A sociotechnical approach to occupational safety

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Dainoff, Marvin J.

Affiliations: Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, 71 Frankland Road, Hopkinton, MA 01748, USA. Tel.: +1 508 497 0245; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: We present an integrated conceptual framework for improving occupational safety. This framework is based on sociotechnical principles and is based on the premise that occupational safety should not be an isolated function but rather seen as directly related to an organizational mission which combines performance and well-being. As such, a fundamental goal is to achieve joint optimization between social and technical components of the system. This framework consists of four basic questions: (1) How can we determine the overall level of safety in the system? (2) How can we determine what kinds of interventions would improve safety? (3) How can we determine if the organization is ready to implement safety interventions? (4) How can we determine the best pathway for implementing safety interventions? A sociotechnical approach implies that safety must be considered from a complexity perspective as an emergent property. Hence, a variety of methodological approaches is required.

Keywords: Safety climate, safety control structure, intervention, readiness

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-172500

Journal: Work, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 359-370, 2017