Safe Science

Abstract

Scientific laboratories can sometimes be dangerous places to work, and safety concerns can have a significant impact on the scientific research process. Because safety practices specify both behavioral norms and technical standards, they provide an opportunity to better understand the relationships between the organizational and epistemic aspects of scientific culture. This paper presents a case study of a ‘pulsed-power’ facility at the US Los Alamos National Laboratory, where electrical hazards are a major concern. Drawing on work by Mary Douglas and others, I show how safety in the pulsed-power laboratory can be understood in terms of concepts of order and pollution. In particular, I argue that the laboratory is a cultural setting that generates both material and social order in science. The concept of ‘traceability’ - the ideal of being able to trace visual and logical connections between system components - is the central metaphor for material order in this setting. This metaphor is enacted in the design of pulsed-power systems and through various safety procedures that function as rituals. These rituals, and the concept of traceability itself, also contribute to social order by helping to shape norms of conduct in the laboratory, which in turn structure relationships between the laboratory work group and the larger institution.