Why Safety Cultures Degenerate

<p>From Chernobyl to Fukushima have we come full circle where formalisation has replaced ambiguity and a decadent style of management to the point where it is becoming counter-productive? Safety culture is a contested concept and a complex phenomenon which has been much debated in recent years. In some high-risk activities like the operating of nuclear power plants transparency traceability and standardisation have become synonymous with issues of quality. Meanwhile the experience-based knowledge that forms the basis of manuals and instructions is liable to decline. In the long-term arguably it is the cultural changes and its adverse impacts on co-operation skill and ability of judgement that will pose the greater risks to the safety of nuclear plants and other high-risk facilities. Johan Berglund examines the background leading up to the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011 and highlights the function of practical proficiency in the quality and safety of high-risk activities. The accumulation of skill represents a more indirect and long-term approach to quality oriented not towards short-term gains but (towards) delayed gratification. Risk management and quality professionals and academics will be interested in the links between skill quality and safety-critical work as well as those interested in a unique insight into Japanese culture and working life as well as fresh perspectives on safety culture. </p>