Book Review

Review

C. Bieder and M. Bourrier, Trapping Safety into Rules: How Desirable or Avoidable is Proceduralization?, Ashgate, 2013.

Reviewed by: Paul Salmon, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

The use of procedures within safety-critical systems has long been a focus of researchers and practitioners working in the areas of safety science and human factors. Whilst there is no doubt that proceduralization has led to performance and safety enhancements in many areas, deficiencies in operating procedures are often implicated in workplace accidents and incidents, including large scale catastrophes such as the Bhopal, Piper Alpha and Clapham junction disasters [1]. More recently, the introduction of new safety-related concepts such as resilience engineering has raised important questions about the nature of, and requirement for, operating procedures within complex sociotechnical systems. The book Trapping Safety into Rules: How Desirable or Avoidable is Proceduralization? represents a timely contribution in which the relationship between procedures and safety management, the current state of affairs with regard to the use of procedures in safety critical systems, the very need for procedures, and the future for proceduralization is discussed in contributions from 27 authors.

In the introduction to the book, proceduralization is defined by Bourrier and Bieder as comprising two core elements: first the aim of defining precise and quantified safety objectives, and second the aim of defining a process that describes and prescribes how to achieve these objectives. Setting the scene for the book, Bourrier and Bieder go on to argue that intensive procedures may actually be a threat to safety progress, which in turn brings with it a need to question their use and also the extent to which proceduralization is the most appropriate path to take within safety-critical systems. These questions are then explored further in the book through contributions across the following four sections:

1. Where do we stand on the bureaucratic path towards safety?

2. Contrasting approaches to safety rules.

3. Practical attempts to reach beyond proceduralization: the magic tools illusion.

4. Standing back to move forward.

Part 1 includes two chapters that provide two industry views on the current state of affairs with regard to safety management and proceduralization. The message here is very much one of over-proceduralization and the resulting potential threat to safety, and the two chapters are important as they bring the reader up to speed on the current state of affairs and then raise various important questions that set the scene for the remainder of the book.

Part 2 comprises four chapters that deal with contrasting approaches to safety rules. This includes a literature review on the need to disentangle working to rule and working safety, a description of the of Norwegian and American risk regulation in the offshore oil and gas industries, an explanation of why proceduralization can prevent rational thinking, and a discussion on the role of abductive thinking in safety management. Part 2 makes an important contribution to the book by making strong arguments surrounding some of the key issues currently faced and also explaining further some of the reasons why proceduralization may provide a significant threat to safety performance.

Part 3 moves onto the experiences of those at the sharp end of safety critical system performance by describing some of the latest thinking, applications, and tools being applied within safety management systems. Here there are seven chapters covering topics such as hospital checklists, crew resource management programs, and safety culture programs. The role of regulators in safety culture is also discussed.

Part 4 includes two chapters reflecting on the need for proceduralization and the current state of affairs, along with a concluding remarks chapter which reflects both on the current state of affairs and the many questions raised throughout the book that require resolution. These issues include:

• the fact that is not always clear what procedures are meant to achieve;

• the level of diversity surrounding what is called a rule or procedure;

• the level of variation in the way in which procedures are developed;

• the extent to which rules and procedures are the most appropriate response to safety management; and

• the value added by new procedures and overall sets of procedures.

The four parts underpinning the book include a nice mix of literature reviews, commentaries, and case studies across various domains including aviation, healthcare, offshore oil and gas, and rail. For me, Trapping Safety into Rules has arrived at a perfect time in that many safety researchers and practitioners are wrestling with the fact that a new paradigm shift is needed with regard to the use of procedures for maintaining safety and performance levels in complex sociotechnical systems. The book will be useful for researchers and practitioners working or studying specifically in the areas of safety management and procedural development and assessment, but also provides thought-provoking content for those interested in areas of application that are highly related, such as safety culture, resilience engineering, and accident analysis. What I particularly like about the book is that, in addition to providing a snapshot of the current status quo in this area, a number of insightful and important issues for further research and study are identified throughout. In this sense I think the key contribution of the book is that it highlights a number of contemporary issues in this area that require resolution. On the downside, of course, the book is open to criticism in that it raises more questions than it provides answers; however, I think the questions raised are extremely important for advancing knowledge in the area and the fact that they are presented together in one book is highly useful.

There is not a lot that I did not like about Trapping Safety into Rules. If I am being picky, one gripe would be that it is slightly Europe-centric in terms of the contributing authors and I would have liked to see more contributions from the US, Australia, and the UK. Similarly, more contributions focusing on the methodologies used to develop and assess procedures would have enhanced the book’s utility; however, these are minor issues rather than major ones.

Overall then, Trapping Safety into Rules makes an important contribution to the field of safety science and area of procedures and safety management. I would recommend it to those researchers and practitioners working in the areas of safety management, procedure development and assessment, accident causation analysis, and also to those working in the broader areas of safety culture, resilience engineering, and safety science generally.

Trapping Safety into Rules: How Desirable or Avoidable is Proceduralization? can be ordered online through Ashgate at: http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409452263.

References