ABSTRACT

This chapter considers some accidents which occurred not because of slips, ignorance or lack of ability, but because of a deliberate decision to do or not to do something. These decisions are often called violations but many are errors of judgement; sometimes people break the rules to make life easier for themselves but at other times they do so with the intention of benefiting the organization as a whole. Non-compliance is therefore a better term than violation. These decisions are divided below into those made by managers and those made by operators. If operators cut corners it may be because they are not convinced that the procedure is necessary, in which case the accident is really due to a lack of training. Chernobyl, a town in the Ukraine, was the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident, in 1986, when a water-cooled reactor overheated and radioactive material was discharged to the atmosphere.