The Sociotechnical Construction of Risks, and Principles of the Proactive Approach to Safety

Abstract

This proposal presents the Sociotechnical Construction of Risks, Ergonomics, and the two principles of the Proactive Approach to Safety, Risks, and Emergencies, the Structured Sociotechnical Approach and Dynamics of Proactive Safety intending to complement traditional risk assessments, and prevent and Mitigating Major and Fatal Negative Events, the in organizations such as cases of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, the nuclear accident in Fukushima, the Texas City Refinery and the explosion in the Port of Beirut, among others. To propose these two principles, case studies were developed at Fiocruz, and in organizations, sectors, and activities, a bibliographic review on theses, dissertations, reports from regulatory bodies, books, scientific articles, and media articles, on major and fatal negative events, and ergonomics, socio-technical approach, and resilience engineering. A tragedy prevention course was created, with four free online consultation modules, based on cases of major negative events. These principles redirect the focus from human error to Focus on the Structured Sociotechnical System and Focus on the Dynamics of Proactive Safety. It is proposed that these two principles can provide us with bases for analysis, to prevent and minimize Major and Fatal Negative Events, and are a complement to traditional risk assessments.