Evolution of safety management before the Fukushima Daiichi accident : a bibliographical revision in the context of major modern industrial accidents. Reliability

Abstract

This study, through a bibliographic review, describes the evolution of the Safety Management theory and practice from the industrial field and particularized in the nuclear industry. (1) Background: Safety Management is a relatively novel field of safety theory. The last nuclear accident (Fukushima Daiichi) is a point of interest to analyze and capitalize on the theory and the experience developed up to there; (2) Methods: a review and summary of state-of-the-art safety management until 2012. This review is contextualizing the major industrial accidents in modern history. Nuclear accidents are the focus. (3) Results: Theoretical summaries are presented, and a timeline is built on the evolution of safety management. Major and modern industrial accidents are described and analyzed with a focus on nuclear accidents; (4) Conclusions: The evolution of thinking in safety management received numerous theoretical contributions that arose from the lessons learned from the major industrial accidents. The thought in safety management has had a cumulative but evolutionary behavior.