This open access book addresses the idea that there are two ways to go about achieving a safe
working environment. The text challenges the prevailing notion that compliance with a rule
system imposed from the top of an organization and designed to anticipate possible hazards in
system operation is really incompatible with the idea that the professional expertise of
front-line workers is what promotes safe outcomes despite inevitable unanticipated
perturbations. The contributors drawn from academic and industrial backgrounds demonstrate
that rather than being at odds with each other rules-compliance and proactivity are in fact
complementary resources the coexistence of which increases safety. Furthermore the
implications of this approach extend beyond safety being relevant to business performance
strategies for innovation and system resilience as well. The book steps back from an exclusive
focus on front-line work to explore the way in which compliance and initiative are articulated
at different levels within the hierarchy of a firm right up to that of top management. Further
the contributors analyze the way in which safety authorities the justice system and the
general public perceive and interpret such strategies in particular in the aftermath of major
events. This book deals with issues of interest to researchers and graduate students in safety
science and organization studies and to members of expert bodies and experts in industry and
consultancy concerned with similar subjects.
