Abstract
In the field of safety science, the "socio-technical system" (also referred to as man-machine-environment system) has become a general model for considerations on safety. Today it is common practice to use this model in order to analyse, evaluate and design the conditions under which all kinds of safety problems may arise. In many fields, standardized procedures have been established to design the technical components of production plants. These procedures have likewise been adopted in safety strategies and some of them are particularly very successful – when it comes to designing actual technical situations. Based on the man- machine interface, this approach has meanwhile increasingly won recognition in safety strategies concerning the social components of socio-technical systems. The standardized approach is also applied to organisational and behavioural conditions, to humans. Such procedures start from the assumption that humans show a behaviour that is similar to the functional behaviour of machines, computers and robots. Often, psychological and social determining factors are not considered; and of course with that the resultant requirements. This leads to more serious problems. The present paper shows a study, as example, in which we accompanied the final closing of an industrial chemical plant-site for more than one year and analysed it from a safety-scientific point of view. The study shows that management decisions are often based on the assumption that all employees exhibit the same behaviour and can be guided through standardized procedures and rational stimuli – a false conclusion. It can be seen from the study that such a decision has far-reaching consequences on the situation of the company. This course of action is the reason for safety and security problems, such as diseases, accidents and disturbances or intentional damaging actions such as sabotage. The results of the study provide insights into the conditions under which extremely varying problems are developing and, therefore, also present general principles for prevention programmes.
