Keywords
Industrial safety, complacency, ethnography, women in construction
Abstract
With the renewal of interest in nuclear energy as a green energy source, battery plant manufacturing for electric vehicles, and semiconductor fabrication plant construction, it is necessary to address the evolution of complacency as it relates to industrial facility leadership and the widespread reduction in force of essential critical infrastructure workers. As a skilled craft person in the piping trades, with almost two decades of experience in mechanical construction, ten of those years as a nuclear worker, and as a traveling pipefitter working at chemical, refinery, and gasification plants, I am intimately aware of the behaviors, practices, and procedures inherent to these industrial facilities. This personal and professional experience, in addition to gatekeeper status, affords me access to a diverse craft base and corporate leadership. Because of this atypical positioning, I am capable of discerning variances in standard procedures and protocols, changing conditions and manpower shortfalls. Qualitative research methods, including interviews, public documentation, and information from industry organizations, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, are all employed to collect this information. My research addresses the industrial events that are detrimental to human security due to corporate leadership's role in complacency, which includes its involvement in understaffing and temporary manpower practices, in tandem with human performance and escalated risk behaviors.
Completion Date
2024
Semester
Spring
Committee Chair
Geiger, Vance
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
College
College of Graduate Studies
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Format
application/pdf
Identifier
DP0028313
URL
https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0028313
Language
English
Rights
In copyright
Release Date
May 2024
Length of Campus-only Access
None
Access Status
Masters Thesis (Open Access)
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
STARS Citation
Kniffin-Downs, Christina, "Industrial Safety: How Complacency at Industrial Facilities has Evolved as a Result of Widespread Corporate Leadership Induced Reductions in Force of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers" (2024). Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024. 144.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2023/144
Accessibility Status
Meets minimum standards for ETDs/HUTs