Occupational safety theories, models and metaphors in the three decades since World War II, in the United States, Britain and the Netherlands: A literature review

Swuste, Paul; Gulijk, Coen van; Zwaard, Walter; Oostendorp, Yvette

doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2013.07.015

Cited by 85 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The first was the influx of American physicians into the safety domain. They questioned the lack of progress surrounding safety research and accident prevention and went on to introduce the epidemiological triangle (Figure 2), a model that was very effective in the fight against cholera in the nineteenth century (Swuste et al, 2014;Gordon, 1949;Haddon, 1968).…”

Section: The Post-war Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The huge amount of data allowed him to develop a theory that postulated that human behaviour and unsafe acts are response reactions on the part of workers during process disturbances; such behaviour and acts were a consequence of context and not a cause of accidents. He was the father of 'task dynamics theory' (Swuste et al, 2014;Winsemius, 1951). The fifth development related to the introduction of the concept of a psychological climate and was based on 5 years of lost time accident data involving 7,100 workers (Keeman, Kerr, & Sherman, 1951).…”

Section: The Post-war Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A movement was initiated to increase system reliability. Safety techniques were developed, mainly originating from the military domain, Loss Prevention started in the process industry, and became Reliability Engineering in what was applied aviation and the nuclear sector (Swuste et al, 2014). With Loss Prevention and Reliability Engineering a probabilistic approach had entered the safety domain.…”

Section: The Post-war Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It will be restricted to developments in metaphors, models and theories on accident causation (Swuste et al, 2010(Swuste et al, , 2015Swuste, Van Gulijk, Zwaard, & Oostendorp, 2014). The two research questions below will be central to this paper:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is big data risk assessment a novelty?

Swuste

2016

Safety and Reliability

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Objective: What metaphors, models and theories were developed in the safety science domain? And which research was based upon 'big data'? Method: The study was confined to original articles and documents, written in English or Dutch from the period under consideration. Results and conclusions: From the start of the 20th century, human error was a dominant explanation for causes of occupational accidents. Although external factors were seen as main contributors, it was not till after World War II when scenario analysis was conducted in detail. The main drivers were the upscaling op the process industry in this period, as well as the introduction of high hazardous industries, like aerospace and nuclear sector, and consequently disasters occurring in these sectors. Already from the beginning, big data research was no exception in the safety science domain. 'Big' in this context is defined by numbers.

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Section: The Post-war Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Post-war Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Post-war Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Is big data risk assessment a novelty?

Swuste

2016

Safety and Reliability

Self Cite

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“…Furthermore, contemporary practitioners still heavily rely on theories and assumptions which have long been criticised or even debunked (cf. Besnard & Hollnagel, 2014;Manuele, 2011;Marshall, Hirmas, & Singer, 2018;Swuste, Van Gulijk, & Zwaard, 2010;Swuste, Van Gulijk, Zwaard, & Oostendorp, 2014).…”

Section: Prefacementioning

confidence: 99%