Mapping Research on Culture and Safety in High‐Risk Organizations: Arguments for a Sociotechnical Understanding of Safety Culture

Abstract

In this paper, I suggest that a major challenge of much safety culture research is that it runs the risk of neglecting the organizational, meso level. Consequentially, it often seems to lack a proper conceptualization of the relationship between culture, technology and structure in high‐risk organizations. High‐reliability organizations (HRO) research, on the other hand, focuses on this relationship. The aim of the paper is to develop an understanding of safety culture that incorporates some of the HRO approach's insights regarding the relationship between safety, culture, technology and structure. I outline and discuss the research on safety culture and the HRO approach's treatment of culture and safety, before I suggest a sociotechnical understanding of safety culture.

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