The UPLOADS Project Update November 2015

This year the combined efforts of the outdoor sector and the UPLOADS Research Team have come to fruition. We have developed, tested and implemented an incident reporting and learning for the outdoor sector in Australia. We now have 32 organisations, representing all states and territories in Australia, using the system to contribute data to the National Incident Dataset. We have secured just under $500,000 in funding from the ARC to continue and extend the UPLOADS Project for five years. This means that the UPLOADS Project is fully funded until 2020. The following sections provide a brief overview of our activities this year.

UPLOADS One-on-One Training and Usability Testing

For those of you in South East Queensland, the UPLOADS team is offering one-on-one training in combination with a usability study on the UPLOADS software tool. This will help us gather insights into the use of the software while at the same time providing a practical training session with the tool.
The session will run for approximately 2 hours and you will learn:

• How to transfer incident data from a paper based report into the software
• How to calculate and input participation data
• How to code causal factors and relationships
• How to generate reports and use the Accimap function

If you would like to register your interest for one-on-one training and are new to UPLOADS click here
If you are currently are using the software and would like one-on-one training to gain a better understanding of the software please click here

Reports on the National Incident Dataset and development of incident prevention strategies

The first report on the findings from the National Incident Dataset was released at the end of April.
You can download the report here: UPLOADS National Incident Dataset First Report

In response to requests from the sector, for the 12 month report we are developing a set of incident prevention strategies based on the data. This has involved:

• Analysing all the data collected during the first 12 months (1021 incident reports).
• Workshops in Melbourne and Brisbane with 30 stakeholders (outdoor activity providers, schools, industry bodies, WHS inspectors) to develop incident prevention strategies.

We are currently organising an online survey so the sector can evaluate the incident prevention strategies identified at the workshops. The report on the 12 months of data and the countermeasures is due at the end of the year.

PhD/Masters Students 2015
We have recruited two PhD students and 1 Masters student to work on spin-off projects:

• Clare Dallat: Developing a systems-based risk assessment for the outdoors
• Tony Carden: What should an outdoor accreditation system look like?
• Eryn Grant: Accident prediction for outdoor activities

Publication update 2015

We have produced the following journal and conference papers during 2015, which will be available on our website soon:

• Goode, N., Salmon, P.M., Lenne, M.G. & Finch, C. (2015). The UPLOADS Project: Challenges in implementing an Australia-wide incident reporting system for led outdoor activity providers. Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, Accepted 1st May 2015.
• Salmon, P.M., Goode, N., Taylor, N., Lenne, M.G., Dallat, C., & Finch, C. (Accepted 15th July 2015). Rasmussen’s legacy in the great outdoors: a new incident reporting and learning system for led outdoor activities. Applied Ergonomics
• Goode, N., Salmon, P.M., Finch, C.F, Taylor, N.Z. & Lenne, M.G. (2015). Bridging the research-practice gap: validity of a software tool designed to support systemic accident analysis by risk managers. Don Harris (Ed.) in Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics: 12th International Conference, EPCE 2015.
• Grant, E., Goode, N., Salmon, P., Lenne, M., Scott-Parker, B. & Finch, C. (2015). “How do I save it?” Usability evaluation of a systems theory-based incident reporting software prototype by novice end users. Don Harris (Ed.) in Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics: 12th International Conference, EPCE 2015.
• Dallat, C., Goode, N. & Salmon, P. (2015). All about the teacher, the rain and the backpack… the lack of a systems approach to risk assessment in school outdoor education programs. AHFE 2015 Conference Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-4951-6042-4
• Goode, N., Salmon, P.M., Finch, C.F. & Lenne (2015). Looking beyond people, equipment and environment: Is a systems theory model of accident causation required to understand injuries and near misses during outdoor activities? AHFE 2015 Conference Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-4951-6042-4
• Taylor, N., N. Goode, P. Salmon, M. Lenne and C. Finch (2015). Which code is it? Inter-rater reliability of systems theory-based causal factor taxonomy for the outdoor sector. 19th Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association. Melbourne, Australia.
• Grant, E., Goode, N. & Salmon, P. (2015). A fine line between pleasure and pain: applying a systems analysis to the Kimberly ultramarathon fire. AHFE 2015 Conference Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-4951-6042-4

Overview of UPLOADS2

From data to action: a new process for developing injury countermeasures

Systems thinking and the use of incident reporting and learning systems has long been argued for by many in the safety literature. Despite this, there is little guidance available on how to translate data from such systems into practical and effective accident countermeasures, and there is little evidence to show that adopting incident reporting and learning systems leads to a reduction in accidents and incidents. This project will tackle both gaps in the knowledge base by:

• Developing a structured process for translating systems-based accident data into appropriate and effective systems-based accident countermeasures;
• Assess the effectiveness of the learning cycle (reporting, analysis, decisions, implementation, follow-up) comparing organisations using UPLOADS and those not using UPLOADS.
• Testing the effectiveness of the UPLOADS incident reporting and learning system by comparing the incident and safety records of organisations using UPLOADS versus organisations not using UPLOADS.

Practical benefits for partner organisations

• On-going promotion of UPLOADS and technical support to encourage further uptake;
• Regular analysis and dissemination of UPLOADS data to identify trends and safety issues;
• Development of a structured process and practical guidance for translating systems-based accident data (i.e. UPLOADS data) into appropriate and effective systems-based accident countermeasures; and
• Demonstrate the effectiveness of the UPLOADS incident reporting and learning system for preventing accidents and injury causing incidents to encourage further uptake of the system.

Academic contribution

• Analysis of the effectiveness of systems thinking-based accident countermeasures;
• Link between systems models of safety and the process for learning from incidents;
• Link between systems models of safety and accident prevention strategies;
• Guidance on how to generate effective systems-based accident countermeasures from systems data.
• Evidence on the effectiveness of incident reporting and learning systems.