Safety culture and subcontractor network governance in a complex safety critical project

In safety critical industries many activities are currently carried out by subcontractor networks. Nevertheless, there are few studies where the core dimensions of resilience would have been studied in safety critical network activities. This paper claims that engineering resilience into a system is largely about steering the development of culture of the system towards better ability to anticipate, monitor, respond and learn. Thus, safety culture literature has relevance in resilience engineering field. This paper analyzes practical and theoretical challenges in applying the concept of safety culture in a complex, dynamic network of subcontractors involved in the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Finland, Olkiluoto 3. The concept of safety culture is in focus since it is widely used in nuclear industry and bridges the scientific and practical interests. This paper approaches subcontractor networks as complex systems. However, the management model of the Olkiluoto 3 project is to a large degree a traditional top-down hierarchy, which creates a mismatch between the management approach and the characteristics of the system to be managed. New insights were drawn from network governance studies.

[1]  E. Schein.  Organizational Culture and Leadership , 1991 .

[2]  E. Ostrom.  COPING WITH TRAGEDIES OF THE COMMONS , 1999 .

[3]  Randall W. Ferris,et al.  The effects of subcontracting/ outsourcing on occupational health and safety: Survey evidence from four australian industries , 1997 .

[4]  東京電力福島原子力発電所事故調査委員会.  The official report of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission : executive summary , 2012 .

[5]  Eirik Albrechtsen,et al.  Scientific foundations of addressing risk in complex and dynamic environments , 2011, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[6]  Jeremy D. Davey,et al.  Returning to the roots of culture: A review and re-conceptualisation of safety culture , 2013 .

[7]  Erik Hollnagel,et al.  The Four Cornerstones of Resilience Engineering , 2016 .

[8]  Jean-Christophe Le Coze,et al.  The foundations of safety science , 2014 .

[9]  Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld,et al.  Engineering resilience into safety-critical systems , 2012 .

[10]  Pia Oedewald,et al.  System modeling with the DISC framework: evidence from safety-critical domains. , 2012, Work.

[11]  Björn Wahlström,et al.  Safety management – A multi-level control problem ☆ , 2014 .

[12]  J. N. Sørensen,et al.  Safety culture: a survey of the state-of-the-art , 2002, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[13]  Gudela Grote,et al.  Management of Uncertainty: Theory and Application in the Design of Systems and Organizations , 2009 .

[14]  V. Ostrom,et al.  The Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas: A Theoretical Inquiry , 1961, American Political Science Review.

[15]  E. Powley.  Reclaiming resilience and safety: Resilience activation in the critical period of crisis , 2009 .

[16]  J. Klein.  A Reexamination of Autonomy in Light of New Manufacturing Practices , 1991 .

[17]  James T. Reason,et al.  Managing the risks of organizational accidents , 1997 .

[18]  Øyvind Dahl,et al.  Safety compliance in a highly regulated environment: A case study of workers' knowledge of rules and procedures within the petroleum industry , 2013 .

[19]  Andrew Hale.  Management of safety in systems , 1997 .

[20]  Dongping Fang,et al.  Development of a Safety Culture Interaction (SCI) model for construction projects , 2013 .

[21]  E. Ostrom,et al.  Analyzing decentralized resource regimes from a polycentric perspective , 2008 .

[22]  B. Flyvbjerg.  What you Should Know about Megaprojects and Why: An Overview , 2014, 1409.0003.

[23]  Constance Perin,et al.  Shouldering Risks: The Culture of Control in the Nuclear Power Industry , 2004 .

[24]  Kim Wikström,et al.  Project governance and path creation in the early stages of Finnish nuclear power projects , 2013 .

[25]  Gudela Grote,et al.  Diagnosis of safety culture in safety management audits , 2000 .

[26]  Christopher Nemeth,et al.  Preparation and restoration , 2009 .

[27]  Pia Oedewald,et al.  Managing Safety In Subcontractor Networks: The Case Of Olkiluoto3 Nuclear Power Plant Construction Project , 2011 .

[28]  Torstein Nesheim,et al.  Knowledge Sharing in a Complex Organization: Antecedents and Safety Effects , 2014 .

[29]  Thomas Y. Choi,et al.  Supply networks and complex adaptive systems: Control versus emergence , 2001 .

[30]  K. Cameron,et al.  Relationships, Layoffs, and Organizational Resilience , 2006 .

[31]  Hamideh Afsarmanesh,et al.  Collaborative networked organizations - Concepts and practice in manufacturing enterprises , 2009, Comput. Ind. Eng..

[32]  K. Weick.  Organizational Culture as a Source of High Reliability , 1987 .

[33]  Andrew Davies,et al.  Managing Structural and Dynamic Complexity: A Tale of Two Projects , 2014 .

[34]  Andrew Hale,et al.  MODELLING OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS , 1997 .

[35]  Stian Antonsen,et al.  Safety culture and the issue of power , 2009 .

[36]  M. Vidal,et al.  Safety implications of cultural and cognitive issues in nuclear power plant operation. , 2006, Applied ergonomics.

[37]  Susan S. Silbey,et al.  Taming Prometheus: Talk About Safety and Culture , 2009 .

[38]  Teemu Reiman,et al.  Does the concept of safety culture help or hinder systems thinking in safety? , 2014, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[39]  Sidney Dekker,et al.  The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error' , 2014 .

[40]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Risk management in a dynamic society: a modelling problem , 1997 .

[41]  David Woods,et al.  How Human Adaptive Systems Balance Fundamental Trade-offs: Implications For Polycentric Governance Architectures , 2011 .

[42]  K. Provan,et al.  Modes of Network Governance: Structure, Management, and Effectiveness , 2007 .

[43]  F. Guldenmund.  The nature of safety culture: a review of theory and research , 2000 .

[44]  K. J. Vicente,et al.  Cognitive Work Analysis: Toward Safe, Productive, and Healthy Computer-Based Work , 1999 .

[45]  Karlos Artto,et al.  Dimensions of distance in a project network: Exploring Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant project , 2009 .

[46]  M. D. Cooper.  Towards a model of safety culture , 2000 .

[47]  Charles T. Jahren,et al.  Successful multi-national workforce integration program to improve construction site performance ☆ , 2008 .

[48]  Michael Quinlan,et al.  Outsourcing and offshoring aircraft maintenance in the US: Implications for safety , 2013 .

[49]  Christopher Nemeth,et al.  Resilience Engineering Perspectives: Preparation and Restoration , 2016 .

[50]  Dongping Fang,et al.  The nature of safety culture: A survey of the state-of-the-art , 2007 .

[51]  Catherine M. Burns,et al.  There Is More to Monitoring a Nuclear Power Plant than Meets the Eye , 2000, Hum. Factors.

[52]  David D. Woods,et al.  How do Systems Manage Their Adaptive Capacity to Successfully Handle Disruptions? A Resilience Engineering Perspective , 2010, AAAI Fall Symposium: Complex Adaptive Systems.

[53]  Pia Oedewald,et al.  Assessment of complex sociotechnical systems – Theoretical issues concerning the use of organizational culture and organizational core task concepts , 2007 .

[54]  Scott A. Snook,et al.  Friendly Fire , 2000 .

[55]  Erik Hollnagel,et al.  Is safety a subject for science , 2014 .

[56]  K. Artto,et al.  A new governance approach for multi-firm projects: Lessons from Olkiluoto 3 and Flamanville 3 nuclear power plant projects , 2011 .

[57]  Glenda H. Eoyang,et al.  Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty in Your Organization , 2013 .

[58]  R. H. Waterman,et al.  In Search of Excellence , 1983 .