NBAF UPDATE | Becoming highly reliable in protecting the U.S. … Austin will develop and manage the NBAF training program that will be required for everyone who will work in and around containment — the secure area where the biohazards will be located. In addition to developing NBAF’s biorisk training program, Austin is one of the many individuals who is championing a new NBAF initiative: to become a high reliability organization, or HRO. These organizations have high risk potential but a strong safety culture and an emphasis on planning to prevent major system failures. Some examples of HROs include aircraft carriers, air traffic control, nuclear power plants, fire departments and critical health care facilities.

According to Austin, HROs focus on solving small process failures to prevent large ones. These unique organizations accomplish this by empowering everyone at an institution to stop work and address possible safety concerns before they become a large issue. They also encourage everyone to actively look for areas where there could be failure and determine how best to mitigate. This “focus on failure” as Austin puts it, is designed so that large-scale failure can be prevented.

We are still defining what an HRO will look like at NBAF, but we already know that it is an important part of the safety culture we’re developing. This is one of the many reasons why it is important to use the time before NBAF becomes operational for planning. …