In the patient safety world there is much talk of importing ideas and techniques from other disciplines; unfortunately it remains largely a “do-it-yourself” field where few active participants have become deeply educated about the nature of hazard, risk, success, and failure in clinical work. This book illustrates the depth of the divide between modern safety science and much of what passes for thinking about safety in health care. Because of that, it should be required reading for anyone interested in reducing the burden of injury in clinical systems.

The authors and editors are longstanding participants in a vibrant multidisciplinary stream of research concerned with understanding human performance, accidents, and recovery in complex systems dating back to Three Mile Island, …