Going Beyond Accident Prevention - Application of Resilience in Complex, High-Risk Settings

Resilience is an approach to safety as a core capability of high performing organizations. A resilient organization, team or individual brings knowledge, skills and abilities to productively manage day-to-day work to optimise the system’s performance. Unlike other perspectives on safety that focus on accident prevention, resilience emphasizes successful operations under varying conditions and challenges as the basis for safety. The Learning Lab aims to support and improve understanding of the concept of resilience as an innovative approach to the governance and management of safety in complex, high-risk industries and provide practical ideas about the operationalization of resilience that can be implemented in the workplace to foster effective innovation for safe operations.

Day 1 (May 7) of the Learning Lab will focus on governance and targets board members and senior executives who are critical to safety leadership.

Days 2 to 4 (May 8-10) of the Learning Lab is designed to provide an intensive learning experience that targets safety practitioners from a range of industries (and will also be open to board members and senior executives who wish to participate in the intensive 3 day session).

This event brings together a diverse group of leaders from a variety of high-risk industries that share a concern and interest for improving safety in their respective organizations. It will provide an opportunity to engage with international thought leaders and practical experts in system safety. In particular, the cross-industry perspective will provide an excellent opportunity to form linkages, exchange experiences and foster coalitions to enhance understanding of resilience across a range of high-risk industries.

Presented by the University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health and The Human Factor Group at WorkSafeBC. The aim of both groups is to foster an understanding of the concept of resilience, its underlying principles, and to foster wider use of this systemic approach to manage the competing priorities of complex, high-risk industries.