Learning from successful operations

Safety, in the sense of accident-free operations, has received less attention from safety scientists than accidents. This applies to theory development and empirical work, and even more to the development of methods and tools to promote learning from experience. This project explores how safety is achieved in operations that are more or less successful, that is, situations where accidents and negative concequences do not occur. The overall objective of this project is to develop knowledge and guidelines for improving the learning from operations which do not result in major accidents. An important sub-objective is to identify factors contributing to success in dealing with critical situations, and factors which promote or prevent learning from successful operations. The proposed project will provide (1) new scientific approaches to study successful operations, (2) documentation of cases of successful operations that can be used for educational purposes and metaanalysis, (3) new theoretical accounts of successful operations, and (4) methods and guidelines that can be used by companies to analyse and learn from successful operations (e.g. in incident investigations, debriefing and training activities). The knowledge gained from this project will be important for oil companies in reducing risk of major accidents. Project results will also contribute to improved understanding of operational and organisational barrier elements and application of project findings should improve barrier management in the petroleum industry. The project will promote the development of relevant educational programmes and other knowledge-disseminating activities.​ Main project manager is Ranveig Kviseth Tinmannsvik, Sintef