Anonymous Reports Reduce Mistakes

Finding someone to blame when things go wrong is a 
common management strategy.  Despite its 
popularity, this approach is usually ineffective.

If employees know they will be blamed, they will 
avoid responsibility and hide mistakes.  It 
becomes very difficult for coworkers and 
management to improve quality, if everyone is 
afraid to talk about errors.

An anonymous incident reporting system is the 
solution to the problem.  Employees get a 
confirmation ticket when reporting an error.  
Anyone who makes an honest mistake, then reports 
it himself, should be granted immunity from 
disciplinary action.  This encourages reporting.  

The world of aviation has had such a system since 
1975.  Called the Aviation Safety Reporting System 
(ASRS) it has proven very effective in preventing 
accidents.  Application of this idea to healthcare 
has reduced medical errors up to 90%  See Kim 
Vicente's _The Human Factor_ for a fascinating 
account.

posted on 1182037307.58 by SiteAdmin