Safety Labs by Safety Products Global How Sociology Can Help Safety with Martijn Flinterman
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Dec 29, 2025 Martijn Flinterman, a sociologist and expert in organizational safety, delves into the complexities of safety management. He challenges traditional views, asserting that a narrow focus on accidents can obscure broader safety insights. Martijn discusses the dangers of rigid safety categories and underscores the importance of learning from exceptions. He introduces concepts like harmony bias and constructive distrust, advocating for open communication and reflexivity in safety practices. This thought-provoking conversation refines how safety professionals can approach risks and uncertainties.
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Communication Creates Organizational Reality
- Niklas Luhmann saw society as communication and emphasized how organizational categories and procedures create reality.
- Martijn Flinterman argues safety work must study how people make sense of their work, not preach morality.
Paradoxes Are Functional, Not Problems To Erase
- Paradoxes in safety (e.g., more control creates new risks) are inherent and must be managed, not eliminated.
- Systems need tensions between trust and distrust, order and flexibility to function.
Study Success To Explain Safety
- Accident theory treats accidents as deviations from a normally safe system.
- Luhmann's improbable-normal view asks how safety is possible and studies success conditions instead of only failures.
