Technology‐push, market‐demand and the missing safety‐pull: a case study of American Airlines Flight 587

Through a critical case study of the crash of A merican A irlines F light 587, this paper draws upon ‘the S ocial S haping of T echnology’ ( SST ) approach to offer a reconceptualisation of the technology‐push and market‐demand model for H igh‐ R eliably O rganisations ( HROs ), providing support for a third factor, called here a ‘ safety‐pull ’. A safety‐pull is defined as organisationally supported reflexivity in which technology innovators and frontline operators collaborate to consider the potential implications of adopting new technologies in HROs and the complex ways this change may impact human operators' work performance, often in risky and unanticipated ways. In contrast to accidents occurring solely as the result of individual operator error, analysing the safety‐pull provides a way to tease out the wide range of factors that can contribute to HRO failures and offers a new SST perspective through which to examine high‐risk operations.