Repairs as the last orderly provided defense of safety in aviation

Abstract

We analyze the multi-dimensional organization of action in aviation, focusing on the repairs that derive from parties’ orientation to several sources of knowledge in which current information provides corrections for errors occurring earlier at the organizational and local levels. We suggest that the analysis of the coordination of talk and action can inform us about the multi-dimensional nature of the organization of action in complex environments. We note that repairs and corrections in naturally occurring activities inform participants and researchers about troubles that do not, however, cause incidents or accidents thanks to these corrective practices. The multi-dimensional organization of actions provides a number of corrective resources against emerging incidents. Our video-taped data comes from two environments, air traffic control centers and simulated Airbus flights, including more than 70 h of data in all. The sequential analysis of talk and action is based on conversation analysis (CA), ethnomethodology (EM), and ethnographic field work. The theoretical aims of the study concern the explication of organization of complex multimodal activities in which talk, action and technical resources are interwoven. In practical terms, the study aims at making the emergence and management of errors in complex activities transparent, providing a basis for improving safety procedures.