You can purchase Nippin’s ebook here: https://amzn.asia/d/b7cdD8g
At last, a book has been released that challenges the populist myths that consume Safety about incident investigation. However, this is not just a book of critique of investigation myths but a positive, practical and constructive exploration of better methods to tackle the way we investigate.
For those who know Dr Nippin Anand, they will be familiar with his podcasting over the past years on exploring differences. He has also developed significant expertise related to the Costa Concordia disaster including interviews with Captain Francesco Schettino. But this book is not just about that disaster. This book is a rich exploration of how investigations shape their own reality and what can be done about it.
Nippin’s extensive experience as a Master Mariner plays a unique role in his worldview, including his many experiences with a diversity of people across the maritime industry. His own understanding of risk and faith are critical to his unique perspective. After all, we know through the excellent history of risk by Bernstein (Against the Gods, the Remarkable Story of Risk – https://matrixtrainings.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/against-the-gods-the-remarkable-story-of-risk-1996-peter-l-bernstein.pdf) that human understandings of risk, insurance and safety, can be traced back to the throwing of dice and the nature of maritime travel/trade.
The structure of the book is outlined semiotically as follows:
The book takes a Transdisciplinary approach in thinking and this means that it doesn’t exclude worldviews outside of traditional risk and safety approaches to investigations. Indeed, the common risk and safety myths of: Swiss-Cheese, Bow-Tie, linearality and root cause are demonstrated to be part of the problem when we explore normalised traditions in investigation methods. However, as you can tell from the map above, the book starts with critique but ends with a very practical and different approach to investigations based on a visual/verbal method (iCue™).
By being open to Transdisciplinary ways of thinking, this book is open to learn from disciplines other than the common Behaviourist/Engineering approach to risk. In consistency with ‘embracing differences’ this book is open to thinking from: Semiotics, Poetics, Religion, Anthropology and Aesthetics. Indeed, Nippin’s academic work as an Anthropologist stands out from the risk and safety sector that remains enclosed in the mono-disciplinarity of Engineering. In this worldview the language that dominates is the ‘control of hazards’. In Nippin’s book, the focus is on persons, listening, care, helping and learning.
Nippin maps the disciplines included in the perspective of this book early in Chapter One:
As you can see from the map, the discipline of STEM is present but also does not take dominance over other disciplines. This is a vital difference in what this book offers. Indeed, the first chapter uses the ancient symbolism of the mandala to locate an understanding of learning as embodied movement and holding balance between a dialectic of perspectives.
The second chapter embraces an understanding of ritual and so is open to all that can be learned from Religion, faith and Semiotics, when considering why humans do what they do. Without an understanding of the power of myth, ritual, fallibility, ethics and symbolism, it is unlikely that one can understand culture. And without an open approach to culture, most Engineering approaches to risk manufacture an investigation method anchored to linearality and systems.
Similarly, a mature understanding of myth is critical to understanding how many safety activities are anchored to manufactured meaning embedded in popular investigation methods. In many ways, these popular approaches construct a process to satisfy an ideological assumption. Are We Learning From Accidents? is populated with many examples, case studies and stories that support much of the discussion on myths in popular approaches to investigation.
One of the features of this book is that it speaks of many things not part of any discourse on the market about investigations. For example: the discussion of humans as Embodied Mind is critical for understanding learning. The discussion of the work of Damasio is foundational for understanding the nature of learning.
This book doesn’t shy away from discussing: the emotions, feelings, homeostasis, healing or the unconscious, all neglected by populist approaches to investigation. Yet, without such an understanding one remains deluded by the myths of objectivity in investigation. Indeed, the biases of the investigator and investigation design, are mostly what shapes typical investigation outcomes. This is what happens before a question is asked and how ‘judge, jury and executioner’ are manifest in popular investigation methods.
One of the features of this book is that it tackles the ‘elephant in the room’ – fallibility. Unless we understand fallibility, subjectivity and the nature of human personhood, it is unlikely that an investigator will include such consciousness in their investigation.
By the time we get to Chapter 10-16 we have a wonderful framework to begin exploring all the eventuated with the Costa Concordia disaster. These chapters are the backbone for a new approach to a different methodology of investigations. The story of the Costa Concordia is told through the lens of all that has been before in a Transdisciplinary understanding of risk.
The chapter on scapegoating and the depth of analysis based in Girard (https://archive.org/details/scapegoat0000gira) is something rarely discussed in any text on investigations. This chapter is unique to any other book on investigation.
This is not a short book (448 pages) and although easily readable, demands a commitment to work though critical concepts before one is ready for the final chapters on learning.
By the final stage of the book, one knows that learning is not ‘telling’, fixing’, ‘data’, ‘information’ or ‘training’. And so, chapter 16 forward has a focus on a practical alternative approach to investigation that focuses on the true nature of learning as embodied movement.
And so, I will leave you to explore these final chapters and the concluding case study that brings the themes and narrative of this book together. Enjoy.
You can purchase Nippin’s ebook here: https://amzn.asia/d/b7cdD8g
You can contact Nippin here: nippin.anand@novellus.solutions
You can see Nippin’s work here: https://novellus.solutions/
You can catch Nippin’s podcasts here: https://novellus.solutions/podcasts/
Andy says
Beautifully written and offers a method consistent with it’s methodology.
“…the problem is not one of individual capacity, but one that arises from a lack of emotional, embodied and holistic engagement with a traumatised person. In those moments when the captain was experiencing trauma, what was needed was a ‘critical friend’ who could earn his trust, engage in a conversation, listen to him and question his assumptions.”
I know this is true. I’ve lived it. Well done Nippin.
Mark Taylor says
Hi Rob
Thanks for the link
Looks a fantastic book
You might want to mention the book is available from the main Amazon site and mine was $NZ10 cheaper
I’ve just had my appendix removed today so it will be occupy my mind over the next few days in recovery.
If anyone is looking to design learner centred training, I strongly recommend reading Course Design Strategy – The Art of Making Prople Learn by Eathan Honary
Apart from the ‘Making’ verb it’s a dam good book for many adpects of health and safety
Rob Long says
Thanks Mark, yes it is available through amazon in paper-based version. Hope for a speedy recovery.
Admin says
I think if you click on the link then Amazon will take you to your local site? That was my experience anyway