CORESS

Surgery is not the only high-risk activity to have experienced a safety crisis in the recent past. The deep coal-mining disasters in the middle of the 19th century, the Comet air accidents, the space shuttle losses, the Herald of Free Enterprise sinking and the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion have all provided useful lessons on how to build a more effective safety culture. In the case of surgery it was the Bristol Enquiry that stimulated a major change in attitude to patient safety within the NHS.