Learning from Normal Work

Presented by:
Madeline Young & Ivan Pupulidy, Ph.D.

Tuesday, November 11, 2025
10:00 – 11:00

​​Safety has been part of aviation since man first thought about flying. Risk has also been an integral part of the growth of the industry. As this implies, we humans have a complex relationship with risk and safety. In order to move to the next level of safety performance, we must consider how people interact within the system of work. This presentation will focus on the human contribution to safety and how we can best learn our way forward.

​This presentation will introduce some concepts that are growing in popularity within safety communities and address comments received from the 2024 BSSD audience. It will introduce the importance of situational attribution, and the costs associated with viewing people as the problem to be solved. Together we will explore how the label “error” has been created and the effect this has had on our ability to learn and improve.

​Building on the last Safety Standdown general session, we will further unpack the concept of complex systems and how people are central to finding solutions to complex problems. Ernst Mach wrote, “Knowledge and error flow from the same mental sources; only success can tell one from the other.” We will explore the importance of this quotation and how it applies to modern approaches to safety. The quantum leap in safety will be exposed as we show where expertise meets decisions and actions in novel situations. Using a case study, we will show how people are the solution, not the problem.