A review of literature: Individual blame vs. organizational function logics in accident analysis

When an accident happens in an organization, two different approaches are possible to explain its origin and dynamics. The first approach, called individual blame logic aims at finding the guilty individuals. The second approach, called organizational function logic aims to identify the organizational factors that favoured the occurrence of the event. This article compares the two different logics of inquiry, the consequences that they produce, in particular in the case of accidents caused by unintentional actions. Though favoured by the scientists, the organizational function logic approach is in real life usually beaten by the individual blame logic. Reviewing the literature, this article brings together the arguments for using the organizational function logic from the perspective that learning from accidents is necessary to prevent them from happening again.