EDITORIAL COMMENTS: How systems put us in our place
Paul Greengrass, the English director of the taut, gripping docudrama “United 93†(a real-time reconstruction of the doomed 9/11 flight that crashed in Pennsylvania) made several penetrating observations on the nature of human behavior in an interview in the magazine Film Comment that should give any safety and health professional pause for thought.
In this post-OSHA age of safety, the attention of many safety and health managers has shifted, or certainly expanded, from singular compliance issues (many of which are now under control) to more system-wide organizational safety challenges. Just look at the variety of conferences, workshops, articles and speeches on EHS management systems and culture-building. The film “United 93†vividly recreates how systems can fail, as well as how individuals can overcome those failures.
The film reconstructs with devastating realism, using actual air traffic controllers and military professionals, how highly technical communications systems operated by skilled, experienced personnel can fail in emergencies. But that’s not the point here.