I have watched the unravelling of the Qantas industrial issues, as I imagine one would watch a bull flight.  I noted with interest the Senate Inquiry Hearings during which the Qantas CEO, Allan Joyce and union officials were grilled by Senators of all political persuasions.

One Senator amazed me by displaying his ignorance about the relationship between aviation safety and human factors.  Another Union Official also appeared to scoff at the suggestion that stresses associated with the industrial dispute may adversely affect safety. 

Frankly, this type of ignorance is symptomatic of problems modern safety professionals have with convincing the great unwashed that safety is dynamic and multi-dimentional.  Safety is a systems thing; involving people, processes and aircraft.  The most fallible and dynamic of these elements is people.  They react to a range of what is commonly called ‘human factor’ issues one of which is workplace stress.  Another is the perception of security. 

In my book, “Safety Management without the Mumbo Jumbo” I stress that true safety in the context of a healthy safety culture, can only be accomplished in a business that is not one where employees and management see each other as “us” and “them”, but rather “we” – what I describe as the “We” Business Community.

Whilst I hear and can understand the concerns of Qantas management and the staff associations, I believe that the airline which has held the reputation as the safest airline in the world, will only live up to the reputation if Joyce and the staff associations can sort their differences out and work as a “We” Community for the achievement of safety, profitability and appropriate employee remuneration and conditions. 

Unfortunately, generations of Qantas people have not worked this way and exceptional leadership from both sides is required to develop a robust international business and a great safety culture.