ABSTRACT
It is widely recognised that procedures have a vital role to play in the operation of all safety critical systems. Many accident and incident reports cite ‘failure to comply with procedures’ as a central cause. In some respects this is a truism, since the actions that lead to an accident are unlikely to involve compliance with the documented procedures. However, a deeper analysis of the way in which procedures are perceived and used by the workforce indicates that there are major differences between these perceptions and those assumed by the Safety Management System. This disparity of vision between the end users of procedures and those that frame their content is one of the major reasons for the widespread non-compliance that is the reality in most organisations. This issue will be explored in detail in subsequent sections of this chapter.
