book
Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents
Reason, James. Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1997.
Related concepts4 concepts
Concept
Accountability
Accountability names whether consequence still reaches the people who can respond. It becomes important when scale, narrative, or abstraction thins contact between action and effect. It helps preserve correction and proportionate answerability, but can fail when moral sorting replaces sustained contact with outcomes. It differs from responsibility because accountability emphasizes exposure to consequence; responsibility includes the ongoing obligation to account even when control is partial.
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Concept
Coupling
Coupling names the strength of the link between what was decided and what later arrives. It becomes important when scale, abstraction, or delay lengthen the chain between decision and lived harm. It helps preserve learning and legitimacy, but can fail when dashboards stay green while frontline frustration grows. It differs from cohesion because coupling tracks action-to-effect attachment; cohesion tracks whether responsibility is clearly held. It differs from consequence-architecture because coupling describes the attachment; consequence-architecture describes intentional design of boundaries, feedback, and escalation.
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Concept
Correction
Correction names the lived work of narrowing the gap between what was assumed and what is actually happening. It becomes important whenever systems, beliefs, or coordination can drift while still feeling operational. It helps preserve shared reality and learning, but can fail when every correction spawns new framing instead of updated contact with conditions. It differs from repair because correction updates belief and behavior; repair addresses damaged standing and trust. It differs from revisability because correction is the act; revisability is the designed capacity to keep correcting.
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Concept
Responsibility
Responsibility names what continues after action—the obligation to remain responsive to what one's choices set in motion. It becomes important when systems scale beyond any one person's control but moral weight still accumulates. It helps preserve sustained answerability, but can fail when responsibility collapses into futility or when symbolic gestures replace contact with effects. It differs from accountability because responsibility names the enduring relation; accountability names whether consequence still reaches those who can respond.
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