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The Australian federal government and the state government of Queensland have invested nearly a billion Australian dollars (€610m) in quantum computing startup PsiQuantum to build the world’s first ‘useful’ quantum computer.

As part of the deal, Silicon Valley-based PsiQuantum will move its base to Brisbane.

Quantum computing, regarded as the next frontier of computing, has largely been a private bet so far, with tech giants such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft investing billions into developing the technology.

Founded by Australian researchers Jeremy O’Brien and Terry Rudolph, PsiQuantum also took the same route when it incorporated itself as a company in Silicon Valley in 2015.

Having missed the bus with large-scale manufacturing of photovoltaics and silicon chips, Australia is keen to ensure that quantum computing technology remains on its shores.

Therefore, its government is investing in a startup that wants to make a useful quantum computer.

A ‘useful’ quantum computer

Although companies engaged in building quantum computers suggest that the next generation of computers will rapidly solve problems, their initial attempts to demonstrate its workings are quite far from real-world problems.

Cathy Foley, Australia’s Chief Scientist, told ABC Radio Brisbane that quantum computers would soon be a part of our everyday lives and revolutionise how we solve problems like finding routes for trucking, organising ports, or handling logistics for the Olympics scheduled for Brisbane in 2032.

PsiQuantum says it will build the world’s first 'fault-tolerant' quantum computer that is error-free, unlike other quantum computers being built today. This will make quantum computers useful for defence and industry research applications.

How is PsiQauntum’s tech different?

The quantum computing industry also focuses on error reduction and aims to achieve this by building quantum computers with more physical qubits.

Silicon Photonic Wafer (Zoomed) Credit: PsiQuantum.

PsiQauntum’s approach is also similar, but instead of using superconductors to build its quantum computer, the company is using a fusion-based approach where photons serve as qubits and are processed on semiconductor chips, much like today’s computers.

The company’s first utility-scale quantum computer is planned to have a million physical qubits and it will operate using cryogenic cooling.

Terry Rudolph, one of the founders of PsiQuantum, told ABC Radio Brisbane that Queensland researchers had been working on cracking the physics behind quantum computing for 25 years. But it was only in the last decade that these problems became solvable.

“Even if we turned all the silicon in the solar system into a classical computer, we would never be able to solve many problems,” Rudolph told the media outlet. “But with a quantum computer, the steps required to solve the problem would be vastly less.”

The company will now have a warehouse-sized facility by 2027.

“A utility-scale quantum computer represents an opportunity to construct a new, practical foundation of computational infrastructure and, in so doing, ignite the next industrial revolution,” said Prof Jeremy O’Brien, CEO at PsiQuantum, in the press release.

“This platform will help solve today’s impossible problems and will serve as a tool to design the solutions we so desperately need to safeguard our future.”

World’s first commercially ‘useful’ quantum computer to be put together by Australia

Presidential Address to members in Australia and New Zealand

A catastrophic stroke I suffered in 2020 forced me to medically retire in July 2022, ending my 36-year career that ranged from Ronan Point and the Channel Tunnel in the UK, to workplace and vehicle safety in Australia, writes Dan Leavy.

"Thinking the final 15 years of my career that were spent in developing vehicle safety policies with Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) had passed unnoticed, I was pleasantly surprised to find that in the Australian Honours list (an Australian system acknowledging outstanding service and contributions of Australians across all works of life), announced in June 2023, I was to receive the Public Service Medal (PSM) “for outstanding service through improving vehicle and road safety across the NSW road network”.

Dan Leavy with NSW governor Margaret Beazley. Photo: Rob Tuckwell.

While this is a tremendous honour in recognition of my career, it is notable that it was not awarded for any contribution I made to engineering itself, but rather for a range of policies, codes, consumer programmes, standards and regulations I developed and implemented for vehicle safety that helped reduce the road toll in NSW.

Although there are no dramatic engineering projects among them, my achievements were largely a result using my engineering mindset that allowed me to break complex technical subjects into logical components and to put these into plain English, which achieved results.

Significant contributions

What is most gratifying about the award is that it recognises that my contributions as a public servant to vehicle and road safety in NSW have helped reduce road trauma and may even have saved lives. Notable projects and programmes to which I made significant contributions include:

Restructuring the Child Restraint Evaluation Program (CREP) so that it gained the support of child car-seat manufacturers to the extent that some are now showing the CREP ratings on their products – see following link;
As a member of the Vehicle Safety Research Group, an Australasian committee that engaged Monash University’s accident Research Centre (MUARC) to carry out research programmes on in-service vehicles using its database of more than seven million real-world crashes. Every year, it released the Used Car Safety stings, an invaluable guide that emphasised safety for consumers looking for a used car. As chair for seven years, I directed that its projects contribute to the Australian or New Zealand Road Safety Strategies – see following link;
As NSW’s representative on the Commonwealth government’s Strategic Vehicle Safety and Environment Group responsible for overseeing the development and maintenance of mandatory standards for road vehicles supplied to the Australian market (known as the Australian Design Rules, or ADRs); there I was the principal advocate for the introduction of ABS brakes on motorcycles sold in Australia; and that the ADRs better align with international best practice and that Australia is quicker at adopting new international vehicle standards. I also updated the 'Guidelines for the construction of Street hotrods in Australia' “to better align with NSW’s vehicle regulations";
Contributed to the policy for seatbelts on rural and regional buses, and to the policy that applies to motor vehicles as a ‘place of work’;
Administering the Engineering Certification Scheme for vehicle modifications and one-off vehicles. For these vehicles I developed the handbook ‘Alternative means for demonstrating compliance with third Edition ADRs' that provided alternatives to destructive and impracticable tests;
Research for amending the legal definition of an ‘approved motorcycle helmet’ that enabled a wider range of helmets to be used in NSW. This was adopted across Australia;
As a member of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program ANCAP Council, developing ANCAP’s Variant policy that allowed a vehicle’s safety rating to be applied to variants and similar vehicles;
Specifying the minimum safety features for light vehicles used in the NSW government fleet;
Research that informed the legal specifications for power assisted pedal cycles, which also eliminated bicycles powered by a petrol engine. This was adopted across Australia;
Research that informed the regulations for bullbars in NSW.

Of all my achievements, two in particular stand out.

1) Developing a rating scheme for motorcycle protective clothing

I established an Australasian working group to look at improving motorcyclists’ safety by increasing the use of effective motorcycle protective clothing. This was in response to the number of motorcyclists represented in serious injury and fatality data, which was the subject of a NSW Government Staysafe inquiry.

The project eventually developed into 'the ‘motorcycle clothing assessment programme’, or MotoCAP. The working group engaged Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials laboratory to test items marketed as motorcycle protective clothing – jackets, pants and gloves (there was already an established programme for assessing helmets, while boots had to meet mandatory consumer standards).

These were tested for their resistance to the abrasion, impact and bursting, forces that are experienced in a typical motorcycle crash. The garment’s thermal insulation and its ability to wick sweat away from its wearer, and the waterproofness of clothing if marketed as such.

The tests were from established international standards, modified for Australian conditions. The results were assessed against carefully determined parameters and used to develop a world’s-first rating system for safety and thermal comfort, an important consideration in the harsh Australian climate.

In 2019, just two years after it was launched, MotoCAP was awarded the Federation Internationalede Motorotorcyclisme’s (FIM’s ) prestigious ‘Road Safety Award’ and I was presented with the FIM Road Safety Award on behalf of the MotoCAP members at their yearly event in Monaco in December 2019. For more information about MotoCap, see following Link.

Dan Leavy receiving his FIM award. Photo: Good Shoot.

2) Transforming a disused airport into a vehicle test facility

Recently, more and more vehicles have been fitted with active safety features – ones that deploy automatically without driver intervention – and some cars have even become fully autonomous. There was nowhere in Australia to test these systems and vehicles, so their suitability for the unique Australian environment could not be assessed, nor could new models be subjected to ANCAP’s full test regime.

View of the test track prior to its redevelopment. Photo: Dan Leavy.

View of test track following its redevelopment. Photo: Dan Leavy.

In 2016 ANCAP aligned its assessment protocols with EuroNCAP, (its European equivalent),which includes active safety features in its protocols. This meant that the safety ratings obtained in one programme could not be accepted by the other under their mutual recognition agreement. I was charged with resolving this problem, either by finding a suitable stretch of existing road where the tests could be conducted, or identifying a suitable site for constructing a test track.

I became aware of a disused airport at Cudal, a small town about 300km west of Sydney. As chance would have it, the airport was for sale. An initial reconnoitre of the site revealed a 1,600m-long runway that could form the basis of a test track and there was plenty of room on the 32-hectare site to expand into a facility for other road safety and transport infrastructure research.

However, the surface of the runway showed considerable distress, and there appeared to be some undulations along its length that would require levelling out.

TfNSW decided to initially lease the site to investigate its suitability as a test facility. Several preliminary investigations were required to determine if there were any indigenous artefacts or sacred sites present, and whether there was any Pfas (poisonous chemicals used in some airport firefighting foams) residue on the land and to fully deregister the site as an airport. This would remove the aerial restrictions and allow drones be used, as well as remove the risk of aircraft trying to use the site.

‘A gravity road’

A detailed survey of the runway showed the sub-base to be in excellent condition and my fears of it requiring extensive work to regrade it were unfounded; the apparent undulations along its length were caused by the profile of the adjacent land – this phenomenon is known as ‘a gravity road’ where cars can be seen to apparently roll uphill.

Overall, the site was shown to be favourable, but the runway did need resurfacing to reach the standard required for the test track. Fortunately, TfNSW includes a road section, with ready access to construction and maintenance contractors.

By the time all the necessary arrangements were in place, the work commenced in winter. This was not ideal given the cold conditions the region experiences. It regularly drops below freezing, and snow is not uncommon.

Despite this, the contractors achieved the very high standard required for the test track, including a constant maximum gradient of 1% along its 1,600m length, a maximum cross fall of 2%, and a coefficient of friction of 0.9%. Run-off hard shoulders were added along both sides, and a four-way intersection, and lanes marked using specific Australian lane markings.

At the same time the existing terminal building was renovated and fitted out as a modern office, and three hangars were transformed into vehicle workshops. The new test facility was opened in October 2019 by the minister for rural roads, and commissioning tests commenced shortly after.

TfNSW purchased the site and began commercial testing in early 2020 and it is realising the potential it showed when we first viewed it in 2016. Buoyed by the facility’s immediate success, TfNSW has already expanded it, by adding a new intersection, and branded it as ‘The Future Mobility Testing and Research Centre’, but still with a focus on safety – link

Author: Dan Leavy PSMBSc(ENg)CEngMIEI

Forward thinking: How this Australian-based Irish engineer used his engineering mindset to improve road safety

An Post has issued a stamp marking the 50th anniversary of Sydney Opera House, and the Irish engineer Peter Rice who brought its iconic design to life.

The stamp was unveiled on site at Sydney Opera House by consul general of Ireland Sydney, Rosie Keane; Kieran Rice, son of Peter Rice, the late Irish structural engineer who made possible the building’s infamous ‘white sails’ roof, Isabella Rice and Kerryn Coker, co-chair of Arup Australasia, the original design company.

Revolutionary modern structure

Irishman and structural engineer Peter Rice (1935-1992) played a central role in creating the revolutionary modern structure using his mathematical expertise and artistic intuition to convert concrete, steel and glass into a world-renowned building, famous for its iconic, white sails roof structure.

His son Kieran Rice, responding to the stamp issue, said: “We, Peter Rice’s family, are all really touched that his contribution to the Sydney Opera House design is being recognised with this wonderful First Day Cover of the commemorative stamp on 50th anniversary of the completion of the Sydney Opera House.

"The stamp is a lovely artwork in itself and Peter’s quote on the FDC is very well-chosen and is often used in our family to motivate his grandchildren.

"Peter was a proud Irishman, who worked across the globe on many iconic projects, but the Sydney Opera House was where it all started. He moved to Sydney in 1963 for three years with his wife, Sylvia, and two young daughters Julia and Heidi. Our time in Sydney had a huge impact on our family – Kieran was born there, and Sylvia still visits friends, who were made at that time, every year.

"Peter was very proud of his involvement with the Sydney Opera House design and construction especially his work on programming the setting out of the sails. He would have been humbled to be recognised in this way in his native Ireland.”

One of the most loved and recognised landmarks in the world

Consul general of Ireland Sydney Rosie Keane said: “50 years on from its construction, the Sydney Opera House is still one of the most loved and recognised landmarks in the world.

Kerryn Coker, Kieran Rice, and Isabella Rice.

"As the Irish consul general in Sydney I feel enormous pride that the Irish engineer Peter Rice played a significant part in the creation of this unique and graceful design. I was delighted to join with Kieran and Isabella Rice and Kerryn Coker from Arup at the Sydney launch of this An Post stamp, commemorating the great Peter Rice and his historic legacy in this city.”

An Post CEO David McRedmond said: “Ireland has been slow to recognise its contribution to Modernism. The 50^th anniversary of Sydney Opera House is the perfect time to celebrate the role of Irish people, and of engineer Peter Rice in particular, to the great canon of world-class architecture and engineering.”

Kieran Rice, Isabella Rice, and Rosie Keane.

An Post’s stamp shows a striking illustration of Sydney Opera House by renowned Irish artist David Rooney capturing the organic nature and acoustics of the building, while also referencing art created by First Nations Australians.

The ‘W’ rate international stamp €2.20 covers postage anywhere in the world and is available online at anpost.com/shop (with free delivery) and from the GPO and selected post offices nationwide.

The renowned engineer’s visionary career is also celebrated with a limited edition First Day Cover envelope featuring the new stamp alongside an illustration of Peter Rice and a quote from his writings – 'The courage you need is the courage to start. Once launched, then each step can be evolved naturally.'

An Post stamp marks Sydney Opera House 50th anniversary and Irish engineer Peter Rice who brought its iconic design to life

Ernest Macartney de Burgh was born in Dublin in 1863, in his father’s parish, writes Justin Waples. The Dublin neighbourhood he grew up in was historically known for its brickworks and marshland. Locals know it today though as Sandymount.

The son of Reverend William de Burgh and Janett Macartney, Ernest was educated at the Royal College of Science for Ireland, which later became part of University College Dublin. De Burgh went on to be awarded a diploma of civil engineering from the Council of Education of Great Britain and Ireland in 1883.

After a short stint working with an England-based engineering firm designing and constructing railways for Ireland, he was lured to the opportunities in Australia. In the 1880s, Australia was a booming, rapidly growing country, where workers enjoyed some of the highest wages anywhere in the world, sheep were plentiful, and there was gold to be had.

De Burgh was to become one of Australia’s most prominent engineers. His witty and likeable character, together with his engineering prowess, made him an Australian engineering legend.

Image: Ernest de Burgh (1863 – 1929), Wikimedia Creative Commons.

De Burgh arrived in Melbourne in 1885 on the Royal Mail Ship ‘Orient’. He quickly bypassed what was then considered the richest city in the world and made a beeline north to Sydney. It is no wonder he high-tailed it out of Melbourne as then the city was frequently referred to as ‘Smelbourne’. Its sanitary infrastructure was haemorrhaging under the rapidly increasing population.

About 900km north, in the coastal environs of Sydney Harbour, de Burgh was to begin his civil engineering career in earnest. Getting his foot in the door with the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Public Works as a surveyor, he quickly transitioned to building bridges all over the vast young state of NSW.

Fellow Irishman William Bennett helped him initially in making his way as a civil engineer in this new land, though it was De Burgh’s competency that truly forged his career.

Truss bridges were a favoured design in the early years of the NSW Department of Public Works. He developed a unique composite truss design that took advantage of the variety of construction materials that were quickly becoming available in the state.

By taking advantage of the characteristics of the different construction materials, de Burgh was able to design stiffer and sturdier truss bridges. This enabled him to achieve longer bridge spans than his local contemporaries.

The longest timber truss span built in the state was at Lane Cove River. It spanned 50 metres, and this record was attributed to de Burgh’s creative design approach.

The bridge was opened in December 1900 and was given the name De Burghs Bridge. Of the 20 plus truss bridges De Burgh designed, five remain listed under historic conservation status in NSW.

Furthermore, his unique truss designed was adopted as one of four truss design types to be frequently used by the state government. It became formally known as the de Burgh Truss, and was also employed on lift-span bridges in the state.

Image: Wagga Wagga Bridge 1895, Ernest de Burgh, 2nd from right; NSW Government.

To quote the NSW government… "The de Burg Truss includes the greatest variety of materials found in any of the NSW timber truss bridges, with mass concrete and reinforced concrete piers, rolled steel bottom chords, cast steel washer blocks, wrought iron cross girders, cast iron anchor blocks, brass in bearings and, of course, timber, for top chords, verticals, stringers and decks. Using each material to its best advantage in this way demonstrates excellence in design and understanding".

After de Burgh's early success with building bridges, fellow Irishman William Bennett reportedly offered him a position with the roads department, which he declined. He included in a letter to Bennett in March 1887…"something may turn up in which I may be able to be of use with Government. Something that is in a hurry and needs a man to go at it in a dogged, determined sort of way. A nasty river to bridge, sewerage problem to be worked on... and if you still retain a good opinion of me and no man has a right before me why here I am."

In 1903 de Burgh expanded his civil engineering abilities and was appointed by the state as the principal assistant engineer for rivers, water supply and drainage.

After being sent to England and France to study dam construction and water resources engineering, he returned and quickly got his feet wet by securing a significant water supply for the rapidly expanding city of Sydney.

By 1913 de Burgh was awarded the position of chief engineer for water supply and sewerage, a position he held until his retirement. He certainly put his mark on the water infrastructure for the state of New South Wales.

In the Sydney region alone, he was responsible for securing 434 gigalitres (GL) of water storage through the construction of four dams for the swiftly growing population of greater Sydney.

Image: de Burgh’s Nepean Dam, circa 1928, NSW government.

De Burgh didn’t rest on his laurels though. The fact that Australia’s national capital city, Canberra, resides where it does today, is testament to his hydrological engineering.

After the forming of the Federation of Australia in 1901, there was a need to establish a federal capital city. The rural NSW site of Canberra, which at that time was a rural sheep station, lying roughly halfway between Melbourne and Sydney, was identified as a strong candidate for the new national capital.

De Burgh was invited to participate on the Federal Capital Advisory Committee and share his expertise in evaluating the feasibility of the nominated site for the new city. He not only established a plan to secure a reliable water supply for the new national capital, he also designed the framework for the sewerage system that would serve the city.

After completing his exploration of the region’s hydrology he wrote… "it is impossible to imagine a catchment from which a purer supply of water could be obtained…There are few cities in the world where such a magnificent supply of pure water is available".

Figure: Ernest De Burg’s Sewerage Scheme for Canberra, National Archives of Australia.

Only after his report to the federal government on the viability of the region’s water supply could the solicitation for the actual architectural design of the planned city actually begin. It may be argued that if it wasn’t for de Burgh, the Australian capital city would never have been built in the region known as Canberra.

Fellow member of the Federal Capital Advisory Committee Charles Studdy Daley once referred to de Burgh as being "a drastic critic in expression, at the same time he possessed that characteristic Irish wit and humour that removed the sting but left the logic. He was adept at dealing with politicians, and it was a delight to hear him giving advice, in a racy manner, to the ministers".

His engineering endeavours also saw him being appointed to numerous other esteemed positions and responsibilities, including being on the Sydney Harbour Bridge Advisory Board; overseeing construction of one of Australia’s most important shipyard facilities, Cockatoo Island; and he was the designer of one of Australia’s most important and strategic deep water shipping harbours, Port Kembla, NSW.

De Burgh's impressive career not only earned him high regard from the Australian engineering community, he was also awarded two Telford Premiums from the Institution of Civil Engineers London. He sadly passed away in Sydney in 1929 at the age of 66, after succumbing to tuberculosis, only two years after retiring.

Image: de Burg’s Port Kembla Harbour, NSW, Source NSW government.

Like Robert Mallet and Michael O’Shaunessy; Ernest de Burgh was a visionary. These three engineers embodied traits that perhaps grew out of growing up in a country that was experiencing tremendous hardship and overwhelming depravations.

Those formative years of these great Irish engineers manifested within each of them tenacious resilience, amazing vision and creativity, and a healthy respect for all humankind.

Later, as these determined men became accomplished engineers, those highly admirable personal qualities they each displayed were complemented with a dogged determination to never settle for mediocrity.

The lives of millions of people around the world have greatly benefited from the skill and resolve of these prodigious Irish engineers.

Author: Justin Waples is an infrastructure asset planning engineer and intrapreneurial programme manager pursuing sustainability and resiliency in the built environment. He is a civil environmental engineer at Central Contra Costa Sanitary District, San Francisco Bay area.

References

1) Antill, J.M, (2006) de Burgh, Ernest Macartney (1863-1929) Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, accessed August 19, 2023, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/de-burgh-ernest-macartney-5937

2) De Burgh, Ernest Macartney (1863-1929), Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, accessed August 20, 2023, https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P003483b.htm

3) Earnest Macartney de Burgh (1863-1929) Timber Truss Bridges, New South Wales Government, accessed August 24, 2023, https://timberbridge-static.prod.cds.transport.nsw.gov.au/engineers/ernest-macartney-de-burgh.html

4) Engineering Heritage Canberra (2009), Canberra’s Main Outfall Sewer for the Award of Engineering Heritage Marker, Engineers Australia, NSW

5) John Armstrong (1988), Shaping the Hunter, Institution of Engineers Australia, Newey and Beath Printers, Pty Ltd, NSW

6) Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 5 April 1929, p 17, Mr E. M. De Burgh, Prominent Engineer’s Death, retrieved via National Library of Australia August 17, 2023, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16543738

7) The Timber Truss Bridge Book, New South Wales Government, accessed August 15, 2023, https://ttb.transport.nsw.gov.au/

Ernest Macartney de Burgh: From Sandymount to Australian engineering legend

Following a serious accident in his workshop, where one of his most experienced maintenance team members had both of his legs crushed, the workshop manager confided to me that it felt 'out of the blue'. His workshop had an excellent safety reputation.

The event occurred during a crane lift of a large steel pipe. The pipe dislodged, knocked a nearby team member to the floor and rolled onto his legs. He would never walk again.

Afterwards, when the investigation was complete, what frustrated the workshop manager most was that he already knew most of these issues. Similar incidents had happened, but with no bad outcome … They had a PO in the system to get the right lifting equipment ... He himself had observed that as they got busier there were too many jobs going on with too little space … The end of month bonus did encourage the team to take shortcuts to complete the jobs on time … The list went on.

Investigations are helpful for bringing out vital learnings from incidents. But in my experience investigations also cause good business leaders anguish over actions not taken in hindsight – not to mention the devastating impacts of the incidents themselves. So rather than waiting for people in our group to suffer before we take stock and act, we can instead understand the techniques that best-in-class businesses use to prevent serious accidents altogether.

There are organisations out there that manage to maintain near-accident-free performance over many decades, despite operating in high hazard and complex environments. They are called High Reliability Organisations (HROs). One of the five characteristics that helps them to achieve this feat is called chronic unease, or a preoccupation with failure.

Chronic unease

How long has it been since a major accident or failure in your business? Long periods of success can result in us taking our eye off the ball – we might even start celebrating our success. What we know about major accidents is that when organisations are in this mindset, they are often drifting towards failure. Accidents don’t just happen when things are going badly; they often happen when things appear to be going well.

Chronic unease is a strategy to combat this. It is a psychological state where individuals at all levels of an organisation feel a sense of constant discomfort and healthy scepticism about how risks are being managed. This leads them to relentlessly hunt for warning signs of potential failure. Then the trick is to make those warning signs more vivid, and act on them to prevent those failures occurring.

In September 2021, I delivered a webinar discussing chronic unease and how it can be applied in practice. There was a lot of interest in the topic; a lot of people are keen to incorporate chronic unease in their organisations.

A common misconception is that chronic unease is just about combatting complacency at the frontline. But exhibiting chronic unease is not the responsibility of one group. And in practice, chronic unease is only able to flourish in organisations in the long run when environmental factors are structured to support its presence.

There are four areas that are essential for an organisation to work on to create chronic unease and sustain it (see Figure 1):

A questioning attitude.
Psychological safety.
Risk competence.
Systems to detect and capture warning signs.

Adopting a questioning attitude

A questioning attitude is a curiosity about the signs in front of you and a commitment to looking deeper. It helps you explore risks, uncover warning signs, and understand what those warning signs might mean. It provides a clearer picture of what your organisation’s real performance is and where the real issues are. You should question your assumptions, any unintended outcomes (positive or negative) and anomalies.

Ask questions like:

Do we understand why we got that result?
What could be the worst outcome?
How could that control fail?
What is our backup plan if it does?

Creating psychological safety

Psychological safety is a cultural environment where people feel like they will not be personally judged or punished for speaking up about warning signs or issues – especially by their seniors in the organisation. Psychological safety is important if you want to make sure you have a chance of receiving the benefit of everybody’s observations. You don’t want anything left unsaid, such as:

People’s own mistakes and errors;
Near misses;
Things that look strange or different.

Ever heard the phrase 'that’s career limiting'? If your people feel they could be personally judged or punished for reporting incidents, making mistakes, or challenging decisions or directions they perceive as unsafe (especially to more senior people), they may choose not to raise issues – and rarely is it obvious if people are holding back.

Psychological safety is cultivated when leaders reward and recognise those who speak up, even if it turns out to be nothing, or even incorrect. Punitive approaches often discourage speaking up.

Risk competence is improved by a combination of technical knowledge and experience, gathered from a wide range of sources.

Improving risk competence

Everybody from the board to the frontline needs to have a clear understanding of the hazards and how they are managed – in other words, a high level of risk competence. If we cannot visualise what could go wrong, or if we do not have a clear picture of what our hazards look like when they are being well controlled, then it is easy to assume that things are going well.

I am not talking about classroom training in risk management. Risk competence is improved by a combination of technical knowledge and experience, gathered from a wide range of sources.

The more risk competence your organisation possesses, the more understanding there will be about any weaknesses in how the risks are controlled, and the more easily that warning signs can be noticed.

Capturing warning signs

Our systems for detecting and capturing warning signs may include:

Systems to monitor physical risk such as strata, dust or gas monitoring systems;
Reliability systems such as maintenance and inspection systems;
Reporting systems for your people to tell you when unexpected things happen.

These systems should support the process of capturing, analysing and taking action on our warning signs. Even if we collect a lot of data, if the data is not turned into meaningful information or does not reach the right people, it cannot inform our decision-making.

Creating chronic unease

Practical ways to create chronic unease include:

Storytelling. This is hands down one of the best ways to create chronic unease. People are more likely to retain information if they hear it as part of a story. Also, as big failures do not happen very often, storytelling is the best way to recreate an experience for people that they can learn from and relate the details to their own situation. You can use stories or findings from your industry or other industries, use your own stories, or invite your technical experts to share theirs.

Technical experts taking a teaching role. Invite your experts (internal and external) to share their technical knowledge about a particular aspect of a risk or a control. You could have regular 15-minute presentations from these people instead of a toolbox talk.

Exploring your data. Take time in groups to explore your data (maintenance, incident, quality, production) with fresh eyes. Get 'fidelity' on the numbers by reading incident descriptions and asking experts. For example, start with your hazard reports. Get a deep understanding of the types of reports you are getting. For example, are they all related to one type of hazard? Are there blind spots elsewhere? Do all the reports come from one team?

Leaders spending time in the field. Field time is all about learning for everybody involved. Listen to those doing the work about what makes it successful and what makes it challenging. Take an expert or a set of fresh eyes with you (not a pack of people).

Using LEAN continuous improvement techniques to explore successful work. For example, 'learning teams' and Kaizen approaches. Leaders can use the knowledge discovered through these techniques to increase learning.

Using bowtie diagrams as shared risk knowledge. Organisations need a clear picture of their major hazards and something to anchor conversations to. Bowties enable everybody to speak the same language and to have a common understanding of hazards and controls – from the boardroom, to the planning team, to frontline workers.

Final thoughts

There are many factors working against us practising chronic unease. That is why telling people to 'report more', 'notice more', 'care more' or to 'have more chronic ease' does not work. Without the right organisational environment, chronic unease cannot survive the long haul.

Leaders must address the organisational factors that suppress chronic unease, and build practical influences into their organisation to encourage its continued presence at all levels. Organisations must ensure they are set up to incentivise wanted behaviours through their actions as well as their words.

The way we message, measure and reward within our organisations, the level of our understanding of hazards and controls, and the systems we put in place to capture information all have a profound effect on whether warning signs can rise to the surface, receive attention, and be acted upon.

Chronic unease takes effort to build into your organisation so that it sticks and becomes chronic. It is worth it. In the end it is all about finding multiple ways to amplify your warning signs and make them more vivid, so you can act on them before they lead to failure.

Author: Jodi Goodall is head of organisational reliability at Brady Heywood, Brisbane, Queensland. Brady Heywood has also developed the Queensland mining and quarrying podcast series 'Rethinking Safety' as part of the Brady Review. Sean Brady and Jodi Goodall’s thoughts about serious accidents, mine safety and High Reliability Organisations can also be found at bradyheywood.com.au/insights Check out the recording of the webinar 'What does chronic unease look like in practice?' on the Brady Heywood YouTube channel, where Goodall digs deeper into practices for risk competence and systems that capture warning signs.