Talking About Organizations Podcast 134: Normal Accidents -- Charles Perrow (Part 2)
Feb 17, 2026
They carry Perrow’s framework into the 21st century and probe risks in modern IT systems and Y2K-era fears. They debate whether organizational fixes or societal policy choices can curb high-risk accidents. They examine automation pitfalls, secrecy’s role in complexity, and how public pushback and legal responses shape who pays for disasters.
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High Reliability Emphasizes Culture Over Components
- High reliability theory focuses on cultural levers like heedful interrelating to prevent accidents rather than just technical fixes.
- The hosts contrast Perrow's system-level critique with high reliability's emphasis on training, norms, and collective mind in settings like aviation.
Deliberate Complexity Increases Coupling Risk
- Technological complexity grows as capabilities are deliberately engineered into fixed systems, increasing failure modes during scaling and integration.
- Tom uses automobiles becoming computer-controlled to show how added capabilities and centralization raise coupling and accident risk.
Don’t Automate Without Assessing System Coupling
- Avoid assuming automation always reduces risk; analyze coupling, centralization, and room for human intervention before automating.
- Sam warns that automating tasks in tightly coupled systems can reduce capacity to respond to unforeseen interactions and failures.
