IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2018 - 63
Keeping the
Lights On
A Comparison of Normal
Accidents and High Reliability
Organizations
Hilary Brown
L
arge technological systems have many
modes of failure - some mundane,
others exotic, some with dire consequ-
ences. Failures resulting in death and
environmental degradation spring ea-
sily to mind: Chernobyl, Bhopal, Deep-
water Horizon. As a large technological
system, the U.S. electric power infrastructure experi-
enced failures during major Northeast blackouts in
1965 and 2003, when large areas were left without
power, and the system frequently experiences both
large and small blackouts. How should we conceptual-
ize failure in complex technological systems like elec-
tric power?
To answer this question, two frameworks have been
proposed: normal accidents and high reliability orga-
nizations (HROs). The normal accident framework
argues that accidents are endemic to complex techno-
logical systems, from analyses combining technolo-
gical, social, and political concerns. Based on in-depth
organizational studies, the HRO framework concludes
that certain organizations cope with complex techno-
logical systems in ways that make failure less likely.
Both frameworks emphasize complexity and technical
interactions. Both examine how operators, managers,
and the organizational structures interact with one
another and with technological systems. Yet, they
arrive at very different (though not mutually exclusive)
conclusions: accidents will happen or accidents can
be avoided.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2018.2826059
Date of publication: 31 May 2018
JUNE 2018
∕
Power systems engineers and managers strive to
"keep the lights on" with technological fixes, market
adjustments, and extreme work schedules to restore
power quickly. However, with a few exceptions, the
power systems literature has paid little attention to the
frameworks of normal accidents or HROs. As a complex
technological system comprising many organizations
and vast amounts of equipment, the field of electric
power could benefit from attention to both perspec-
tives. First, I will examine the two frameworks individu-
ally and compare them, emphasizing any work from the
literature of these fields using electric power examples
or case studies. Then, I will look for evidence that either
framework has been discussed from an engineering
perspective in the power systems literature. Finally, I
will postulate ways in which consideration of these
frameworks would benefit the field of power systems.
Normal Accidents
and High Reliability Organizations
First of all, what is a normal accident? It is an accident
that is neither common nor expected, resulting from
unforeseen interactions among system elements and
proceeding in an incomprehensible way. The term came
into wide use with Perrow's work, Normal Accidents,
which classified technological systems according to two
qualities: coupling and complexity [1]. A system is either
tightly coupled or loosely coupled, depending on how
interdependent and time-sensitive different parts of the
system are with respect to one another [1]. According to
Perrow's definition, the power grid is tightly coupled
because electricity must be consumed and produced at
the same time - it can rarely be cost-effectively stored.
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
63
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