Questioning as regulatory work practice: The communicative accomplishment of reliability and safety in the oversight of nuclear power plants

ABSTRACT

The safety of high hazard systems depends on the organizations that monitor and regulate them, but theorizing of these organizations tends to gloss over the specific communicative practices that comprise organizing for reliability and safety. This article investigates nuclear power plant inspectors’ communicative work practices by studying how asking and answering questions organizes their work. The data include interviews (N = 29) and shadowing of resident inspectors at six nuclear power plants and a regional office of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The analysis of communicative work practices central to inspection work (e.g., interrogating, coordinating interaction, and keeping track) contribute to normative theory of questioning in safety organizing with implications for the communicative study of questioning, work practice, and high hazard systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Questioning
• practice
• high reliability organizations
• normal accident theory
• nuclear power

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the dedicated professionals at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The data reported here were gathered as part of a communication assessment completed while the authors were employed as communication specialists by the NRC.

ORCID

Joshua B. Barbour http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8384-7175