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Session Submission Summary

The Impact of Outsourcing and Contracting on Accident Prevention in Complex Sociotechnical Systems (1)

Sat, September 1, 11:00am to 12:30pm, ICC, E3.9

Session Submission Type: Open Panel

Abstract

Social studies of disasters in complex sociotechnical systems are well established (Challenger, Deepwater Horizon, Fukushima etc). Such events are best seen as ‘organizational accidents’. Prevention requires a focus on how work is structured at an organisational level as described in high reliability theory and other similar theories of accident causation and prevention. Many of these theories originate in the 1990s or earlier. Since that time, the way work is organised has changed substantially with outsourcing / subcontracting becoming the norm. These practices introduce new forms of distribution of work and labour, and bring new spatial, temporal and inter-organizational boundaries that must be managed.
The impact of global trends to outsourcing /contracting on the potential for disaster has been little studied. Keeping a complex sociotechnical system safe is a long term endeavour that requires more and more articulation of work between organizations. Such a ‘dynamic non-event’ poses particular challenges given the potentially short term and transnational nature of contract relationships and the variety of interests involved. This panel aims at better understanding how safety (and reliability) can be achieved in these distributed (and often singular) settings.

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