directly influence peoples activities at the coalface on a day to day basis. 
An actor imbued with a strong safety related belief system will not walk past a safety hazard and is physically incapable of committing an unsafe act.
As for Peters prose I share your confusion. 
Peter, imagine yourself using those words in front of a room full of operators – aircraft operators, plant operators, practical people who need specific guidance and motivation. The thing I love about these people is they are smart , dependable and Armed with finely tuned BS sniffers. Being around them keeps you grounded, it's good for the soul. So my advice to you is forget about academic seminars. Spend more time in control rooms and cockpits. You might learn something.

Les


> On 8 Dec 2017, at 8:59 pm, Fredrik Asplund <fasplund at kth.se> wrote:
> 
> Given that influence by culture is always indirect I am not sure that definition of "depends" is very useful in the context, but sure - then I understand what you mean.
> Sincerely,
> / Fredrik
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: systemsafety [mailto:systemsafety-bounces at lists.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de] On Behalf Of Peter Bernard Ladkin
> Sent: den 8 december 2017 10:31
> To: The System Safety List
> Subject: Re: [SystemSafety] Australian System Safety Conference 2018, May 23 to 25, Melbourne
> 
> On 2017-12-08 10:08 , Fredrik Asplund wrote:
>>> Whether the braking system on my bicycle is dependable is prima facie a technical engineering.
>>> issue. It has two aspects: (a) whether the design and implementation 
>>> of the system makes it effective and highly reliable; (b) whether I maintain it appropriately.
>>> (a) is not at all cultural.
>> 
>> I am probably misunderstanding some part of the argument. How is (a) not dependent on the culture of the bike manufacturer?
> 
> The same way in which the correct proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is not dependent upon the psychology of Andrew Wiles and Richard Taylor and the culture which nourishes them and which enables them to think about it to the exclusion of almost anything else for many hours per day.
> 
> The same way in which the five-sigma evidence of the existence of the Higgs boson is not dependent upon the organisational culture of CERN.
> 
> Whether it exists is dependent on cultural factors. When it exists, its properties (for my bicycle brakes, physical; for the proof, mathematical and logical; for the evidence, statistical) are not necessarily dependent on any cultural factors at all.
> 
> PBL
> 
> Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Bielefeld, Germany MoreInCommon Je suis Charlie
> Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs-bi.de
> 
> 
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