Johan Bergström

Dear readers, I am currently in thesis-writing-mode. That is the main reason why I have not picked up some of the latest interesting topics out there in a blog-reflection. The writing effort goes in to the thesis in order to get it done before the summer. However some short reflections can be made.

First of all: What a fantastic class of master students we have taken in to the master program in Human Factors and Systems Safety! Amanda, Sue, Kristine, Stephen, David, Michel, Juha-Pekka, Ralf, Hadi: You guys rock! The amount of experience in that group is just amazing and I am really privileged getting to spend the coming two years in close interaction with all of you. The learning laboratory last week was full of interesting discussions, deep dives into the theoretical pool of human factors and systems safety, stories from nuclear plants, hospitals, subways, mines and icy airplane wings, and nice social evenings in Lund. Being able to continue to run the master program is nothing but …

A central part of my work concerns applying complexity thinking to understand (or interpret) normal (and non-normal) work in high-risk environments. In order to do so the first thing one must do is to argue for the need for such an approach and the benefits of applying it. That is what we have tried to do in a publication, that has now been published in the journal Cognition, Technology & Work, and that I am much proud of.

In this article we use the data that I have gathered during a couple of years of working close to the healthcare domain. Results form observatory studies, interviews and participation in debriefing sessions following serious incidents build up the argument that in order to understand the limits of compliance-based approaches to deliver care we need to understand the complexities of healthcare work and the paradox of using compliance-based approaches to manage complex situations. The conclusion is that with complex systems being resilient when they are diverse t…

And so at last it is time to welcome the new group of master students to their first learning laboratory here in Lund. They come flying in from all over the world this weekend and from Monday to Friday next week we will have an intense week of interacting and learning together.

This is the kickoff of the one-year master program in human factors and systems safety that the students will go through mainly from a distance. The study speed is half-time, so it will take them two years to finish. During these two years the students will take reading courses in the new view of human factors and systems safety, theories of risk and accidents, the ethical aspects of safety, qualitative method, and finally they will have the opportunity to use their own organizations as data sources for their thesis work. Three times over their first study year we will gather in Lund for one-week learning laboratories.

These one-week interactive courses are also open for participants that are not students in th…