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http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2016/09/bp_is_to_blame_for_deepwater_horizon_but_its_mistake_was_actually_years.html>
This new social science of disaster helps explain why the people involved
never seem to see the accident coming. The people working in these cultures
don’t think they are being reckless; they don’t recognize all the ways
they’ve normalized deviance and let risks creep up. When the disaster finally
strikes, they are as stunned as anyone. These findings also show why
disasters are so hard to predict: According to Dekker, “Accidents can happen
without anything breaking, without anybody erring, without anybody violating
the rules they consider relevant.” The disaster, in other words, is not a
violation of the daily routine, but a product of it.
There's definitely a parallel with environmental risks, including Climate
Change.
The punchline:
Preventing disasters requires a special kind of daily vigilance that needs to
be actively taught and constantly reinforced. Only by admitting that, yes, it
could happen to us too, can we take the steps to make disaster less likely.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
