Rasmussen (1997) mentioned that one of the key things in accident prevention is to identify the “behaviour shaping mechanisms”. What causes persons at the front end to do what they do to cause accident? Why was it logical to do things that they do?
To me the idea is related to safety culture. One of the most useful definitions of culture is the way we do things around here. If that is the definition of [safety] culture, the way that things are done will affect how individuals do things, be it safely or unsafely.
Another related concept is Senge’s (2006, 1990) concept of how systemic structures affect patterns of behaviour and how patterns of behaviour influence events. As highlighted above patterns of behaviour is the observable portion of safety culture. Then what is systemic structure in the context of safety culture. What shapes safety culture? I believe it consist of a wide range of factors due to internal and external stakeholders. Internal holders will be mainly employees and management, it will also be influenced by the company structure and procedures. External stakeholders will include customers, suppliers, competitors, substitutes, regulators, NGOs, trade associations, unions… The relationship and interactions of these stakeholders across time will have an impact on the safety culture of the company… extremely complex. This is what Senge calls dynamic complexity… something systems thinking is supposed to help tackle…
Tags: behaviour shaping mechanism, Safety Culture, Systems thinking