PreAccident Investigation Podcast

In this episode Todd Conklin explores the paradox of procedures: they keep work stable but also limit flexibility. He explains how procedures can be both necessary and constraining in high-risk, high-consequence environments. Todd highlights the value of incremental safety—making small, thoughtful changes over time—while building communities of practice to better prepare organizations for an uncertain future. He closes with practical advice: treat procedures as thresholds rather than one right way, focus on learning from everyday work, foster resilient systems, and remember to take care of yourself while having some fun.

Todd Conklin talks with Corey Pitzer about fatality prevention, Human and Organizational Performance (HOP), and how safety thinking has shifted globally.They explore controversial views—treating workers as problem-solvers, tensions between engineering/energy-based approaches and systemic/new-view thinking—and use real examples to show why designing systems that absorb variation matters more than trying to eliminate risk.

In this episode, Todd Conklin joins Amir Shahzad to discuss human and organizational performance, resilience, and how to design systems that allow failures to be caught and recovered before they become disasters. They explore the gap between work as imagined and work as done, the value of learning from everyday work, and practical steps leaders can take to create safer, more resilient workplaces.They also cover cultural change, the role of procedures, adaptive behavior, and the potential—and risks—of AI in safety, all delivered with a mix of practical advice and light-hearted rapid-fire questions.

Host Todd Conklin interviews fatigue expert Mark Rosekind, PhD about his path from sleep research to roles at NASA, the NTSB, and NHTSA, and how sleep science applies across transportation and safety-critical work. Key takeaways: think of sleep like a bank account (sleep debt), "start in the black" before major schedule changes, the benefits of strategic naps, and systemic ways organizations can reduce fatigue to improve performance, health, and safety.

In this clip from the Pre‑Accident Investigation Podcast and Punk Rock Safety, Todd joins Ron, Ben, and David to debate why safety innovation is stalling, where new ideas are coming from, and who’s pushing practice forward. They explore barriers like regulatory pressure, the pull of “normal,” and the difference between improving safety and redesigning work.Using examples from pediatric intensive care and other domains, the conversation highlights pockets of progress, the danger of idea corruption, and the need to embrace experimentation, rethink systems, and find the next generation of thinkers to advance safety practice.

This episode previews a small workshop in Santa Fe where Todd Conklin, Ann Lyren, and guest ReDonda Vaught will explore a tragic patient safety case. They frame accidents as the unexpected combination of normal performance variability and discuss how to learn from such incidents. Listeners will hear about the meeting goals (March 31–April 1), opportunities to chart the event, and practical tactics for organizations to identify and respond to accumulating risks, with cross-industry lessons and a focus on improving safety culture.

Todd Conklin explores why its so difficult to measure events that never happen and how traditional safety metrics can mislead organizations. He argues for focusing on metrics that validate safeguards and create desired outcomes rather than only counting accidents.The episode also touches on automation risks, the limits of frequency-based measures, and the need for better leading indicators and verification practices to keep systems safe even when nothing appears to go wrong.

10. New Year’s Eve recap reflecting on a busy 2016 and the journey ahead into 2017.9. Host shares personal travel highlights and experiments in gratitude and generosity.8. Announces a 2017 focus on seeking and affirming the fundamental goodness in people.7. Reviews safety’s evolution: from compliance (Safety One) to safety-by-design (process safety).6. Explains the current phase emphasizing human performance and managing variability rather than blaming workers.5. Notes that incidents have become rarer and traditional metrics are less predictive.4. Discusses fatalities as outlier events that require different thinking and study.3. Invites listeners to run small sociological experiments to improve everyday interactions.2. Celebrates the collective progress in safety and the privilege of contributing to that change.1. Ends with a New Year’s wish: be with each other, keep managing uncertainty wisely, and have a great 2017.