David began his career as a Boeing aircraft design engineer. In his final years at Boeing, David organized a human factors and safety group. In his work at Boeing, David won the International Federation of Airworthiness’s Whittle Safety Award for his development of a human error investigation process used by airlines around the world.

In 1997, David launched a research and consulting practice focused on the management of human error through the integration of systems engineering, human factors, and the law.  David served as an advisor to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Human Factors Research Program and to the NASA Space Shuttle Program. David was the principal consultant to NASA in development of their major mishap investigation process, and he led an outside team to benchmark space shuttle processing quality. David has developed risk modeling methods, including an approach called socio-technical probabilistic risk assessment (ST-PRA) and the Trajectories® process, which have been used to model risk in aviation, space, rail, and healthcare. 

In the healthcare sector, David has been working to help healthcare institutions and regulatory agencies reduce the risk of iatrogenic patient harm. He was on the Board of Advisors for the National Patient Safety Foundation and won the Institute of Safe Medication Practices’ Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on medication safety. In the area of healthcare safety culture, David authored the document, “Patient Safety and the ‘Just Culture’: A Primer for Healthcare Executives,” for the National Institutes of Health.

David has written two books. Dave’s Subs: A Novel Story About Workplace Accountability, was released in November 2015. David’s first book, Whack-a-Mole: The Price We Pay for Expecting Perfection, was released in September 2009. Read Less ^