The criminalization of human error in aviation and healthcare: A review

This review explores the social causes and psychological and organizational consequences of the criminalization of human error in aviation and healthcare. Increasing prevalence of criminal prosecution is seen as a threat to the health and safety of employees and entire safety-critical systems in many industries, but initiatives to counter or mitigate the trend are local and haphazard. Social causes such as a greater societal risk consciousness and intolerance of failure are examined, as well as organizational consequences for disclosure and incident reporting. Psychological consequences of the criminalization of human error are evaluated in terms of employee ill-health, an area that is under-investigated. The criminalization of professional mistakes seems to be an increasingly prevalent phenomenon at the intersection of safety work, sociology, criminology and legal as well as social justice. This paper reviews possible research directions into the criminalization of professional mistakes in aviation and healthcare, in the hope of stimulating debate and eventually legitimating it as a topic of study in its own right.

• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VF9-5167DSN-3/2/752116625f902536f127db1570a53739
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/09257535
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Dekker, Sidney
• Publication Date: 2011-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Bibliography;
• Pagination: pp 121-127
• Serial:
  • Safety Science
  • Volume: 49
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0925-7535
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09257535

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aviation; Employees; Health care; Human error; Legal factors; Organizational factors; Prosecution; Psychological aspects; Risk taking; Safety factors; Social factors; Social impacts; Sociology
• Uncontrolled Terms: Criminal investigation; Criminal law; Well being
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Law; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01323882
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 28 2010 1:30PM