Central Safety Group Melbourne

October 2019

Safety Clutter and What to do About it

Presentation by: Dr David Provan, Managing Director, Forge Works

Presentation package now available (members only)

Does OHS in your workplace feel weighed down by paperwork, rules and procedures? Dr David Provan said this can be due to ‘safety clutter’, described in a study he co-authored as "the accumulation of safety procedures, documents, roles and activities that are performed in the name of safety, but do not contribute to the safety of operational work." Worse, this can create negative beliefs and attitudes to safety, according to the research.
David spoke about how to identify ‘safety clutter’, what to do about it and how to remove it in a lunchtime presentation to Central Safety Group on Thursday, 10 October.
He said that clutter can take the form of too many rules and procedures, duplication and ‘tick the box’ safety activities. This can include meetings, audits, observations and investigation processes that are not actually reducing the risk of safety incidents. David explained how to ‘de-clutter’ without affecting legal compliance and certification.

The presenter:

Dr David Provan, a leading safety thinker and practitioner, is the former General Manager, Health, Safety and Environment for Origin Energy. He has more than 20 years of safety management experience across several high-hazard industries with international operations. David is the founder of safety consultancy firm Forge Works, and also a part-time lecturer and researcher at Queensland’s Griffith University. He has a Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Psychology), Masters of Health Science (Risk Management and OHS), Masters of Business Administration (Finance) and a PhD in Safety Science, where his research thesis was titled, “What is the role of a Safety Professional? The identity, practice and future of the profession”.