Analyzing Safety Communication in Industrial Contexts

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, vol. 52, pp. 251–290

Abstract

Work in industrial contexts is confronted with various risks, which are further amplified by the trend toward Industry 4.0. Approaches are needed to examine safety communication (SC) in such changing environments. Existing studies focus on individual SC means and quantitative evaluation measures. This article proposes a qualitative approach for analyzing SC with which a process chain in a metal-working company is investigated. The results reveal that SC is implemented as a complex system of communicative means. Weaknesses in this system entail several problems at the level of both workplaces and process chains. Due to a lack of digitalization, SC does not meet the requirements of Industry 4.0. Several task areas for communication professionals are identified in optimizing SC. These include content preparation for existing SC means according to work contexts and related tasks, creating digital SC content, and increasing the companies’ resilience to novel risks.

Authors 2

1. Claas Digmayer corresponding Aachen Department of Textlinguistics and Technical Communication Human-Computer Interaction Center

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Textlinguistics and Technical Communication, Human-Computer Interaction Center, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

2. Eva-Maria Jakobs Aachen Department of Textlinguistics and Technical Communication Human-Computer Interaction Center

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Textlinguistics and Technical Communication, Human-Computer Interaction Center, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany