Tag Mistake-Proofing

Mistake-Proofing, Learning from Errors, and Safer Systems

Mistake-proofing is not about blaming people or demanding perfection. It’s about designing systems that make errors less likely and make problems visible when they occur. This archive explores mistake-proofing as a leadership and system responsibility—across healthcare, aviation, manufacturing, and everyday work.

Through real-world examples, these posts show why signs, reminders, and “be careful” messages fail—and how better process design, learning, and respect for people lead to safer, more reliable outcomes.

Throwback Thursday: This is Not a Drill — It Happened Again

I really don't enjoy the type of "Throwback Thursday" posts that are triggered by something in the news that reminds me of something that I've blogged about in the past.

Sometimes, it seems people are doomed to keep repeating the same preventable errors instead of learning from others, improving systems, and mistake proofing things in life. In this post, we look back at repeated errors in pathology, building demolition, and emergency alert systems...

The Response to the Hawaii False Alarm Can’t End With Firing Someone

Saturday, you might have seen the news about a "false alarm" push alert that was sent to many iPhones and other smart phones in Hawaii. An alert was also sent out over many TV channels through the Emergency Response System.

Is the response one that focuses on blame and punishment? Or is it focused on understanding how systems fail and how to improve them to prevent future recurrence?

How does this all apply to your organization?

Flashback Friday: Demolition Errors, Mistake Proofing, and Healthcare

In recent years, I've written two blog posts about the sad scenarios where the wrong building was demolished by a crew. In these scenarios, it's easy to blame "bad crew" instead of looking at systemic causes of such an error. Having a better process is always more effective than admonishing people to "be more careful." What did I see recently that caught my attention in terms of trying to prevent demolition errors?

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