A hallmark of high reliability organizations is not only their attention to detail but the level of chronic unease that every person in the organization has.  It is not unease without action, no, but unease followed by an attention to detail and the systems knowledge that people and the processes, procedures, and equipment that they design are prone to error.  This knowledge fuels these managers to constantly be looking for the weak signals of failure and pre-failure in their systems to alert them to the possibility and potential of an even greater incident or event that could happen.  And then action is taken when these weak signals are identified and noticed.  This chronic unease is a critical component and a hallmark of those organizations that achieve excllence in safety and reliability.

“Managers who honestly acknowledge the persistence of human error, accept the fact that their systems - technical, social, and organizational - are not inherently safe.  They have to be maintained.  Managers in resilient organizations are not seduced by the notion that their facilities, programs, processes, equipment, and tools are without defects - executives, managers and engineers are also human.  Therefore, managers must be intentional and relentless in discovering and correcting weaaknesess in their systems.  Learning and the continuous search for weaknesses and vulnerabilities must be as valued as the orgnization’s daily production goals.” Tony Muschara “Risk Based Thinking"