Learning Laboratories in Human Factors and System Safety

Our understanding of accidents, risk and safety is changing. We no longer see human error as cause, but as a symptom. We recognize the exciting possibilities of systems thinking for accident analysis and organizational improvement. We are shifting from reliability to resilience and the enhancement of adaptive capacity. We look for new relationships between stakeholders to create forms of accountability that do not harm safety.

Our Learning Laboratories are for professionals and practitioners who want to expand their knowledge and practical skills for the safety challenges of the twenty-first century. They offer you the latest thinking in the new view of human factors, accountability, accident models, and resilience engineering. The Learning Laboratories are intimately connected with the dynamic research base of the Lund University Center for Complexity and Systems Thinking.

Each Learning Laboratory is conducted during three or four intensive days at Lund University in Sweden. You and your co-participants develop new knowledge and skills through lectures, case material, exercises, group discussions and even extramural interactions. As active participant, you play a role in what you get out of each Learning Laboratory, where you will learn how to see and debate the various viewpoints on difficult topics in safety and human factors. You will be in the company of people with similar experiences and concerns, enriching your learning experience considerably.

Just Culture, Accountability and Complexity

June 18 - 21, 2012

with Prof. Sidney Dekker, at Lund University

In most safety-critical activities, societies and organizations demand that practitioners are held accountable for their mistakes. But what does accountability mean, how can we reconcile the notions of complexity and accountability, and how can we prevent it from clashing with drawing lessons from mistakes and failures in complex systems? By going through ideas on accountability, deviance, punishment and ethics, this lab will help you learn how to balance pressures for learning with holding people responsible, and build the basis for a just culture.

Learning Laboratory cost and entry requirements

There are no specific entry requirements for a Learning Laboratory, except a genuine interest in the topic under consideration and the ability to contribute with questions and examples from your own experience or industry.

Participation costs 10.000,- SEK (plus VAT where applicable) for each Learning Laboratory. This does not include cost for the books that we may recommend you to read, nor the cost of travel or accommodation.

Swedish law does not allow students to pay for their own education, so we will need information from your employer or other applicable sponsor for your participation in the Learning Laboratory.

You will be awarded a Testimonium upon completion.

If you want to participate, you can find the application form at the top of this page. For more information you can reach us at: Johan.Bergstrom@lucram.lu.se

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