The Foncsi has been supporting the international scientific network NeTWork (New and emerging Technologies and Work) for about fifteen years. This network brings together leading global experts on high-risk organizations. The Foundation acts as a financier and organizer of the annual seminar; it also coordinates and publishes the results in its collection with Springer.


2025: A Seminar on Activity Silos

Led by Siri Wiig (University of Stavanger, Norway), Teemu Reiman (Lilikoi, Finland), and Catherine Calderwood (University of Strathclyde, UK), the annual NeTWork seminar was held at the Royaumont Abbey (France) from January 30 to February 1, 2025.

THEME - « Enough of working in silos: how do leaders, regulators, investigators, and practitioners work together? »

This topic was chosen because, within organizations, professions and functions often tend to work “in silos”. Moreover, this “siloing” is also observed between companies in the same sector and between different sectors of activity. The lack of sharing channels and the disconnection between the micro and macro levels of organizations can compromise each person's understanding of work processes and the roles of other actors. Furthermore, in high-risk organizations, differences in perception between leaders and regulators on safety can lead to gaps in accident prevention, despite efforts to identify weak signals and whistleblower testimonies.


The tendency to work in silos hinders the adoption of innovative practices and the cross-functional integration of ideas. This observation raises the need for more effective collaborations, notably through knowledge networks that facilitate cross-sector sharing and the contextualization of safety models.


This seminar explored the conditions favoring these exchanges and the impact of the circulation of ideas concerning the creation of safety, examining their positive and negative consequences on the improvement of practices. The benefits of working in silos (in particular, the mutual understanding and cohesion among members of the same community, which allows the development of deep expertise) were also analyzed by the participants.


International Experts

Nearly twenty international experts participated in this seminar and had previously submitted a position paper, which was presented and discussed during the seminar.

  • Siri Wiig, University of Stavanger (Norway)
  • Gudela Grote, ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
  • Jean-Christophe Le Coze, Ineris (France)
  • Mathilde Bourrier, University of Geneva (Switzerland)
  • Teemu Reiman, Lilikoi (Finland)
  • Marc Baumgartner, Skyguide (Switzerland)
  • Carl Macrae, University of Nottingham (United Kingdom)
  • Karin Pukk, Danderyds Hospital (Sweden)
  • Riccardo Patriarca, Sapienza Università di Roma (Italy)
  • Walter Glöckle, Ministry for Environment, Climate and Energy (Germany)
  • Hilda Bo Lyng, University of Stavanger (Norway)
  • Kim Drews, European Union Agency for Railways (France)
  • Kieren Egan, University of Strathclyde (United Kingdom)
  • Maria Kjærland-Haga, Equinor (Norway)
  • Catherine Calderwood, University of Strathclyde (United Kingdom)
  • Ernst Zirngast, retired from Swiss Re (Switzerland)
  • Eric Marsden, Foncsi (France)
  • Corinne Bieder, Foncsi (France)
     

 
An Open Access SpringerBrief

The discussions and suggestions during the NeTWork seminar will allow the authors to complete their papers, which will then be published in the open access collection “SpringerBriefs in Safety Management”, edited by Foncsi at Springer. This work will be freely downloadable.

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