Operationalizing and testing normal accident theory in petrochemical plants and refineries

Since ‘Normal Accidents: Living With High-Risk Technologies’ was first published in 1984, there have been very few tests of its validity or its application to different classes of technology or organizations. This paper describes a robust, parametric test of Normal Accident Theory applied to a class of high-risk systems: petrochemical plants and refineries. The theory has important implications for scholars interested in the relationship of organizations to the natural environment and managers responsible for safe, socially responsible, and environmentally appropriate operation of high-consequence systems.