2019 HPRCT Conference

With the passing of Bill Corcoran in July of 2018, the high-hazard industries lost one of the gurus of event investigations and thoughtful inquiry into human performance. Bill’s career spanned 55 years, starting with his graduation from the US Naval Academy in 1959 until he closed his consulting company (Nuclear Safety Review Concepts Corporation) in 2014. I worked closely with Bill Corcoran in a variety of professional relationships over the course of 33 years, and was honored by his request to become a co-editor (along with Mike Quinn) of his monthly newsletter, The Firebird Forum, at the end of 2017. He was an early and frequent contributor to the HPRCT, and is perhaps best known for his work in the area of Event Investigations/Root Cause Analysis. However, his contributions extend far beyond RCA, and include a number of “wisdom nuggets” that are applicable to all the sub-disciplines within the HPRCT. This general session covers a number of these, including (but not limited to): (1) The three bases for professional disagreement; (2) Transparency—what it is and why it’s important; (3) Maximizing the likelihood that others will accept your work without false advertising; (4) Eating your own cooking (or, living to the standards you advise others to meet); (5) A simple definition of quality applicable to personal, group, or company efforts; (6) How to sleep well after a day of professional setbacks.