Citation

Bentley R, Hughes JA, Randall D, Shapiro DZ. Safety Sci. 1995; 19(2-3): 149-156.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this paper we explore the characteristics of a safety critical domain, that of Air Traffic Control, and discuss the possible impact of new technology on safety levels. Based on insights derived from ethnographic methods, we argue it is through the organisation of working practices as a teamwork activity, rather than through any technological fail-safe, that safety in the airways is currently maintained. An emphasis on the social organisation of work raises issues concerning the impact of technology and safety which hitherto have not been fully examined. In safety-critical domains, we suggest, the transformation of work under the auspices of new technologies may have negative consequences for safety at least in the period of transition. Careful management of technological change may well prove to be necessary if such problems are to be avoided. In particular, technological solutions to problems in working will need both to 'resonate with existing practices' and support more radical transformations in the future. The findings we present are the result of ongoing collaboration between computer scientists and sociologists. We discuss a user interface prototype generator which allows the construction of a variety of 'views' of ATC 'objects', and thus both supports current practices and allows transformations 'down the line' as new technologies and procedures become incorporated.