Managing safety culture in design activities: evidence from the Nordic nuclear power domain

The importance of safe and functional design is growing with the new nuclear builds across the globe. The existing literature on design emphasises the typical tensions of design activity but pays little attention to their relation to safety. The functional requirements can be met in many different ways, some safer than others. This conceptual paper aims at understanding how designers as humans affect safety in the nuclear industry. Rather than merely evaluating the quality of the design outcome, we argue for the need to study design processes from organizational perspective as they pose a variety of nuclear safety implications. We carried out a follow up study and content analysis of interview data with designers in the Nordic nuclear domain to shed more light on the specific cultural features, assumptions and norms that guide designers’ work processes. These cultural assumptions seem to be well in line with the six safety culture criteria of the DISC model. Managing the overall design project and understanding the big picture is seen as one of the main issues as the networked aspects of the design work are gradually acknowledged. This paper provides new insights on managing overall system safety and thus safety culture in design, suggesting that organizational culture can be systematically affected by management and organizational solutions.

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER Maskinteknik Annan maskinteknik hsv//swe
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY Mechanical Engineering Other Mechanical Engineering hsv//eng
design
organizational challenges
Safety culture
nuclear power industry
cultural features
inter-organizational challenges

Macchi, Luigi (author)
Alm, Håkan (author)
Osvalder, Anna-Lisa,1961Chalmers tekniska högskola,Chalmers University of Technology(Swepub:cth)alos (author)
Wahlström, Mikael (author)
Oedewald, Pia (author)
Chalmers tekniska högskola (creator_code:org_t)

In:7th international conference of WOS.net (Workingonsafety.net), Glasgow, Scotland, UK, Sept 30-Oct 3, 2014

By the author/editor: Gotcheva, Nadezh ...; Macchi, Luigi; Alm, Håkan; Osvalder, Anna-L ...; Wahlström, Mikae ...; Oedewald, Pia

About the subject

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY: ENGINEERING AND ...; and Mechanical Engin ...; and Other Mechanical ...

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