When to STAMP? A Case Study in Aircraft Ground Handling Services

In this paper we show that safety analysis using the STAMP causation model is limited in the extent to which it appreciates complex dynamics of safety. When the STAMP is applied as management tool, controls may be introduced too soon in the analysis since it is necessary to understand emergent behaviour first. Emergent behaviour can be studied through organizational ethnography in parallel development with an agent-based model, as illustrated in a case study of airport ground handling services. Based on ethnographic research and theories from psychology and social sciences, we developed an agent model that showed why repeated attempts at managerial control to improve employees’ safety compliance were not durable. The insights obtained through the case study attained to move management ideas about what control means towards creating smarter design and communication processes that involve the work force.