Rhetorical transformation Accident investigations

In the chapters that follow, I focus largely on two particular moments of rhetorical transformation accident investigations and training. 

Agencies would be horrified, we imagine, if investigators recorded their second-hand conclusions and impressions before they collected physical evidence from the accident site. But agencies have institutionalized the rhetorical transformation of experience in the post-accident interview. Agencies use the methods of science to help them collect physical evidence at the site. 

The Southmountain interviews thus allow us to examine one aspect of the rhetorical transformation of experience when local knowledge moves into the domain of science where it is captured and transformed in writing. But these interviews also demonstrate how easily the absence of any sort of negative feedback can create a sense of complacency that can lead to disaster. In fact, one of the questions that is never explicitly stated is why miners who heard bumps did not communicate with management or persuade management to take a different course of action. When Shane describes how the rock dust always kept going toward the outside, investigators ask if this was normal. They are particularly concerned about the direction of dust flow in the mine, which seems to indicate problems with the ventilation system prior to the accident. But that concern did not move individuals to action. 

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