ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests that the whole area of risk and safety is grounded in individual differences and subjectivity; that information can be transformed into useable and reliable data; and that data are essential to tackling the increasingly complex nature of safety management. With respect to attributing responsibility, the formulation looks fine semantically, but once again it does not survive a simple test in the real world. The book seeks to make the point that a number of key features of effective safety management are subjective in nature, and that the role of 'objective science' in this domain, whilst essential, is also limited. In general terms, safety requires that organisations manage that which can be managed, and control that which is controllable. One of the ways in which companies seek to erect defences against human error is through the promotion of a 'safety culture'.
