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Analysing and Assessing Risk

In: Close Calls

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  • Carl Macrae

Abstract

How do investigators analyse safety and assess risk? The way investigators understand safety — their practical theory — shapes how they think about and analyse risk. This, in turn, structures how risks are responded to and acted on. Investigators’ practical theory of safety determines which features of organisational activity are attended to, which are considered problematic and which are viewed as acceptably safe, and provides a framework to distinguish between these. The previous chapter explained the fundamental assumptions, concepts and beliefs that constitute investigators’ practical theory of safety. One of the central principles of this practical theory is that safety is an organisational property that is actively produced and accomplished through networks of defensive practices that are distributed widely around an organisation. These defensive practices provide resilience against the risk of mishaps and fluctuations developing into major organisational breakdowns. This chapter examines the specific attributes and characteristics of organisational safety that investigators routinely attend to and that feature prominently in their analyses of risk. It also examines how investigators assess risk and distinguish between acceptable safety and relative risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Carl Macrae, 2014. "Analysing and Assessing Risk," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Close Calls, chapter 4, pages 89-113, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-37612-1_4
    DOI: 10.1057/9781137376121_4
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