Foundations of Safety Science

Sidney Dekker (PhD Ohio State University, USA, 1996) is professor of social science at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, where he runs the Safety Science Innovation Lab. He is also Professor (Hon.) of psychology at The University of Queensland, and Professor (Hon.) of human factors and patient safety at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane. Previously, he was Professor of human factors and system safety at Lund University in Sweden. After becoming full professor, he learned to fly the Boeing 737, and worked part-time as an airline pilot out of Copenhagen. He is author of, most recently: The End of Heaven: Disaster and Suffering in a Scientific Age (2017); Just Culture: Restoring Trust and Accountability in Your Organization (2016); Safety Differently (2015); The Field Guide to Understanding ‘Human Error’ (2014); Second Victim (2013); Drift into Failure (2011); Patient Safety (2011). More at sidneydekker.com

• The 1900s and Onward: Beginnings. The 1910s and Onward: Taylor and Proceduralization. The 1920s and Onward: Accident-Prone. The 1930s and Onward: Heinrich and Behavior-Based Safety. The 1940s and Onward: Human Factors and Cognitive Systems Engineering. The 1950s, 1960s and Onward: System Safety. The 1970s and Onward: Man-Made Disasters. The 1980s and Onward: Normal Accidents and High Reliability Organizations. The 1990s and Onward: Swiss Cheese and Safety Management Systems. The 2000s and Onward: Safety Culture. The 2010s and Onward: Resilience Engineering. Postscript.

"In his new book Foundations of Safety Science, Sidney Dekker provides an exposition of the science of safety that paves the way for OHS to enhance its recognition as a profession. Taking each decade from the 1900s through to the 2010s he examines the safety theories of the time, how they interact and how they are reflected in practice then and now. In Sidney’s inimitable way he challenges our thinking but this book is different to his other books. This book, I believe can be a watershed in the development and recognition of safety as a (social) science and as a profession. I encourage all OHS professionals and practitioners, OHS educators and students as well as those involved in OHS policy-making and OHS regulation to read it and then re-read it."- Pam Pryor AO, OHS Body of Knowledge"Foundations of Safety Science is more of a textbook and primer written for tertiary students and safety practitioners. Dekker, ever the renaissance man, illustrates key points with his own cartoons."- OHS Professional Magazine, September 2019 issue"Professor Dekker has organised the content into ‘time slices’, with each chapter founded on the ideas of a particular era (which works out to be roughly a decade)."- Jacky Steemson, The RoSPA OS&H Journal, February 2020 issue