Learning From Experience Enlarging the Agencys Perspective in Training and Instruction

For new miners, the problem is particularly acute. Because they are inexperienced, novices may focus intently on the job at hand and fail to perceive how simple miscalculations in cutting coal can weaken structural supports and precipitate a roof fall. Or they may misjudge the magnitude of risk because they lack experience to perceive the consequences of poor practice. Paradoxically, novices may use their own lack of experience to justify poor practice. Mallet et al. (1992) explain The more times miners spend under unsupported roof, the more likely they will be to doubt that such activity is dangerous, and the greater is their chance of being harmed. But experi- 

As this chapter argues, anomalous behaviors can be viewed as problems of focus and attention—the consequence of the uncertainty and complexity of work in hazardous environments. In each case, workers focused on a single task placed themselves in danger because they failed to turn their attention to other aspects of their work.  

This discussion challenges traditional notions of workplace practice as a linear sequence of hierarchical procedures focused on a single ta.sk or procedure. It raises questions about the rhetorical skills we need to manage multiple viewpoints—achieving a balance between too many conflicting vievv- 

As we saw in the previous chapter, the agency s focus on a single viewpoint can shut down the kinds of flexible thinking and planning that enable miners to work safely in an uncertain and dynamic environment. But this chapter also raises the possibility that even the most limited documents (called FATALGRAMs) can function as inventional tools that produce new knowledge if workers are encouraged to sp eculate about the cause or causes of an accident. 

This analysis has important implications for rhetorical theory and suggests that rhetoricians must reexamine how individuals and agencies might manage these diverse perspectives when they work to construct an understanding of hazards in their work. Chapters 5-9 explore this idea in detail. 

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