Safety Can't Be Measured

Safety improvement has actually slowed to a standstill. In Safety Can't Be Measured, Andrew Townsend suggests the main reason is the failure to recognise the evolution in accident causation and to evolve with it. He contends that everyone is trying to continuously improve something in which improvement cannot be measured. What is measured is the absence of safety - through incidents, injuries and the occurrence of ill health. We cannot justify these ways and claim success by association, without admitting there might be other explanations. Through these short chapters, occupational health and safety is put in context by demystifying the research, regulation and management of health and safety. Using evidence, Townsend challenges orthodox dogma, demonstrating that currently unused data could help deduce how safety really works, and thus support alternative thought processes from which new approaches to risk reduction and safety management could emerge.