About the Guest:
Dr. Todd Conklin spent 25 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where failure was simply unacceptable, developing the Human Performance program in one of the world’s most secure, high-stakes environments. He is a global pioneer in Human and Organizational Performance, creator of the influential Pre-Accident Investigation Podcast with thousands of episodes and a worldwide following, and author of several books—including Pre-Accident Investigations—that have transformed how organizations approach error, learning, and the future of safety.
Todd’s philosophy:
Safety means enabling workers to tackle any challenge in a world full of surprises.
Episode Highlights:
🧠 Human Error Is Normal
Todd unpacks one of his most radical statements for traditional safety leaders: human error is normal and predictable, not a moral failing. Working at Los Alamos—where “zero tolerance” for mistakes carries real weight—paradoxically shaped his understanding that error cannot be eliminated, only anticipated and managed through better system design.
🚫 Blame Fixes Nothing
Why is blame so toxic to organizational learning? Todd explains how the instinct to find “who failed” actually prevents organizations from understanding what really happened and blocks the systemic improvements that could prevent recurrence. The choice after every incident is binary: blame or learning—you can’t have both.
📚 Learning Is Vital (But Different from Data Collection)
There’s a crucial difference between genuine learning and simply collecting information after an incident. Todd breaks down what real organizational learning looks like—and why most post-incident processes fail to produce it.
🔮 Pre-Accident Investigations: Investigating Before Disaster Strikes
Todd’s book Pre-Accident Investigations argues that organizations should investigate accidents before they happen—a concept that sounds like science fiction but works in practice. He walks through what a pre-accident investigation actually looks like, what you’re investigating when nothing has gone wrong yet, and how to convince organizations to invest in preventing events that haven’t happened.
📩 Contact & Resources:
PreAccident Investigation Podcast
Books: Pre-Accident Investigations, Simple Revolutionary Acts, The 5 Principles of Human Performance
