Citation

Gephart RP. Ind. Crisis Q. 1992; 6(2): 115-135.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, Industrial Crisis Institute - Bucknell University)

DOI

10.1177/108602669200600204

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper investigates the public inquiry as a ceremonial legitimator of state responses to technological disaster. The paper addresses: (1) the implications of welfare state theory for understanding the public inquiry; (2) the communicative validity claims and counter-claims made by inquiry participants; (3) how sense-making practices are used to interpret and transform these claims into institutionally sensible accounts; and (4) how the inquiry legitimates state and corporate responses to technological disaster. To investigate these issues, the paper describes a public inquiry into a fatal pipeline accident and then analyses key segments of inquiry testimony. The paper demonstrates that the inquiry distorted local logics of safety used by members and transformed these into the top-down logics of safety regulators. This distortion preserved the viability of disaster control through state regulation and thereby legitimated state actions and control procedures. The paper concludes by addressing the practical implications of the research.

Keywords: Pipeline transportation