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dc.contributor.authorDekker, Sidney
dc.contributor.authorCilliers, Paul
dc.contributor.authorHofmeyr, Jan-Hendrik
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-03T11:19:30Z
dc.date.available2017-05-03T11:19:30Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.date.modified2012-02-10T01:23:09Z
dc.identifier.issn0925-7535
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.ssci.2011.01.008
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/42265
dc.description.abstractComplexity theory suggests that we see performance as an emergent property, the result of complex interactions and relationships. This can clash, however, with what stakeholders see as legitimate and normal in accident investigations. When systems fail, it is still common to blame components (e.g. human errors) and when they succeed spectacularly, to think in terms of individual heroism (e.g. the A320 Hudson River landing). In this paper, we lay out the contrast between a Newtonian analysis of failure that can be recognized in many efforts at safety analysis and improvement. It makes particular assumptions about the relationship between cause and effect, foreseeability of harm, time-reversibility and the ability to produce the "true story" of an accident. With inspiration from complexity theory, failures are seen as an emergent property of complexity. We explore what that means for safety science and work towards a post-Newtonian analysis of failure in complex systems.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.description.publicationstatusYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.publisher.placeNetherlands
dc.relation.ispartofstudentpublicationN
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom939
dc.relation.ispartofpageto945
dc.relation.ispartofissue6
dc.relation.ispartofjournalSafety Science
dc.relation.ispartofvolume49
dc.rights.retentionY
dc.subject.fieldofresearchEngineering
dc.subject.fieldofresearchMechanical engineering not elsewhere classified
dc.subject.fieldofresearchBiomedical and clinical sciences
dc.subject.fieldofresearchPsychology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode40
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode401799
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode32
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode52
dc.titleThe complexity of failure: Implications of complexity theory for safety investigations
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.date.issued2011
gro.hasfulltextNo Full Text
gro.griffith.authorDekker, Sidney


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