Abstract
This article develops a conceptual framework for applied social-scientific research and
advisory practice on safety culture in complex socio-technical systems. It starts with the observation
that contemporary safety problems increasingly require forms of analysis that go
beyond technical reliability and managerial control. Existing approaches to safety remain
fragmented across engineering, management, and social science, often treating safety either
as a technical design problem, a compliance issue, or a measurable organizational attitude.
Against this background, the article argues that a practice-theoretical perspective can help
integrate these approaches by understanding safety culture as an emergent configuration
of meanings, routines, communication patterns, responsibilities, and situated professional
practices. Particular attention is given to the risk paradox as it unfolds in critical infrastructures
and safety-related organizations, where communication about possible failure is
necessary for safety but may also generate anxiety, resistance, or mistrust. The central claim
is that professional practice mediates between safety culture and organizational reliability:
safety cultures become effective only insofar as they are enacted through communication,
coordination, judgment, reporting, learning, and responsibility. On this basis, the article derives
analytical dimensions for empirical research, organizational diagnosis, and advisory
work aimed at cultivating reliable performance under conditions of uncertainty.