Remaining safe by working at the edge of compliance and adaptation: reflective practices in aviation and air traffic control

摘要

Most efforts in safety management have focused on formal work organisationn(e.g. procedures and safety rules), neglecting issues of compatibility withnpractitioner work practices; as a result, compliance – adaptation tradeoffsnmay arise that are difficult to resolve in complex situations. This article reviewsnearlier research in communities of practice and uses an ethnographic study tonexamine how practices evolve and what conditions make them vulnerable tonfailure in the context of air traffic control. System dynamics are used to model thendevelopment and revision of work practices, as well as their interaction withnthe formal work organisation. Several proposals are made how to support thenprocesses of ‘reflection-in-action’ (i.e. mindful adaptation of practices) andn‘reflection-on-action’ (i.e. articulation and transmission of practices) that helpnpractitioners in revising and reflecting on their practices to achieve betternadaptation. The discussion addresses many challenges in integrating the formalnwork organisation with practitioner practices, transmitting good practices acrossnorganisations and promoting organisational learning.