Team Leadership in High-Hazard Environments

Safety performance is a complicated issue, particularly in high-hazard environments, where time and other constraints can be amplified, and result in numerous impacts. From an organisational and business perspective, safety and production/performance are often seen as competing goals. When production is increased, safety defences and barriers frequently decrease, and when programmes are developed in an effort to improve safety, employees may be unable to meet production goals within the safety constraints.

Team Leadership in High-Hazard Environments recognises these difficulties and constraints and proposes an approach to safety leadership in which safety and organisational performance are inextricably linked; one that addresses safety from both the systems and human factors perspectives.

To that end, Randy Cadieux introduces the nine essential components to team leadership. By studying these areas and using the information in each chapter, organisational leaders, managers, and supervisors will gain an understanding of key factors that will help them design, develop, and implement team training programmes that improve the way employees work together and the way they mitigate hazards.

Additionally, the book describes how work systems and work environments may be designed or shaped so that teams are placed in a position to do their optimal work, maximising the potential for human and team performance.

This is an important book that draws on techniques and models developed from Crew Resource Management, human factors, risk management, as well as more traditional HR management disciplines.