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Describes a study of trends in the use of keywords (risk, hazard and crisis) in the media having accessed a large commercial on‐line database for this purpose. Allowing for several assumptions, finds mainly rising trends in the usage of each of the keywords, and in the proportion of articles classified under related categories (insolvency, terrorism, environment/ecology, and air transport crash).

We live in times of increasing dynamism in the natural, social and business environments; with such dynamism comes fear, uncertainty and doubt. As a result the discipline of risk management is in the ascendancy. In a recent influential report the UK's Royal Society called for research into the role that organization design plays in risk management. Defines a theoretical framework that is being used to investigate a part of that relationship: the link between risk management strategy and organizational behaviour. Organizations are identified with either a proactive or a reactive approach to risk management. The research issue is whether the "choice" of approach is dependent on organization structure or is it independent? Does structure determine the approach or does the approach determine the structure? What other factors play a role? The critical factor of risk perception in managers and its impact on implementation strategy is considered. The types of risk strategy an organization follows and its structure are defined using various measures of distinct factors. By establishing the nature and cause of relationships between the measures and factors, the relationship between organizational approaches to risk and organization structure may be identified. Describes a method for evaluating this relationship.

Safety performance on the UK continental shelf is normally of a high
standard, although there are still many "minor" accidents. However, a
comparative analysis reveals that major disasters in the North Sea have
forced up fatality statistics, indicating that there is a need for
improvement. The Cullen Report on the Piper Alpha disaster and the
ensuing Safety Case Regulations are evaluated in light of safety
performance. While the regulations are a major step in the right
direction, apparently there are gaps in the provision. Such gaps cannot
be filled solely by following the principles of total quality
management. Problems with the regulations include the fundamental
approach to public inquiries, the problems of objective versus
prescriptive regulations, technological bias, the behaviour of
management and management systems, communication problems, difficulties
with quantitative risk assessment, key concepts within the regulations
(ALARP and acceptance), change management, the nature of safety
management systems and ignoring the natural environment.

The paper starts with a description of a risk management model more suited to the current business environment. Key to the introduction of the model is the success of organizational communication and culture. Aspects of culture are explained using cultural theory. This is followed by a discussion of the critical role of communication, and the theory of the social amplification of risk is presented and analysed. From here the paper moves to the development of a framework explaining communications behaviour during crisis. The notions of structural distortion and communications degradation during crises are used to explain behavioural (cultural changes) distortion. Total risk management is presented as a notional solution to these problems.

Crisis management theory, developed through the study of industrial disasters and socio‐technical failures, is applied to three cases of business failure. The principle objective of the research reported in this paper was to identify whether or not successive failures could have been avoided through organizational learning from similar prior events and what factors might have contributed to or prevented learning. The research also aimed to establish whether or not theoretical frameworks for analyzing and understanding industrial disasters and socio‐technical failures are applicable to business failures.Using detailed case analyses of the failures of Johnson Matthey Bank, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International and Barings, the paper illustrates a series of remarkable similarities in these business failures. It also demonstrates an apparent inability of the management involved in the later failures to learn from what had happened before. Organizational culture is singled out as the main contributing factor in these failures. This paper, in part, proves the case for applying industrial crisis management theory to business failure.

This article moves beyond the existing institutional focus on union representation and workplace injury by looking at the substance of union representation and participation in the management of occupational health and safety (OHS). The effects on workplace injuries of different configurations of OHS voice (negotiation, consultation, information or 'none'), as mapped by the perceptions of both management and unions in the same workplace, are explored using the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2004. The findings indicate that some participation is better than none, that more inclusive voice configurations are better than those that are less inclusive and that the alignment of voice between management and unions is fundamental to success. The impact of less inclusive participation is also found to be conditioned by the extent of trade union membership in the workplace.

Management in rescue organizations are often faced by conflicts between a spectrum of emergency types, and legal duties to ensure rescuer safety on the incident ground. Drawing on two case studies we consider how rescuers react to cues in order to make sense of unsafe work environments and so make decisions in emergency situations. We explore problems of over‐commitment by rescue workers, together with the nature of its manifestation, and management options for engendering high reliability. We find that the identity and social aspects of ensuring the 'sensemaking' are particularly relevant in rescue workers that it is morally and professionally acceptable to decline an overly hazardous rescue. Cue‐based training as well as equipment provision is also vital in assessing risk.

Using a nationally representative survey of British workplaces, this article seeks to extend current perspectives on OHS (occupational health and safety) by examining the impact of a range of current work and employment practices, and work-force characteristics on the incidence of workplace accidents and, uniquely, ill health. Our findings indicate that the British Government faces major challenges in terms of its plans for OHS. Ill health, in particular, is poorly served by existing OHS management techniques, while injury and illness seem to be associated with many more 'determinants' in the world of work than has previously been proven.