Organisational learning in industrial companies: Experiences from Germany

Learning from the occurrence of accidents and incidents is essential to improving safety in organizations. It is a process of increasing the capacity for effective organisational action through the construction of knowledge and its embodiment in the practices of the organisation. This paper examines how accidents and incidents are analysed in companies in the province of Nordrhein-Wesffalia, Germany, and what changes are made to support effective organisational learning. The results suggest that there is limited communication flow between the stakeholders - design, operations, production and safety management - who are responsible for safe system operation. The consequence of which appears to be a reliance of these organisations on local changes to practices, rather than change in either equipment design or workplace layout.