Constructing Risk and Safety in Technological Practice

Jane Summerton, sociologist of technology, is associate professor at the Department of Technology and Social Change, Linkping University, Sweden. Her previous work has focussed on managerial and user practices in sociotechnical networks and systems, particularly in relation to energy and environmental issues. Her current research concerns 'non-user' practices in technology and their intersections with socio-economic resources, ethnicity and gender. Boel Berner, sociologist and historian, is professor at the Department of Technology and Social Change, Linkping University, Sweden. Her research has focussed on the identities and practices of technical experts, in work, education and in relation to risk, and on questions of gender and technology. Her most recent books in English are Gendered Practices (ed. 1996) and Manoeuvring in an Environment of Uncertainty (ed. with Per Trulsson, 2000)

Jane Summerton and Boel Berner Constructing Risk and Safety in Technological Practice: An Introduction Part I: Interpreting Accidents Introductory Comments 1. Judith Green The Ultimate Challenge for Risk Technologies: Controlling the Accidental 2. Jrg Potthast Narratives of Trust in Constructing Risk and Danger: Interpretations of the Swissair 111 Crash 3. Sidney W. A. Dekker Re-situating Your Data: Understanding the Human Contribution to Accidents Part II: Defining Risks Introductory Comments 4. Jane Summerton 'Talking Diesel': Negotiating and Contesting Environmental Risks of Automobility in Sweden 5. Andrew Koehler Defining Risk and Safety in a High Security Organization: 'Bunkering' at the Los Alamos Plutonium Handling Facility Part III: Constructing Safety Introductory Comments 6. Gene I. Rochlin Safety as a Social Construct: The Problem(atique) of Agency 7. Johan M. Sanne Creating Trust and Achieving Safety in Air Traffic Control 8. Sabrina Thelander The Social Construction of Safety in the Face of Fear and Distrust: The Case of Cardiac Intensive Care 9. Marianne Ds and Tomas Backstrm Constructing Workplace Safety through Control and Learning: Conflict or Compatibility?