Organizational learning from construction fatalities: Balancing juridical, ethical, and operational processes

Abstract

Construction work is associated with high risks of fatalities. Effective, deep and lasting learning from incidents is important for the safety of employees, but not well developed in the construction sector. We studied the organizational processes after a fatality through an auto-ethnographic field work study and found three distinct, but interrelated processes to normalize construction work; juridical, ethical and operational processes. Balanced attention to all three processes supports an effective, deep and lasting learning from incidents. We contribute to the learning from incidents literature with the insight that balanced attention for all three processes helps to learn from incidents and to improve the safety of workers. Furthermore, second victims can be important for the learning of incidents process. Finally, the findings throw new light on inadequate supervision of safety procedures, as the temporary characteristics of projects forces workers to deviate from safety procedures.