A Text Mining Analysis of Complacency and the Role of Complexity in the Tree-Felling Operations of Wildland Firefighters

Abstract

The term complacency is often referenced in many risk and safety domains, despite a unifying definition for the term currently backed by the field of psychology. Complacency has been listed as a cause for accidents in the domain of wildland firefighting. Moreover, fires resulting in fatalities or near-fatalities share a common factor of occurring on small fires or deceptively quiet areas of larger fires. This fact suggests complacency may be a key factor in circumstances that lead to the deaths of firefighters. This study analyzes the application of complacency in wildland firefighting tree-felling accident reports to develop a guiding framework informed by complexity thinking for determining a theory of complacency within the domain. Using a text mining method for accident report analysis, we aim to develop a framework for understanding complacency in this domain. A framework of complacency can help to inform firefighting risk management strategies and potentially save lives.