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Recent lapses in the management of high hazard organizations, such as the Fukushima event or the Deepwater Horizon blast, add considerable urgency to better understand the complicated and complex phenomena of leading and managing high reliability organizations (HRO). The purpose of this paper is to offer both theoretical and practical insight to further strengthen reliability in high hazard organizations.

Phenomenological study based on over three years of research and thousands of hours of study in HROs conducted through a scholar-practitioner partnership.

The findings indicate that the identification and the management of competing tensions arising from misalignment within and between public policy, organizational strategy, communication, decision-making, organizational learning, and leadership is the critical factor in explaining improved reliability and safety of HROs.

Stops short of full-blown grounded theory. Steps were made to ensure validity; however, generalizability may be limited due to sample.

Provides insight into reliably operating organizations that are crucial to society where errors would cause significant damage or loss.

Extends high reliability research by investigating more fully the competing tensions present in these complex, societally crucial organizations.

In light of and due to the spike in concern regarding high hazard industries, in general, and nuclear power plants (NPPs) in particular, resulting from the Japanese earthquake and crisis at Fukushima, the purpose of this paper is to offer an innovative organizational development (OD) intervention that may enhance safety and operational performance directed at these critical organizations.

Drawing on and integrating key elements of strategy, leadership coaching and development and assessment, the authors describe and detail an intervention designed to bring a troubled NPP to a state of reliability.

It was found that performance improved in a relatively short amount of time from implementing this OD tool.

The findings contained herein may apply to any organization aiming to improve on safety and operational performance.

The paper's findings should appeal to high hazard and high reliability organizations, such as those found within the energy industry, that must continuously strive toward improved operational and safety performance.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review the research literature on safety coaching, with a particularly focus towards work in safety critical environments such as oil and gas, manufacturing and driving.

A literature review was undertaken of existing research, specifically in high-hazard industries, to assess whether safety coaching could be applied in the offshore oil and gas industry.

The paper suggests that coaching may offer some potential in helping support learning, behaviour change and is consistent with feedback and development approaches used in behavioural-based safety.

Further research would be needed to test the value of coaching to this new environment.

The paper informs practice on the development of coach training for safety coaching offshore.

The paper offers a new understanding of the potential of safety coaching in a new area of practice.

The purpose of this paper is to present a data collection tool that is not new, however, has been very effective as an assessment tool in a 2012 research study investigating the ability of new entrants to underground mining to effectively identify hazards within their work areas.

The study set about to determine if after a full days’ health and safety induction training entrants new to the mining industry could identify hazards contained in photographs of the work areas they would be working in the next day.

Using a picture-based survey as an assessment or data collection tool provides a fun way to access data. This is particularly useful when trying to engage participants who are unwilling to provide data, as in this case, after a full day's health and safety induction. The tool was viewed as a puzzle and therefore encouraged completion. In addition, if the tool is used to feedback the “answers” to the group after they have been assessed it also serves as a learning device.

The results of the research have been published elsewhere and are not the topic of this paper; instead in this paper a picture-based survey tool is presented as a valid and useful data collection method for qualitative research.

The study results in terms of the use of a picture-based tool as an assessment is of value to those conducting health and safety induction training as it may achieve better engagement.

Neither capture theory, nor neo‐conservative theory and technical failure arguments adequately account for the behaviour of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) during the 1970s. A framework drawn from organisation theory suggests that regulatory failure is due to a crisis of compliance resources caused by a flawed legislative mandate. Lacking effective compliance mechanisms, regulatory agencies are forced into a bargaining posture rather than an enforcement stance towards industry. This leads to creation of de facto policy which diverges substantially from the original legislative mandate, and this is read as evidence for regulation failure.

Since its introduction in 1992, the balanced scorecard (BSC) has rapidly gained in importance throughout the world. Harvard Business Review even selected it as one of the most important management tools of the past 75 years. This paper takes the performance indicators used in an offshore health‐and‐safety benchmarking study carried out by Aberdeen University on 13 offshore installations operating on the UK Continental Shelf and relates them to the BSC framework. The results from the benchmarking study are discussed from the perspective of suggesting which indicators should populate each perspective of the BSC: financial, customer, internal business and learning and growth. In addition the paper includes the results of interviews conducted with senior managers in the UK and Norwegian oil and gas sector, about use of the BSC in general and with regard to health and safety performance indicators in particular. Reasons for including occupational health and safety in the BSC and reports/papers covering occupational health and safety indicators and the BSC are discussed.

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Effective management is a must for any business organization. In certain sectors though, such capabilities become even more imperative. Industries defined as being extremely hazardous are a case in point. Nuclear power plants illustrate this perfectly. Safety is obviously paramount in these complexes to the point where even a minor mishap can have grave consequences. When more serious accidents occur, devastating effects on humanity and the environment is virtually inevitable. Think Chernobyl. You'd be forgiven then for assuming that performance in all nuclear energy stations would be comparable and of the required standard. And why not? After all, the structural design and technology used is largely homogenous. Any differences in these respects are inconsequential.

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

Malaysia plans to be a fully developed and industrialized country by year 2020. Malaysia has achieved good progress in the industrial sector. The industrial sector is operating plants and factories using and storing hazardous substances in quantities exceeding the threshold quantities. The plants that are dealing with hazardous substances exceeding the threshold quantity are classified as major hazard installations (MHIs). Some MHIs are located in heavily populated areas. Experience shows that MHIs pose a risk to the workers and the neighbors of the plants. Malaysia has taken the preventive measures to protect the workers and the public. The preventive measures have been taken through establishment of authorities to set major hazard control regulations, enforcing the regulations, assessing the safety reports and emergency plans, conducting audits and accident investigations. This paper reviews, in brief, the international regulations and guidelines of major hazard control. The paper also reviews the Malaysian experience of major hazard control.