Advancing a sociotechnical systems approach to workplace safety - developing the conceptual framework

    Authors

    P. Carayon; P. Hancock; N. Leveson; I. Noy; L. Sznelwar;G. van Hootegem

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Ergonomics

    Keywords

    complexity; sociotechnical system; system interactions; workplace; safety; system levels; PATIENT SAFETY; ERGONOMICS; DESIGN; WORK; MANAGEMENT; CULTURE; CLIMATE; ISSUES; MACROERGONOMICS; IMPLEMENTATION; Engineering, Industrial; Ergonomics; Psychology, Applied; Psychology

    Abstract

    Practitioner Summary: Understanding the environmental, organisational and work system factors that contribute to workplace safety will help to develop more effective and integrated solutions to deal with persistent workplace safety problems. Solutions to improve workplace safety need to recognise the broad sociotechnical system and the respective interactions between the system elements and levels. Traditional efforts to deal with the enormous problem of workplace safety have proved insufficient, as they have tended to neglect the broader sociotechnical environment that surrounds workers. Here, we advocate a sociotechnical systems approach that describes the complex multi-level system factors that contribute to workplace safety. From the literature on sociotechnical systems, complex systems and safety, we develop a sociotechnical model of workplace safety with concentric layers of the work system, socio-organisational context and the external environment. The future challenges that are identified through the model are highlighted.

    Journal Title

    Ergonomics

    Volume

    58

    Issue/Number

    4

    Publication Date

    1-1-2015

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    548

    Last Page

    564

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000353506200002

    ISSN

    0014-0139

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