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This paper aims to investigate the in-company training according to the technologically demanding and safety-critical feature of the aircraft industry. This study addresses to the tension between the structured and the more incidental part of in-company learning in their training and learning environment.

Against the background of concepts of workplace learning from vocational training research and concepts of the safety management system from safety research, aircraft companies from England and Germany were visited. Data from interviews with training managers and trainees as well as non-participant observations are analysed.

The findings show that workplace vocational learning in this industry is guided by different measures to design the learning environment to prevent purely incidental and informal knowledge acquisition. However, the formalisation of informal learning process leads to a high expenditure of material, personnel and time resources. The findings show that trainers and training managers working together internationally creatively manage different training systems. The training activities are designed to convey the values of safety culture like responsibility, accuracy, transparent communication and reporting. The requirements of the safety management system are also met through the training.

Challenges and tensions in the actual implementation of the training activities could not be identified. The people interviewed were selected by the companies, so there is a risk that certain perceptions are over-represented.

The results show that the safety-critical industry needs its own pedagogical approach to workplace learning, which is not based on independent work processes in the workplace. Insights can be drawn for in-company training in other safety-critical industries too. However, to enable effective in-company learning, which at the same time strengthens the safety culture of the company, many resources must be used. The companies must consider all dimensions of work from the individual level to the work structure level.

This paper discusses the tension between formal and informal learning and shows the specific design of this tension on the basis of a concrete industry for the specific needs of this industry. The results lead to the realisation that the general discussion about workplace learning must be viewed in a differentiated way depending on the industry.

Railways are a well-known example of complex critical infrastructure, incorporating socio-technical systems with humans such as drivers, signallers, maintainers and passengers at the core. The technological evolution including interconnectedness and new ways of interaction lead to new security and safety risks that can be realised, both in terms of human error, and malicious and non-malicious behaviour. This study aims to identify the human factors (HF) and cyber-security risks relating to the role of signallers on the railways and explores strategies for the improvement of “Digital Resilience” – for the concept of a resilient railway.

Overall, 26 interviews were conducted with 21 participants from industry and academia.

The results showed that due to increased automation, both cyber-related threats and human error can impact signallers’ day-to-day operations – directly or indirectly (e.g. workload and safety-critical communications) – which could disrupt the railway services and potentially lead to safety-related catastrophic consequences. This study identifies cyber-related problems, including external threats; engineers not considering the human element in designs when specifying security controls; lack of security awareness among the rail industry; training gaps; organisational issues; and many unknown “unknowns”.

The authors discuss socio-technical principles through a hexagonal socio-technical framework and training needs analysis to mitigate against cyber-security issues and identify the predictive training needs of the signallers. This is supported by a systematic approach which considers both, safety and security factors, rather than waiting to learn from a cyber-attack retrospectively.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review the research literature on safety coaching, with a particularly focus towards work in safety critical environments such as oil and gas, manufacturing and driving.

A literature review was undertaken of existing research, specifically in high-hazard industries, to assess whether safety coaching could be applied in the offshore oil and gas industry.

The paper suggests that coaching may offer some potential in helping support learning, behaviour change and is consistent with feedback and development approaches used in behavioural-based safety.

Further research would be needed to test the value of coaching to this new environment.

The paper informs practice on the development of coach training for safety coaching offshore.

The paper offers a new understanding of the potential of safety coaching in a new area of practice.

The purpose of this paper is to address a gap in the comparative research literature on vocational education and training (VET) and skill formation systems. It examines the impact of international technical standardisation and regulation on the design, organisation and delivery of apprenticeships in the aeronautical and aerospace sectors in England and Germany.

The research design was informed by insights from economics, workplace and work-based learning and comparative education. Academic experts in the fields of aerospace and aeronautical standardisation and regulation, VET, human resource development and business organisation were consulted. The generic occupation of “aircraft mechanic” was selected as being the closest match for comparison. Interviews and non-participant observation in workplaces and training centres were carried out involving three companies in England and four in Germany.

Findings show that there is considerable convergence across the pedagogical approaches to apprenticeships in England and Germany related to fostering the capacity to take responsibility for the quality of one’s work, to work in and lead teams, and to respond to and work with customers. Increasing international regulation and technical standardisation underpins a shared language about learning through practice in technologically advanced workplaces.

This paper is original because it turns the lens of inquiry to workplace processes to reveal the level of convergence in training philosophies and practices in an internationally highly regulated sector. It shows how international technical standardisation and regulation is leading to pedagogical innovation. The findings have implications for VET and apprenticeship policy at the national and international level.

The aim of this study was to explore the organizational and social prerequisites for employees' participative and rule-compliant information security behaviour in Swedish nuclear power production and its related industry. These industries are high-risk activities that must be meticulously secured. Protecting the information security in the related organizations is an essential aspect of this.

Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 employees in two organizations within the nuclear power industry in Sweden.

We found that prerequisites for employees' participative and rule-compliant information security behaviour could be categorized into structural, social and individual aspects. Structural aspects included well-adapted rules, knowledge support and resources. Social aspects included a supportive organizational culture, collaboration and adequate resources, and individual aspects included individual responsibility.

The qualitative approach of the study provided comprehensive descriptions of the identified preconditions. The results may thus enable organizations to better promote conditions important for information security in a high-risk industry.

“The offshore installations and wells (design and construction, etc.) regulations” (DCR) requires that all safety‐critical elements in both the system and software domains be assessed and evaluated. In this paper, following a brief review of offshore system (application) safety analysis, offshore software safety analysis is introduced. It is followed by a study of combining offshore system safety analysis with software safety analysis. The typical standards for the development of safety‐critical systems in several industrial sectors are discussed with particular reference to formal methods. A generic offshore software safety analysis framework is proposed with discussions. Formal methods for producing safety requirements specifications are then discussed. A case study is used to demonstrate safety requirements modelling for safety‐critical software development. Finally recommendations for further development in offshore software safety analysis are given.

Examines the applicability of national standards of managerial competence developed by an international oil and gas company. Presents the competence criteria for staff in safety critical posts within the context of the legislative and industry pressures operating within the UK oil and gas industry. The case study company conclude that the MCI standards do not appear to address their needs fully.

Aiming at understanding the effectiveness of leadership styles on workers' outcomes in safety-critical context, this study explores the impact of ethical leadership on safety and task performance under contingent effects of two safety-critical factors (i.e. perceived accident likelihood and perceived hazard exposure).

The study is cross-sectional in nature and survey questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were collected from 397 workers from ten organizations producing chemical products. Multiple hierarchical regression was performed to test the hypothesized relationships.

Results show that ethical leadership has positive association with workers' safety performance, safety attitude and task performance. Further, perceived accident likelihood moderated the influence of ethical leadership on workers' safety performance and attitude in such a way the association is strong when accident likelihood is high. Perceived hazard exposure moderated the link between ethical leadership and task performance such that higher hazard exposure decreases the effectiveness of ethical leadership.

Findings imply that managers can optimize employee safety for jobs associated with high safety-critical context through demonstration of ethical leadership behaviors. The study suggests that ethical leadership can prove to be important tool to improve workers' occupational safety well-being, which in turn helps them to improve their health and general well-being.

Contextualization of ethical leadership in safety-critical context is novelty of the study.

In megaprojects, changes in scope and organization may occur continuously. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how actors in a project network make sense of a safety-related process innovation introduced during the design phase.

An inductive single case study of an ongoing nuclear power plant project in Europe was employed to elucidate sensemaking processes using a narrative approach.

The empirical analysis yielded nine distinct narratives regarding the innovation each advancing a different account of the rationale for implementing the new method, and the subjects, objects and implications of the change. The findings suggest that actors’ differing framings of innovation may increase ambiguity and equivocality.

These insights augment existing knowledge of innovation management and system safety in safety-critical megaprojects by revealing project actors’ discrepant sensemaking processes with regard to innovations. To successfully manage sensemaking and its consequences for innovation adoption, managers need to take account of any such discrepancies in sensemaking processes.

Workplace safety has been a persistent issue for safety-critical organizations. Based on self-verification theory, this study investigates how authentic leadership affects safety behaviors in a collectivistic context.

This research collected 259 matching questionnaires for high-speed railway (HSR) drivers and their supervisors in China. Specifically, HSR drivers were invited to fill in their general perceived authentic leadership, person-organization fit and collectivistic orientation. In addition, their direct supervisors were invited to assess their safety behaviors.

Authentic leadership exhibits a significant positive impact on safety compliance and safety participation, implying that authentic leadership positively impacts safety behavior. The person-organization fit partially mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and safety behavior (safety compliance and participation). Furthermore, collectivistic orientation moderates the relationship between authentic leadership and person-organization fit.

The findings of this study provide important insights into authentic leadership and person-organization fit for developing effective strategies to improve workplace safety.