An unflinching look at the unique challenges posed by complex technologies we cannot afford to let fail—and why the remarkable achievements of civil aviation can help us understand those challenges.Nuclear reactors, deep-sea drilling platforms, deterrence infrastructures—these are all complex and formidable technologies with the potential to fail catastrophically. In Rational Accidents, John Downer outlines a new perspective on technological failure, argui...

Recent discoveries in psychology and neuroscience have improved our understanding of why our decision making processes fail to match standard social science assumptions about rationality. As researchers such as Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, and Richard Thaler have shown, people often depart in systematic ways from the predictions of the rational actor model of classic economic thought because of the influence of emotions, cognitive biases, an aversion to loss, and other strong motivations...

"An in-depth account of the events and personal actions which led to a great tragedy in the history of America's space program." —James D. Smith, former Solid Rocket Booster Chief, NASA, Marshall Space Flight CenterWhen the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, millions of Americans became bound together in a single, historic moment. Many still vividly remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the tragedy. Diane...

Normal Accidents analyzes the social side of technological risk. Charles Perrow argues that the conventional engineering approach to ensuring safety--building in more warnings and safeguards--fails because systems complexity makes failures inevitable. He asserts that typical precautions, by adding to complexity, may help create new categories of accidents. (At Chernobyl, tests of a new safety system helped produce the meltdown and subsequent fire.) By recognizing two dimensions of...

When faced with a ’human error’ problem, you may be tempted to ask 'Why didn’t these people watch out better?' Or, 'How can I get my people more engaged in safety?' You might think you can solve your safety problems by telling your people to be more careful, by reprimanding the miscreants, by issuing a new rule or procedure and demanding compliance. These are all expressions of 'The Bad Apple Theory' where you believe your system is basically safe if it were not for those few unreliable pe...

Major accidents are rare events due to the many barriers, safeguards and defences developed by modern technologies. But they continue to happen with saddening regularity and their human and financial consequences are all too often unacceptably catastrophic. One of the greatest challenges we face is to develop more effective ways of both understanding and limiting their occurrence. This lucid book presents a set of common principles to further our knowledge of the causes of major accidents ...

What does the collapse of sub-prime lending have in common with a broken jackscrew in an airliner’s tailplane? Or the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico with the burn-up of Space Shuttle Columbia? These were systems that drifted into failure. While pursuing success in a dynamic, complex environment with limited resources and multiple goal conflicts, a succession of small, everyday decisions eventually produced breakdowns on a massive scale. We have trouble grasping the complexity and...

Featuring a wide range of international case studies, Ethics, Technology, and Engineering presents a unique and systematic approach for engineering students to deal with the ethical issues that are increasingly inherent in engineering practice.Utilizes a systematic approach to ethical case analysis -- the ethical cycle -- which features a wide range of real-life international case studies including the Challenger Space Shuttle, the Herald of Free Enterprise and biofu...

This open access book explores the synergies and tensions between safety and security management from a variety of perspectives and by combining input from numerous disciplines. It defines the concepts of safety and security, and discusses the methodological, organizational and institutional implications that accompany approaching them as separate entities and combining them, respectively.The book explores the coupling of safety and security from different perspectives, especially:...

Everything in nature evolves by trial and error. We cannot avoid this fundamental method of natural evolution, but our human advantage is that we can think about and learn from the errors before trying again.Trial, Error, and Success helps boost that advantage with 10 insights into realistic knowledge, thinking, and emotional intelligenceThe authors use real-life examples to show how successful thinking avoids overgeneralization traps-the key trick is to focus on the differ...

Explore the moral and ethical issues which arise at the intersection of novel technology and engineeringIn Ethics, Technology, and Engineering: An Introduction, a team of distinguished researchers delivers an insightful and thought-provoking exploration of some of the toughest ethical questions found at the crossroads of engineering and technology. The book demonstrates the skills necessary to effectively grapple with ethical issues that arise from the pra...

In this incessantly readable, groundbreaking work, Vincente makes vividly clear how we can bridge the widening gap between people and technology. He investigates every level of human activity - from simple matters such as our hand-eye coordination to complex human systems such as government regulatory agencies, and why businesses would benefit from making consumer goods easier to use. He shows us why we all have a vital stake in reforming the aviation industry, the health industry, and the...