Organizations as Contexts: Implications for Safety Science and Practice

A theory of organizations as contexts frames the kinds of objective and subjective evidence needed for systematic analyses of the conditions under which accidents and incidents occur, are recovered from, or are prevented. Contexts of risk-handling activities in high-hazard produc tion systems are seen as supraindividual and self-governing entities, structured by social and cultural properties such as goals, resources, communication, meanings and categories, and intercontext relation ships. The concept of self-governance equalizes the importance of lateral and executive control for safety management. Actors' access to and degree of perceived and objective control over resources become significant data, as do data relating to communicative, cultural, and coordination issues. Context theory highlights several issues in safety research and practice and organizational studies generally, and it sug gests new approaches to incident investigations and organizational learning.