An Exploratory Study of the Issues of a Professionalization to the Industrial Safety in a French Railway Company
Une étude exploratoire des enjeux de la professionnalisation à la sécurité industrielle au sein d’une entreprise ferroviaire française
Résumé
This communication aims to explore the leverages and impediments of a professionalization to an integrated safety culture. The two objectives of the study are: (1) to understand the way the strategic actors perceive the safety model and the role of the managerial line and, the operational staff, and (2) to identify the professionalization initiatives. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with HOF (Human and Organizational Factors), safety, and training experts. The thematic analysis was conducted with MAXQDA® software for qualitative data processing. The results show that the safety model is mainly perceived as “rule-based” and professionalization refers for the most part to training systems. This model affects the forms of professionalization of the operational staff, the missions assigned to the managerial line and the operational staff, as well as the professionalization initiatives via compliance with the prescriptions (procedures, standards). These results underline the gap to be filled between the company’s desire to establish an integrated safety culture and the current experts’ perception of its operationalization in the field.
