Emeritus Professor Andrew Hopkins

Contacts

Contact email:andrew.hopkins@anu.edu.au
Location:School of Sociology
Link:ANU Researchers profile
Emeritus Professor
School of Sociology

Andrew Hopkins is Emeritus Professor of Sociology, at the Australian National University.

He was an expert witness at the Royal Commission into the 1998 Exxon gas plant explosion near Melbourne. He was a consultant to the US Chemical Safety Board in its investigation of the BP Texas City Refinery disaster of 2005, and also for its investigation into the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010. He has written books about these and other accidents, with over 100,000 copies sold.

He has been involved in reviews of Work Health and Safety regulation and regulators and has done consultancy work for major companies in the mining, petroleum, chemical and electrical industries, as well as for Defence. He speaks regularly to audiences around the world about the human and organisational causes of major accidents.

  • BSc and MA (Sociology) from Australian National University, PhD (Sociology) from the University of Connecticut.
  • Winner of the 2008 European Process Safety Centre safety award, the first in time it was awarded to someone outside Europe.
  • Honorary fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers in recognition of his “outstanding contributions to process safety and to the analysis of process safety related incidents”
  • Life member of the Australian Institute of Health and Safe and recipient of its highest award for “lifetime achievement”.
  • Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of his “distinguished service to industrial safety and accident analysis”
  • Member of the advisory board of NOPSEMA – the Australian National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority

Books by Professor Hopkins:

Making Safety Work (Allen & Unwin, 1995)

Managing Major Hazards: The Moura Mine Disaster, (Allen & Unwin, 1999)

Lessons from Longford: The Esso Gas Plant Explosion (CCH, 2000)

Lessons from Longford: The Trial. (CCH, 2002)

Safety, Culture and Risk (CCH, 2005)

Lessons from Gretley: Mindful Leadership and the Law, (CCH, 2007)

Learning from High Reliability Organisations (CCH, 2009). Edited

Failure to Learn: the BP Texas City Refinery Disaster (CCH, 2008)

Disastrous Decisions: Human and Organisational Causes of the Gulf of Mexico Blowout (CCH 2012)

Nightmare Pipeline Failures: Fantasy planning, black swans and integrity management. (CCH 2014) with Jan Hayes

Risky Rewards: The Effect of Company Bonuses on Safety (Ashgate,London,2015) with Sarah Maslen

Quiet Outrage: The Way of a Sociologist (CCH: Sydney, 2016)

Organising for Safety: How Structure Creates Culture. (CCH Sydney, 2019) Credibility Crisis: Brumadinho and the Politics of Mining Industry Reform (CCH, Sydney, 2021), with Deanna Kemp Sacrificing Safety: Lessons for Chief Executives (CCH Sydney, 2022)

Research interests

The organisational/sociological causes of technological disasters.

Groups

  • Pacheco Monteiro, G, Hopkins, A & Melo, P 2020, 'How do organizational structures impact operational safety? Part 2 � Designing structures that strengthen safety', Safety Science, vol. 123.
  • Pacheco Monteiro, G, Hopkins, A & Melo, P 2020, 'How do organizational structures impact operational safety? Part 1 � Understanding the dangers of decentralization', Safety Science, vol. 123.
  • Hopkins, A 2019, Organising for Safety, Wolters Kluwer, Australia.
  • McDermott, V, Zhang, R, Hopkins, A et al 2017, 'Constructing safety: investigating senior executive long-term incentive plans and safety objectives in the construction sector', Construction Management and Economics, pp. 1-15.
  • McDermott, V, Zhang, R, Hopkins, A et al 2017, 'Constructing safety: investigating senior executive long-term incentive plans and safety objectives in the construction sector', Construction Management and Economics, pp. 1-15.
  • Hopkins, A 2016, Quiet Outrage: The Way of a Sociologist, CCH Australia Limited, Australia.
  • Hopkins, A 2015, 'How much should be spent to prevent disaster? A critique of consequence times probability', Journal of Pipeline Engineering, vol. 2nd Quarter, pp. 69-78.
  • Hopkins, A 2015, 'The cost-benefit hurdle for safety case regulation', Safety Science, vol. 77, pp. 95-101.
  • Hopkins, A 2015, 'The need for a general duty of care', Houston Journal of International Law, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 841-848.
  • Hopkins, A & Maslen, S 2015, Risky Rewards: How Company Bonuses Affect Safety, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, Surrey and Burlington.
  • Hopkins, A 2014, 'Issues in safety science', Safety Science, vol. 67, pp. 6-14.
  • Hayes, J & Hopkins, A 2014, Nightmare Pipeline Failures: Fantasy Planning, Black Swans and Integrity Management, CCH Australia Limited, Sydney.
  • Maslen, S & Hopkins, A 2014, 'Do incentives work? A qualitative study of managers' motivations in hazardous industries', Safety Science, vol. 70, pp. 419-428.
  • Hopkins, A 2012, 'Reply to King', Safety Science, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 1pp.
  • Hopkins, A 2012, Disastrous Decisions: The Human and Organisational Causes of the Gulf of Mexico Blowout, CCH Australia Ltd, Australia.
  • Hayes, J & Hopkins, A 2012, 'Deepwater Horizon - lessons for the pipeline industry', Journal of Pipeline Engineering, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 145 - 153.
  • Hopkins, A 2011, 'Risk-management and rule-compliance: Decision-making in hazardous industries', Safety Science, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 110-120.
  • Hopkins, A 2011, 'Management walk-arounds: Lessons from the Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout', Safety Science, vol. 49, no. 10, pp. 1421-1425.
  • Hopkins, A 2011, 'Management walks arounds: Lessons from the Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout', 2011 AIChE Spring Meeting and 7th Global Congress on Process Safety, 11AIChE, Conference Organising Committee, Chicago, IL.
  • Hopkins, A 2010, 'Why BP Ignored Close Calls at Texas City', Risk and Regulation, no. July 2010, pp. 4-6.
  • Claudia, F, Hopkins, A & Webb, P 2009, 'Health & safety: Laying down the law', The Chemical Engineer, vol. -, no. 822, pp. 24-25.
  • Branford, K, Hopkins, A & Naikar, N 2009, 'Guidelines for ACCIMAP Analysis', in Andrew Hopkins (ed.), Learning from High Reliability Organisations, CCH Australia Ltd, Sydney, pp. 193-212.
  • Rowland, M & Hopkins, A 2009, 'The importance of counterfactual thinking: the case of the 2003 Canberra Bushfires', in Andrew Hopkins (ed.), Learning from High Reliability Organisations, CCH Australia Ltd, Sydney, pp. 213-223.
  • Hopkins, A, ed., 2009, Learning from High Reliability Organisations, CCH Australia Ltd, Sydney.
  • Hopkins, A 2009, 'Identifying and responding to warnings', in Andrew Hopkins (ed.), Learning from High Reliability Organisations, CCH Australia Ltd, Sydney, pp. 33-58.
  • Hopkins, A 2009, 'The Problem of Defining High Reliablity Organisations', in Andrew Hopkins (ed.), Learning from High Reliability Organisations, CCH Australia Ltd, Sydney, pp. 5-16.
  • Hopkins, A 2009, 'Why study Australia's air traffic control agency?', in Andrew Hopkins (ed.), Learning from High Reliability Organisations, CCH Australia Ltd, Sydney, pp. 17-31.
  • Hopkins, A 2009, 'Process safety performance indicators: A contribution to the debate Reply', Safety Science, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 508-510.
  • Hopkins, A 2009, 'Reply to Comments', Safety Science, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 508-510.
  • Hopkins, A 2009, 'Thinking about process safety indicators', Safety Science, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 460-465.
  • Hopkins, A 2008, Failure to Learn: the BP Texas City Refinery disaster, CCH Australia Ltd, Australia.
  • Hopkins, A 2007, 'Holding Corporate Leaders Responsible', Keeping Good Companies, vol. 59, no. 6, pp. 340-344.
  • Hopkins, A 2007, 'Beyond Compliance Monitoring: New strategies for safety regulators', Law and Policy, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 210-225.
  • Hopkins, A 2007, Lessons from Gretley: Mindful Leadership and the Law, CCH Australia Ltd, Australia.
  • Hopkins, A 2006, 'The Australian Epidemic of Repetition Strain Injury: A Sociological Perspective', in Eric Tucker (ed.), Working Disasters: The Politics of Recognition and Response, Baywood Publishing Company, New York, pp. 65-76.
  • Bluff, E, Gunningham, N & Hopkins, A 2006, 'Editorial: Complexities of OHS Regulation', Journal of Occupational Health and Safety: Australia and New Zealand, vol. 22(3), no. June 2006, pp. 203-204.
  • Hopkins, A 2006, 'Sobre el comportamiento seguro', La Mutua, vol. 14, pp. 208-222.
  • Hopkins, A 2006, 'A corporate dilemma: to be a learning organisation or to minimise liability', Journal of Occupational Health and Safety: Australia and New Zealand, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 251-259.
  • Hopkins, A 2006, 'What are we to make of safe behaviour programs?', Safety Science, vol. 44, pp. 583-597.
  • Hopkins, A 2006, 'Studying organisational cultures and their effects on safety', Safety Science, vol. 44, pp. 875-889.
  • Hopkins, A 2006, Managing Mindfully, Say Safety - The AWU National OHS Magazine. September 2006.
  • Hopkins, A 2005, 'Innovative Strategies for Safety Regulators', in Elizabeth Boulton (ed.), Exploration and Production: The Oil and Gas Review 2005, Touch Briefings, London UK, pp. 13-15.
  • Hopkins, A 2005, Safety, Culture and Risk, CCH Australia Ltd, Australia.
  • Hopkins, A 2004, 'Case Report: Outcome of the civil action against Esso arising out of the Longford explosion', Journal of Occupational Health and Safety: Australia and New Zealand, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 127-130.
  • Hopkins, A 2003, 'Fault Trees, ICAM & Accimaps: A Methodological Analysis', Safety in Australia, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 13-23.
  • Hopkins, A 2003, 'Issues for major hazard regulation', Journal of Occupational Health and Safety: Australia and New Zealand, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 183 - 190.
  • Hopkins, A & Hale, A 2002, 'Issues in the Regulation of Safety: Setting the Scene', in Barry Kirwan, Andrew Hale and Andrew Hopkins (ed.), Changing Regulation: Controlling Risks in Society, Pergamon-Elsevier Ltd, Oxford UK, pp. 1-13.
  • Hopkins, A, Kirwan, B & Hale, A, eds, 2002, Changing Regulation: Controlling Risks in Society, Pergamon-Elsevier Ltd, Oxford UK.
  • Hopkins, A, Kirwan, B & Hale, A 2002, 'Insights into Safety Regulation', in Barry Kirwan, Andrew Hale and Andrew Hopkins (ed.), Changing Regulation: Controlling Risks in Society, Pergamon-Elsevier Ltd, Oxford UK, pp. 253-283.
  • Hopkins, A 2002, 'Two Models of Major Hazard Regulation: Recent Australian Experience', in Barry Kirwan, Andrew Hale and Andrew Hopkins (ed.), Changing Regulation: Controlling Risks in Society, Pergamon-Elsevier Ltd, Oxford UK, pp. 31-39.
  • Hopkins, A 2002, Lessons from Longford: The Trial, CCH Australia Ltd, Australia.
  • Hopkins, A 2001, 'Was Three Mile Island a Normal Accident?', Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 65-72.
  • Hopkins, A 2001, 'Book Review: Gresford: Anatomy of a Disaster', Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 63-64.
  • Hopkins, A 2001, 'Lessons from Essos Gas Plant Explosion at Longford', Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, ed. Warwick Pearse, Clare Gallagher and Liz Bluff, Crowncontent, Melbourne, pp. 41-51.
  • Hopkins, A 2000, 'A culture of denial: sociological similarities between the Moura and Gretley mine disasters', Journal of Occupational Health and Safety: Australia and New Zealand, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 29-36.
  • Hopkins, A 2000, Lessons From Longford: The Esso Gas Plant Explosion, CCH Australia Ltd, Sydney, Australia.
  • Hopkins, A 1999, 'The limits of normal accident theory', Safety Science, vol. 32, pp. 93-102.
  • Hopkins, A 1999, 'Counteracting the Cultural Causes of Disaster', Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 141-149.
  • Hopkins, A 1999, 'On top of underground safety', Journal of Occupational Health and Safety: Australia and New Zealand, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 187-188.
  • Hopkins, A 1999, 'The privatisation of utilities: a citizens perspective', Australian Quarterly, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 30-33.
  • Hopkins, A 1999, 'For whom does safety pay? The case of major accidents', Safety Science, vol. 32, pp. 143-153.
  • Hopkins, A 1999, 'Repeat Disasters: The Lessons of the Moura Coal Mine', in Claire Mayhew and Chris L. Peterson (ed.), Occupational Health and Safety in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Australia, pp. 140-157.
  • Hopkins, A 1999, Managing Major Hazards: The lessons of the Moura mine disaster, Allen & Unwin, Australia.