Episode 33 – We Don’t Kill Enough People

This episode discusses measurement of safety and the Imperial Sugar disaster. Measurement is the foundation of both research and business improvement. If we can't compare two companies, or our own company at two points in time, how can we know whether our safety management is working? How can we know if our safety management is even likely to work? For major accident hazards, there simply aren't enough data points to measure the effect of individual safety improvements. We can work backward in time to create more data, but that then makes that same data less reliable. Once we've twisted your brain enough with the various methods of safety measurement, we'll relax by talking about a series of deadly explosions at a sugar factory.