| Abstrakt: |
To create a safer world, it is vital that lessons are learned from near-misses, incidents and accidents and that those lessons are, through active learning, translated into practical, safety-oriented actions. Not unnaturally, vested interests – fearful of the consequences of being associated with the event in question – may seek to delay, deflect or halt whatever investigation is called for or authorised. Drawing on actor-network theory (ANT), this paper uses a case study approach to explore the lengths to which those implicated in a near-miss, incident or accident will go to protect their perceived interests. Through the inductive analysis of five investigations, it is shown that disruptive tactics range from the mischievous, for example, manipulating an inquiry's terms of reference, to the devious and illegal, for example, sanitising or manipulating statements. It is suggested that those charged with investigating near-misses, incidents and accidents use ANT to identify potentially hostile actors' resourcing, reach, networks and likely tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
