휴먼에러: 효율성-안전성 역설 관점

This study examines the paradox between efficiency and safety and explores how organizations should respond to this paradox. Drawing upon the theory of paradox, this study argues that operational human errors, which represent a lack of safety, can stem from institutional environments that emphasize efficiency, and that organizations should take a balance between efficiency and safety to mitigate the occurrence of operational human errors. Empirical analysis using the context of world nuclear power industry in 31 countries provides support these arguments. The study reveals that countries with a higher economic reliance on the industry are more prone to experiencing unplanned outages caused by human errors. However, this tendency diminishes for organizations that have well-established routines for pre-safety checks and those with fewer number of others for comparing efficiency performance or those with comparative others having lower efficiency. The results not only contribute to the theory of paradox by discussing the efficiency-safety paradox, an underdeveloped paradox relation, but also offer variable implications to help organizations prevent safety issues.