How to get the airline safety revolution into the laboratories
Following a series of fatal crashes in the mid-1990s, the approach to safety in aviation has changed dramatically, with the most recent commercial flight disaster reported in 2009 in the United States.
A coalition of federal regulators, industry executives, and pilots-union leaders initiated voluntary incident reporting programs. These programs encouraged airline workers to share data without fear of punishment when errors were discovered. This collaborative effort has significantly improved flight safety, reducing the fatality rate to one in every 120 million. And maybe most importantly, these voluntarily introduced modifications to internal airline protocols were quicker and less intrusive compared to adjustments mandated by regulatory bodies. Gradually, these initiatives evolved into more advanced programs for collecting and sharing data, always aiming to identify forewarnings to accidents.1
As Andy Pasztor concludes in the WSJ article ‘The Airline Safety Revolution’1, the remarkable improvement in U.S. aviation safety can be largely attributed to the analysis of flight data in addition to reports from pilots, mechanics, and air traffic controllers each year. It became clear that repetitive mistakes were occurring without being openly discussed. Some of the solutions implemented were straightforward, such as requiring flight crews to verbally confirm inputs and outputs in the cockpit. This collective commitment to transparency and improvement has been key to enhancing aviation safety.
The positive changes to the approach have led to high safety standards in the aviation industry, partly also due to the public and media attention incidents attract, compelling the industry to uphold stringent safety and transparency measures. Conversely, laboratories —ranging from academic to industrial settings— face similar challenges in standardizing safety practices due to their diverse nature and the less immediate visibility of accidents’ consequences. In the book “Pandora’s Gamble,” investigative reporter Alison Young delves into the risks associated with leaks and accidents in scientific laboratories. She recounts some of the worst lab accidents in history and highlights the concerning gaps in safety and accident reporting even at renowned laboratories. Additional fears of repercussions like funding loss or reputation damage, may lead to underreporting of incidents.
Unlike aviation, laboratory incidents seldom receive the same public scrutiny, which can lessen external motivation for safety improvements. The varied nature of laboratory work, encompassing everything from routine analyses to pioneering research with unknown risks, adds complexity to establishing uniform safety protocols.
Despite these challenges, achieving a robust safety culture also in laboratories is possible by adopting strategies from aviation. This includes creating standardized, non-punitive reporting systems, enhancing regulatory oversight, boosting safety training, and fostering an environment where the focus is on safety and transparency. Encouraging a culture where reporting is viewed as a learning opportunity is crucial.
Improving laboratory safety is achievable with the collective action from researchers, managers, institutions, and regulators to emphasize safety and leverage post-mortem analysis thus copying aviation’s success in safety culture development.
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-airline-safety-revolution-11618585543