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How Principles of High Reliability Organizations Relate to Corrections

Author: 
Volume 73 Number 3
Date: 
December 2009
Abstract: 

This brief review of High Reliability Organization methodology summarizes some of the literature, provides an overview of the primary principles guiding HROs today, and serves as a framework for looking at some of the particular current challenges facing corrections, determining what, when, and how HRO strategies might benefit the field. Beyond the issue of safety, there are significant and growing concerns about the field's capacity to manage implementation, complex processes, and crisis (not directly related to safety but to organizational and system integrity, such as down-sizing and loss of mission).