This week on Safety Labs by Safety Products Global: Edward Tenner. Edward explores how disasters - from the Titanic to Covid - reveal hidden risks in safety systems. He highlights the dominant issues so EHS professionals can reconsider the potentially harmful unintended consequences of safety design. Edward shares timeless lessons on how understanding history can improve workplace safety today.
In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Edward Tenner, a renowned author and lecturer at Princeton University, whose work explores the intersections of history, technology, and safety.
Edward draws on his seminar “Understanding Disasters,” examining major events like the Titanic, the World Trade Centre, Fukushima and Covid to expose how hidden risks can break safety systems.
He highlights how overlooked factors such as ‘gray rhinos’ and ‘mode errors’ have contributed to serious failures, demonstrating the unintended consequences of well-meaning safety measures.
Through examples of expert decisions and system designs that didn’t work as intended, he encourages safety managers to vigilantly scan the horizon for subtle signals of weaknesses..
This episode offers EHS professionals practical insights and historical lessons that help you identify emerging hazards to make workplaces safer.
