ABSTRACT
Introduction In this chapter, three issues will be briefly discussed. One concerns the current configuration of the chemical industry in terms of expertise in human and organisational factors. The current configuration in this industry in France puts some constraints on the opportunities to develop new safety perspectives. Indeed, it is rare today to have experts in human and organisational factors (from ergonomics, psychology, sociology, work sociology, sociology of organisations) in this industry. Engineering is the main background. This strongly constraints the type of models or methodologies one can create to convey alternative description and explanation of safety or accidents dynamics. There is now a wide body of knowledge regarding safety and accidents with models and theories provided by different communities of research but the lack of “translators” within the industry makes the design of new methods and models based on these type of insights a very difficult task. As a result of this, an important gap therefore exists today between the available knowledge provided by researchers, and what does exist in industrial practices.
