Adaptation as a source of safety in complex socio-technical systems: A literature review and model development. (October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Foster, Craig J.; Plant, Katherine L.; Stanton, Neville A.
• Is Part Of: Safety science. Volume 118(2019)
• Page Start: 617
• Page End: 631
• Publication Date: 2019-10
• Subjects: Adaptation -- Safety -- Resilience -- High reliability -- Air traffic control; Industrial accidents -- Periodicals; Accident Prevention -- Periodicals; Safety -- Periodicals; Travail -- Accidents -- Périodiques; 363.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2019.05.035
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0925-7535

Abstract

Highlights: A literature review of adaptation in the safety of complex socio-technical systems. A nine-factor adaptation model is described based on a grounded theory approach. The adaptation model is used to explore an air traffic control case study. Research is needed to understand and connect adaptive capabilities in organisations. Abstract: Recent advances in safety science point towards a different approach to the management of risk within safety-related industries that focusses on successfully harnessing the adaptations present within complex socio-technical systems. However, adaptation is a concept with a variety of interpretations that impairs the ability of industrial practitioners to understand and apply this concept to the management of safety. We present a systematic review of the safety literature using a grounded theory approach from a variety of industrial domains and theoretical standpoints to identify the key features within complex socio-technical systems that describe how adaptation and safety are related. A model for adaptation, developed from these ideas, is then described. This model is then used to explain the response of UK oceanic air traffic controllers to the closure of US airspace following the terrorist attacks in the US on the 11th September 2001. The case study highlights how the model aids an enquiry into the features of adaptation that are present within complex socio-technical systems. The review also identifies the need for further research to assist industrial practitioners connect the role of adaptation at the level of the individual to the adaptive capacity at the level of the organisation.