ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book provides a rich theoretical and empirical understanding of human work in complex and fallible systems and of the positive roles humans play. It articulates and develops a new research agenda – one that is more than just ensuring humans do not make mistakes. To enhance the positive role humans can play in ensuring safety in fallible systems it is important to identify the features of developmental work. It is clear, however, that there are many impediments to enabling workplaces to become developmental environments, both from a human-action and a system-safety point of view. There are a number of themes that point to how we may articulate a developmental work agenda. Two of these provide a background for understanding the context of the work environment and the remaining are used as conceptual resources for interrogating the work.
