ABSTRACT
Procedures play a seemingly paradoxical role in organizing for safety. The paradoxes might be real – procedures can both enhance and detract from the safety of any organization – as two different but inevitable sides of the same coin. A pure theory allows a reference point for analysing specific conditions appropriate and inappropriate for proceduralization by considering procedures in relation to their own logic that is, evaluating their strengths and limits on their own terms. The pure theory is founded on both technical logic and organizational corollaries. The pure theory of procedures and its assumptions are technically sensible application limited to a specific type of task. If procedures contain technical errors or are obsolete in relation to changes in organizational conditions or technology, operator discretion in ignoring them and substituting informal strategies can be an important safety 'corrective'.
