The Safety Anarchist

Relying on Human Expertise and Innovation, Reducing Bureaucracy and Compliance

By: Sidney Dekker

Narrated by: Sidney Dekker

Work has never been as safe as it seems today. Safety has also never been as bureaucratized as it is today. Over the past two decades, the number of safety rules and statutes has exploded, and organizations themselves are creating ever more internal compliance requirements. Bureaucracy and compliance now seem less about managing the safety of workers, and more about managing the liability of the people they work for.

At the same time, progress on safety has slowed. Many incident and injury rates have flatlined. Worse, excellent safety performance on low-consequence events tends to increase the risk of fatalities and disasters. We make workers do a lot that does nothing to improve their success locally. And paradoxically, the tightening of safety bureaucracy robs us of exactly the source of human insight, creativity and resilience that can tell us how success is actually created, and where the next accident may well come from.

It is time for Safety Anarchists: people who trust people more than process, who rely on horizontally coordinating experiences and innovations, who push back against petty rules and coercive compliance, and who help recover the dignity and expertise of human work.

©2018 Sidney Dekker (P)2018 Sidney Dekker

Worth a listen

Mr. Dekker has presented thought-provoking ideas for years. In this outing, he does no less certainly worth a listen for safety professionals and operational managers.

Safety and Political systems can learn from this.

Correlations between political systems and safety systems abound. Really centers around psychology of workers and safety management. Dekker may consider using another narrator, his voice is a little unique.

Killed it Sidney.

Mate, as an Aussie in Mining Safety you know I know what you're saying and I appreciate you saying it... I must however point out something you skimmed over - mining industry regulators and retail regulators are not the same beast. Especially a monster regulator such as QLD Coal. Much of what you're referring to regarding "risk" is rats and mice in an underground coal mine. We killed over 100 men and boys in the 80's/90's explosions due to Mine Mgrs doing what you suggest - let them "self-govern". Some safety cultures are so inbred with distrust and resent that they almost toe the line of malice in their collective decision making styles. You talk "work the rule" these guys do it death, sometimes literally. Love to talk more about it - hit me on LinkedIn "Adrian Thompson - BHP".

Extraordinario e inspirador

Todos los que estemos comprometidos en
abrazar el cambio para avanzar en la
Complejidad e incertidumbre lo debemos
Leer o escuchar no una
Varias veces.
Muchas gracias al profesor Dekker

Pure Gold by Sidney Dekker

My first book I read by Sidney Dekker was on Just Culture, as part of my Masters degree research, and this was his second book which I bought as an audio book.

Again, Dekker makes genuinely profound observations that shakes the foundations of conventional wisdom around safety and operational practices. This should not only be required reading/listening for safety specialists, but also for managers in organizations where operations safety is a concern.

I especial appreciated Dekker narrating his own book. His performance is excellent and I generally enjoy when authors narrate their own books as they give the deeper meaning- only they can tell the story with the profoundness intended.

Safety Do-Over

A slow starting book but some super ideas were presented in the last 3 chapters. I'd like to try some out, could be tricky in a bureaucracy organization whose existence is about enforcement and the Taylorism view of predetermined "best" way to perform work with a mindset that is set on compliance only.

interesting set of challenges for organisations

Good challenges to too much bureaucracy and some great anecdotes of well meaning idiocy in organisations. Highly recommended.

Eastwood reads safety...

The author of the book was also the narrator. In had issue trying to concentrate due to his voice sounding like Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood). Also, had trouble with his over use several words. For instance., I hope I never here "authoritarian high modernism" ever Gain. The author did have some valid points and I will use it in my field. I just struggled to finish the book.