About me

Chartered Human Factors Professional

C.ErgHF, FCIEHF, CMIOSH, MSc(Eng), MSc(Eng), BSc(Hons)

Follow me at humanfactors101.com

Find me on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/humanfactors101

I’m a graduate in Psychology with over 30 years experience in human factors and safety management in relation to major hazards and complex systems. I also have two Master of Engineering degrees in complementary subjects – human factors, and process safety. Prior to joining an oil and gas company in 2013, I played a key role in developing human factors within a Regulator – the UK Health & Safety Executive (UK HSE).

I was a HSE Specialist Inspector for over 12 years, regulating human, management, cultural and organisational aspects on over 150 major hazard sites, both on and offshore. My experience includes planned inspection, incident investigation, safety report/safety case assessment, provision of expert evidence and formal enforcement. I was most-recently a specialist in HSE’s Offshore Division for 5 years, providing human and organisational factors input to interventions on a range of offshore installations, including production platforms, mobile drilling units and FPSOs.

Prior to the HSE Specialist Inspector role, I spent several years in two human factors consultancies working across a range of safety-critical industries throughout Europe; and for a few years I was a Psychologist at the HSE’s research laboratory (now HSL).

I’m a Chartered Member and Fellow (2005) of the UK Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors (CIEHF). I was a non-Executive Director of the CIEHF for 10 years. In 2012 I was honoured to be awarded the William Floyd Award by the CIEHF for outstanding and innovative contributions to ergonomics and human factors.

From 2004 to 2008 I was Chair of the CIEHF Conferences & Events Committee, overseeing the organisation of a wide range of events. In 2007 I proposed and created a highly-successful international conference on ‘Human and Organisational Factors in the Oil, Gas and Chemical Industries’ for the Institute, and organised subsequent events in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014.

I’m also a Chartered Member of the UK Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (CMIOSH), and was a Registered European Ergonomist before moving to Australia in 2013.

In 2005 I was awarded the Hutchison Medal by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) for my widely-read ‘magic bullet’ paper on behavioural safety, which I presented at the Hazards conference in 2004.

I’m passionate about sharing lessons from incidents, sharing lessons between industries and communicating human factors to as wide an audience as possible. I regularly give Keynotes and presentations at conferences and industry events. I’m a member of the IOGP Human Factors Sub-Committee, the IOGP Fatigue Task Force and the APPEA Human Factors Sub-Committee.

I was the Editor of ‘Contemporary Ergonomics and Human Factors‘ in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 (Published by Taylor & Francis; Available on Amazon).

My interests include human error, human reliability assessment, safety culture, safety leadership, organisational failures, resilience, non-technical skills, complex systems, major accidents, process safety and reliability. I’ve created a website humanfactors101.com containing a large free resource of guidance and supporting materials on the key human factors topics.

My influences

I have been influenced by several professionals over the years, and I’d like to recognise these here:

• Dr A.W. (Sandy) MacRae, School of Psychology, the University of Birmingham, UK; for helping me to see the practical applications of psychology (initially, in relation to the design of helicopter instrument panels), arranging my vacation employment in the School, and for directing me to study for a Masters in human factors.

• Barry Kirwan, whilst teaching at the University of Birmingham; who introduced myself (and many others) to task analysis, human reliability assessment and major hazards, thus opening up a whole new world for me.

• The late Dr Nick Hurst at the UK HSE’s Research and Laboratory Services Division, Sheffield, (now the Health and Safety Laboratory) for his mentoring and coaching, for suggesting that I study for a Masters in Process Safety and Loss Prevention – changing my career forever – and for our conversations about cars. Auditing: A European perspective, (Hurst, N.W., Hankin, R., Bellamy, L.J. and Wright, M.J., J. Loss Prev. Process Ind., 1994, Volume 7, Number 2).

• Dr Linda Bellamy of whitequeen.nl, formerly of Four Elements; who has forgotten more about human and organisational factors than I will ever hope to learn; for her vision around the audit of organisational factors and safety management systems. (www.researchgate.net/profile/Linda-Bellamy).

• John Wilkinson, my partner in crime at the UK Health and Safety Executive for many years; for leadership and collaboration, helping to make history one intervention at a time, for the humour, the wardrobes, friendship and the car shares.