Towards a sociology of risk work: A narrative review and synthesis

Abstract

In this article, we define the concept of "risk work," which aims to make visible working practices to assess or manage risk, in order to subject these practices to sociological critique. This article reviews and synthesizes existing published literature to identify components of risk work: (a) translating risk into different contexts, (b) minimizing risks in practice, and (c) caring in the context of risk. We argue that these three components of risk work raise important tensions for workers that have been inadequately explored in the literature to date. We propose that future research should additionally focus on practitioner subjectivity and identity in risk work. In addition, we argue that comparative research-across type of risk and different contexts-and methodological and theoretical diversity would enhance this emerging field of research.

Special Issue: Complexity, Routines, and Reflexivity in Professional Work

“…We then introduce a model of three key features of risk work and the tensions which emerge as they are combined in practice (see Figure 1), alongside an understanding of processes by which these tensions may become more explicit or remain latent within everyday working experiences and practices. Our arguments are grounded in an extensive review of related literatures (Gale, Thomas, Thwaites, Greenfield, & Brown, 2016), our own recent empirical studies (see, for example, chapter 5 of Brown & Calnan, 2012;Gale, Dowswell, Greenfield, & Marshall, 2017;Gale, Kenyon, MacArthur, Jolly, & Hope, 2018, Veltkamp & Brown, 2017 and pilot work to test our emerging theory, and are presented alongside a reworking of key features of post-phenomenological social theory. The final section points to some further possibilities for extending this model and lines of research in relation to two fundamental questions: first, how is risk work practically and pragmatically accomplished amid the residual uncertainties, which emerge when handling risk?…”

“…Few studies have peered into the messy world of how such risk work actually "gets done" (Harrits, 2016;Horlick-Jones, 2005) and still fewer have considered the lived, embodied experiences of what it means to accomplish everyday risk work (Gale et al 2016 andHarrits andMøller 2014 analyse decision-making and identity among front-line prevention workers but not in relation to risk).…”

“…These studies consider how risk gets translated into different contexts (see Arribas-Ayllon & Sarangi, 2014;Burton-Jeangros, Cavalli, Gouilhers, & Hammer, 2013), how practitioners intervene to minimise risks in practice (see Cabral, Lucas, Ingram, Hay, & Horwood, 2015;Cricco-Lizza, 2010), and/or how caring is carried out amid (or in spite of) contexts characterised in terms of risk (see Broom, Broom, & Kirby, 2014;Iversen, Broström, & Ulander, 2017). These three features of risk work-interpreting risk knowledge, intervening to minimize risk, and handling social relations and interactions-are illuminated in these studies alongside some connections between them (Gale et al, 2016). In the following section we go further to conceptualise these three features before arguing that we must consider the interconnectedness of these features of risk work in a systematic manner and, moreover, to address how they often stand in tension with one another.…”

On doing ‘risk work’ in the context of successful outcomes: exploring how medication safety is brought into action through health professionals’ everyday working practices

“…Such interest is also reflected in health services research, particularly in relation to patient safety, where medication error has been considered a main outcome likely to result in harm (Dückers et al, 2009). However, according to Gale et al (2016), the impact of risk on the nature and experiences of healthcare work remains a relatively neglected area of research on risk in healthcare. Building on the authors' proposal of 'risk work', understood in terms of 'working practices framed by concepts of risk' (Gale et al, 2016(Gale et al, , p. 1046(Gale et al, -1047, in this article we explore how medication safety is brought into action through health professionals' everyday working practices in the context of a paediatric hospital providing secondary and tertiary care.…”

“…However, according to Gale et al (2016), the impact of risk on the nature and experiences of healthcare work remains a relatively neglected area of research on risk in healthcare. Building on the authors' proposal of 'risk work', understood in terms of 'working practices framed by concepts of risk' (Gale et al, 2016(Gale et al, , p. 1046(Gale et al, -1047, in this article we explore how medication safety is brought into action through health professionals' everyday working practices in the context of a paediatric hospital providing secondary and tertiary care. In particular, we focus on how risk-related practices are carried out by frontline practitioners at the point of medication administration (last stage of the medication process) and the point at which risks can become actual harm caused to patients.…”