The Shaken Foundations of Safety

This open access book analyses the threats to safety in high-risk industries linked to skills challenges. It highlights the impact of changes in the workplace driven by technological advances, digitalization, demographic shifts and a lack of appeal. The various articles address these issues — which have as yet been little studied — from the perspective of safety culture.

The first part of the book examines the collective dimension of skills and their development over time. It also looks at the ‘learning gap’, which undermines the transfer of knowledge between professional generations. The book further explores the effects of digitalization on workplace dynamics and teams.

The following sections propose courses of action in the areas of training, organization and management.

Rather than providing ready-made answers, this book offers a strategic, organizational and contextualized perspective on the maintenance and development of skills for the future of high-risk industries in a changing world.

This publication presents the findings of an international academic seminar on Safety, skills and careers by 2040, organised in 2024 by Foncsi..