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Organisational Structure, Culture and Attitudes to Risk in the British Stadia Safety Industry
Author(s) -
Frosdick Steve
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of contingencies and crisis management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.007
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5973
pISSN - 0966-0879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5973.1995.tb00055.x
Subject(s) - ethnography , public relations , individualism , safety culture , perception , supporter , sociology , culture theory , egalitarianism , risk management , risk perception , social psychology , business , politics , political science , psychology , law , economics , management , geography , archaeology , neuroscience , anthropology
The history of ‘regulation by crisis’ in the British stadia safety industry has failed to prevent successive disasters and continued near misses. To reduce the risks, there is a need to better understand why the mistakes and misunderstandings leading to such incidents actually occur. Such understanding can be informed by applying cultural theory, a method of cultural classification using ‘grid/group’ analysis and derived from social anthropology. This paper uses cultural theory to analyze ethnography from, and literature relating to, public safety risk management and British stadia disasters. The analysis reveals the conflicting risk perceptions of individualist/entrepreneurial clubs, hierarchical regulators, long‐suffering fatalist spectators and their more egalitarian colleagues in supporter and local resident pressure groups. These perceptions are narrow and biased. At a strategic level, there is a need for each constituency to acknowledge the validity of the others' points of view. Increased awareness is a key to disaster prevention. The conclusions drawn should be applicable to wider crisis scenarios where a multiplicity of organisations are involved.