Operational Decision-making in High-hazard Organizations

Jan Hayes has 25 years’ experience in safety and risk management. She holds a Senior Research Fellow appointment at the Australian National University where she is Program Leader for the social science research activities of the Energy Pipelines Co-operative Research Centre. Dr Hayes is a member of the Advisory Board of the Australian National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.

• Contents: Foreword; Preface; Introduction; Theoretical perspectives on making safe decisions; Part A Decision-Making in Three High Reliability Organizations: At the nuclear power station - ’We put a line in the sand’; At the chemical plant - ’If it’s not safe, we don’t do it’; Air traffic control - ’When you kick a ball, you don’t know where it’s going to land’. Part B Acting Both as Employees and as Professionals: Decision-making and identity; Rules and compliance; Professionals at work; Professional relationships; Decisions, risks and barriers; Creating environments for better decision-making; References; Index.

This book is an enormously valuable addition to the literature on high reliability organizations. Andrew Hopkins, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Australian National University, Canberra ’Overall this is a tightly written and well-argued book, which clearly shows that, despite little understanding or acknowledgement, organisations rely critically on the experience and judgement of professionals to keep workers and general public safe.’ The RoSPA Occupational Safety & Health Journal, September 2013