Advancing Safety Management through pro-active weak signal detection

- (Brussels)

Advancing Safety Management through pro-active weak signal detection

Overview

Only finding and counting human errors, failures or breakdowns is no longer a sufficient way to gain adequate insight into how today's systems work and possibly fail. This transition calls for extending reactive management strategies based on hindsight towards proactive ones, able to create foresight and to anticipate future threats. This webinar provides an overview of the fundamentals of systems theory and knowledge management for weak signals detection and management. It introduces a practical method to unearth weak signals in modern socio-technical systems based on the SECA (Structured Exploration of Complex Adaptations) approach. SECA is a method for capturing and codifying knowledge dynamically and continuously with the ultimate purpose of understanding what sustain operations, which otherwise may be unnoticed. SECA aims to support safety analysts to go beyond root cause analysis and linear decomposition of a work domain. It envisages the need to capture adaptations in practice, without the need for incidents or accidents to be the triggers of such analyses.

Speaker(s)
Riccardo Patriarca

Riccardo Patriarca

Associate Professor in Industrial systems management (Sapienza University), Aeronautical engineer

Riccardo Patriarca is an associate professor at Sapienza University of Rome (Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering). Holding a PhD in Risk Management and degrees in aeronautical engineering, he combines academic depth with practical application. His research—reflected in around 150 publications—focuses on innovative approaches to risk, safety, resilience, and operations management. He also leads multiple industry collaborations and research projects, ensuring real-world impact alongside scholarly excellence.

Dana Schmitz

Adriana-Dana Schmitz

Human Performance Expert (EUROCONTROL)

Adriana-Dana Schmitz with a background in Clinical Neuropsychology, made a shift to the aviation sector in 2014 upon joining EUROCONTROL. Most of her work here was spent in research, where she eventually assumed leadership of Human Performance activities for SESAR. Since 2023, she works in EUROCONTROL’s Safety team (Network Management Directorate), assisting ANSPs in implementing Human Factors locally and contributing to projects aimed at advancing Human Factors and Safety methodologies, as well as teaching at the Aviation Learning Centre of EUROCONTROL, in Luxembourg.

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