Safety management : a qualitative systems approach

For the reduction of accidents it is necessary to deal with systems factors in which both technical and human-factors elements play an equal and complementary role. However, many of the existing techniques in ergonomics and risk management concentrate on plant/technical issues and downplay human factors and "subjectivity." The present text describes a body of theory and data that addresses this issue squarely, drawing on systems theory and applied psychology, and which stresses the importance of human agency within systems. The central roles of social consensus and reliability and the nature of verbal reports and 'functional discourse' are explained in some detail.This book presents a new 'Qualitative Systems Approach' to safety management, offering both greater safety and economic savings. It presents a series of methodological 'tools' whose reliability and validity have been shown through extensive work in the rail and nuclear industries and that allow organizational and systems failures to be analyzed much more effectively in terms of quantity, precision and usefulness.; This is a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in occupational psychology, human factors, ergonomics and HCI, and the sociology of disasters and risk. It is also useful for safety managers and professionals in many safety critical firms and organizations, reliability engineers, risk managers, and human factors specialists.
Abstract: For the reduction of accidents it is necessary to deal with systems factors in which both technical and human-factors elements play an equal and complementary role. However, many of the existing techniques in ergonomics and risk management concentrate on plant/technical issues and downplay human factors and "subjectivity." The present text describes a body of theory and data that addresses this issue squarely, drawing on systems theory and applied psychology, and which stresses the importance of human agency within systems. The central roles of social consensus and reliability and the nature of verbal reports and 'functional discourse' are explained in some detail.This book presents a new 'Qualitative Systems Approach' to safety management, offering both greater safety and economic savings. It presents a series of methodological 'tools' whose reliability and validity have been shown through extensive work in the rail and nuclear industries and that allow organizational and systems failures to be analyzed much more effectively in terms of quantity, precision and usefulness.; This is a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in occupational psychology, human factors, ergonomics and HCI, and the sociology of disasters and risk. It is also useful for safety managers and professionals in many safety critical firms and organizations, reliability engineers, risk managers, and human factors specialists