The Responsibility Project^®. Exploring what it means to do the right thing

The work done by the Center for Behavioral Science in the last several years has garnered some of the most dramatic — and alarming — results in the field of safety research. Simply put, the Center for Behavioral Science studies the impact of behavioral, cognitive, and organizational factors in workplace injuries and highway collisions. Put even more simply, it analyzes how people behave: Do they comprehend warning signals? Understand if they’re distracted (or not) if they’re driving and texting or driving and talking on a cell phone? Realize that no matter how expensive their ergonomic chair is, it’s not going to work if they don’t know how to use it? Our recent interview with Marvin Dainoff, Ph.D., CPE, and the Director of the Center for Behavioral Science shed some light on the cutting-edge work going on at Liberty Mutual’s Research Institute for Safety.

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Tags: liberty mutual research institute for safety, psychology, research, injuries, driving

By 2006, many commentators considered Saul Raisin, a 23-year-old cyclist from Dalton, Georgia, the best hope of becoming the next American Grand Tour champion, in the mold of Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong. That Raisin rode at all was unlikely. Teased because of his curved spine as a teenager—the result of a condition called kyphosis—Raisin responded by focusing all of his determination on the bicycle.

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Tags: bicycling, injuries, philanthropy, brain

The newest addition at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety is the Center for Physical Ergonomics, which in 2007 evolved out of the former Center for Safety Research. Under the direction of Nils Fallentin, CPE research scientists investigate how job tasks tax human capacity . Using findings from lab and field studies in biomechanics, human machine systems, low back pain, repetitive work, tribology (the study of how surfaces in motion interact), and work physiology, they develop ways for companies to enhance safety on the job.

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Tags: liberty mutual research institute for safety, research, injuries, safety, work

Shortly after his inauguration, President Obama issued a call to service urging Americans to serve their communities and country in whatever way possible. Charged with helping citizens answer that call is Patrick Corvington, the newly appointed head of the federal agency known as the Corporation for National and Community Service. The agency oversees all of the volunteering programs in the nation, including AmeriCorps and Senior Corps, and helps nonprofits recruit, train, and manage volunteers. Corvington has devoted his life to serving and empowering communities.

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Tags: president obama, goodwill, volunteering, haiti, community

The Center for Disability Research at Liberty Mutual’s Research Institute for Safety is now a decade old, a product of the company’s realization that while a safe and sustained return-to-work program was critical for workers who had been injured, there was a relative lack of research in this area in the United States. Although prior studies had suggested that prolonged disability was most often caused by medical or psychological reasons, research by the CDR has led to a different view: that returning to work after an injury is a process of adapting to a new situation, for both worker and workplace.

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Tags: liberty mutual research institute for safety, research, pain, medicine, injuries

After organizing all the things you have to manage during a school day — homework, attendance, lesson plans — it’s no wonder that managing your own time can seem like an insurmountable challenge. One of the best reasons to choose teaching as a profession is that it presumably gives people the opportunity to balance work and personal lives,” says time management guru Julie Morgenstern, author of such books as Organizing from the Inside Out and Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life.

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Tags: teachers, organization, tips

David Allen, 64, is the author of the vastly popular book and productivity manual “Getting Things Done.” Since its introduction in 2001, GTD, as his system is known, has attracted a devoted following of bloggers, technology workers, and Fortune 500 executives, who use it to help manage the daily torrent of information while also keeping up with a seemingly endless list of tasks and obligations, both personal and professional. Allen is also a black belt in karate and will occasionally throw a few karate punches during presentations to make a point. His most recent book is “Making It All Work,” published in 2008 by Viking.

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Tags: organization, productivity, agreements, manual, freedom