ABSTRACT
After virtually every major disaster of the last decade there has been a full scale investigation resulting in a lengthy report and a comprehensive list of recommendations. The philosophy of this investigative process, as it is for those incidents with less serious consequences, is that we must “learn from experience” to prevent future crises from occurring. However, there are barriers to such learning in organisations. Through a discussion of a number of major accidents this paper will outline some recent theoretical studies of organisational safety management. The value of these ideas in summarising the organisational barriers to learning the lessons from past experience will be shown. The accidents which will be referred to include Clapham Junction, King’s Cross, and Hillsborough.
