ABSTRACT
The safety department was famous forcranking out reams of paperwork and bulleted lists. A focus on safety systems and procedural compliance, on surveillance and monitoring, and on achieving low numbers of negative events, can shift the very meaning of safety in an organization. Safety is built on process and bureaucracy, with a strong emphasis on fixed rules, gathering and analyzing data, showing numbers and bullet points up the organizational hierarchy in order to meet bureaucratic accountability expectations and demands. Focusing on safety in line discussions can quickly become a paternalistic exercise. Responsibility for safety in a local product, process or technology is foremost up to the line, as that is where people work with it every day. Operating safety-critical processes or technologies raises all kinds of questions, on a daily basis, that need to be tackled by the line organization–by managers and supervisors.
