PreAccident Investigation Podcast

PAPod 571 - Fail Fast, Learn Faster: A Conversation on Human Performance and Recovery

In this episode Todd Conklin joins Jowanza Joseph to explore modern safety thinking: why human error is normal, how context shapes behavior, and why leadership response and system recoverability matter more than blame.
They draw on examples from Los Alamos, AWS outages, SpaceX and everyday technology to show how organizations can design systems that tolerate failure and learn from it.
Listeners will get practical insights into the five principles of human performance and how to build resilient systems that fail safely and recover quickly.

PAPod 570 - Safety Differently Down Under: Todd Conklin in Auckland

Todd Conklin joins the Brisbane Safety Differently Book Lab in Auckland for a lively discussion about leadership, accountability, and learning from everyday work. The group explores why safety is the presence of control, how leaders should respond after incidents, and why learning is the new currency of safety.Todd shares stories about writing his books, engaging with workers, and practical steps leaders can take to build confidence and capacity while fostering a learning culture.

PAPod 569 - PART TWO: 11 Seconds: How a System, Not a Nurse, Failed

Part two of the RaDonda Vaught story examines what emerged after the event: investigation details, system design flaws, communication breakdowns, and the tiny timing error that mattered. RaDonda Vaught recounts how normalized overrides, software defaults, and organizational assumptions created conditions for failure.
The episode explores the chilling effects of criminalizing mistakes, the human cost across patients and providers, and the case for shifting from blame to system-focused learning and improvement.

PAPod 568 - PART ONE: Charged for a Mistake: The Nurse, the Error, and a System That Failed

In this episode, nurse RaDonda Vaught tells the detailed, context-rich story of a medication error at Vanderbilt that led to criminal charges. She walks through the events, system issues (including a recent EHR rollout and medication-dispensing delays), distractions, and decision points that contributed to the mistake.
RaDonda describes how workarounds, unclear documentation in radiology, drug supply changes, and interruptions combined to produce a tragic outcome, and she explains the immediate clinical response. The episode sets up a follow-up discussion about what was learned and how systems can be improved.

PAPod 567 - Open Questions 2025: From Metrics to Monitors — Rethinking Safety

Episode: an extended open Q&A from the Pre-Accident Investigation Conference in Santa Fe covering big-picture safety topics.Speakers discuss the limits of traditional metrics, the power of real-time monitoring, shifting focus from managing risk to maintaining control, validating controls in the field, learning teams, contractor relationships, and prioritizing high-information events. Anecdotes and practical guidance illustrate how organizations can learn without blame.

PAPod 566 - Blame Stops Improvement: How Blame Silences Learning

Todd Conklin explores how blame shuts down learning and prevents organizational improvement, arguing that blaming individuals creates a chilling effect that blocks thousands of future learning opportunities.He connects blame to misunderstandings about human error, emphasizes psychological safety, and urges leaders to ask "what failed" before asking "who failed," while sharing personal anecdotes and reflections.

PAPod 565 - Fear, FOMO & Fixing Safety: A Conversation with Brent Sutton

Todd Conklin and Brent Sutton discuss the short-term future of safety thinking—covering the rise and fall of lean/TQM, how commodification can slow innovation, and why fear, FOMO and complacency shape which ideas stick. They explore leaders' responsibility, weak signals, and the need for small 'safe-to-fail' experiments to keep systems resilient.Set in Santa Fe with lighthearted moments (including breakfast burritos and a cheese debate), the episode blends history, practical insight and a call to stay curious about evolving workplace complexity.

PAPod 564 - Inside Meow Wolf: A Radical Conversation on Safety & Leadership

Recorded live at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, this episode features a wide-ranging conversation between Todd and Andy Baker about learning, safety culture, and leadership influence.They dig into HOP and related safety approaches, debate top-down versus middle-out change, discuss the importance of language and unlearning, and explore how to turn belief into practical skill and behavior.The episode offers real-world insights on piloting change, engaging leaders and middle managers, and learning from others who have adapted these ideas in novel ways.

PAPood 563 - Human Performance, Not Human Error — Todd Conklin on Reframing Safety

Tiny Todd Conklin joins the No Way Out podcast to explore Human and Organizational Performance (HOP), high-reliability organizing, and how safety emerges from complex systems rather than individual mistakes.They critique traditional investigations, surveys, and risk matrices, and discuss practical ideas for building capacity, worker agency, psychological safety, and resilient operations.

PAPod 562 - When 'I Forgot' Becomes Fatal: Preventing Children Left in Hot Cars

This episode examines the growing problem of children accidentally left in hot cars, explains why memory failures can happen to anyone, and argues that punishment is not the solution.It summarizes practical approaches—accepting the risk, assuming "when, not if," using technology and visual reminders, and responding with understanding rather than judgment—to create system-level changes that improve recoverability and prevent future tragedies.