"In his new book Foundations of Safety Science, Sidney Dekker provides an exposition of the science of safety that paves the way for OHS to enhance its recognition as a profession. Taking each decade from the 1900s through to the 2010s he examines the safety theories of the time, how they interact and how they are reflected in practice then and now. In Sidneys inimitable way he challenges our thinking but this book is different to his other books.
This book, I believe can be a watershed in the development and recognition of safety as a (social) science and as a profession. I encourage all OHS professionals and practitioners, OHS educators and students as well as those involved in OHS policy-making and OHS regulation to read it and then re-read it."
- Pam Pryor AO, OHS Body of Knowledge
"Foundations of Safety Science is more of a textbook and primer written for tertiary students and safety practitioners. Dekker, ever the renaissance man, illustrates key points with his own cartoons."
- OHS Professional Magazine, September 2019 issue
"Professor Dekker has organised the content into time slices, with each chapter founded on the ideas of a particular era (which works out to be roughly a decade)."
- Jacky Steemson, The RoSPA OS&H Journal, February 2020 issue
"In his new book Foundations of Safety Science, Sidney Dekker provides an exposition of the science of safety that paves the way for OHS to enhance its recognition as a profession. Taking each decade from the 1900s through to the 2010s he examines the safety theories of the time, how they interact and how they are reflected in practice then and now. In Sidneys inimitable way he challenges our thinking but this book is different to his other books.
This book, I believe can be a watershed in the development and recognition of safety as a (social) science and as a profession. I encourage all OHS professionals and practitioners, OHS educators and students as well as those involved in OHS policy-making and OHS regulation to read it and then re-read it."
- Pam Pryor AO, OHS Body of Knowledge
"Foundations of Safety Science is more of a textbook and primer written for tertiary students and safety practitioners. Dekker, ever the renaissance man, illustrates key points with his own cartoons."
- OHS Professional Magazine, September 2019 issue
"Professor Dekker has organised the content into time slices, with each chapter founded on the ideas of a particular era (which works out to be roughly a decade)."
- Jacky Steemson, The RoSPA OS&H Journal, February 2020 issue
"Dekker writes that his motivation for the book was to increase the literacy of safety practitioners, so they better understand the origins of their practice - for better and for worse - and so become less susceptible to the next snake oil salesperson slithering under the door with the latest nifty idea.
He outlines each theory or movement alongside critical commentary, including Heinrich and his unfortunately influential triangle, human factors, management systems, High Reliability Organisation theory, the iconic Swiss Cheese model, and the slippery notion of safety culture. "
-Peter Bateman, Safeguard, May/June 2020 issue
