Cultural Rationalities in Crisis Sensemaking: a Study of a Public Inquiry into a Major Industrial Accident

This paper investigates the sensemaking which occurred during a public inquiry into a fatal gas pipeline accident. The research conceives of the public inquiry as an important stage in crises, and investigates the role of multiple perspectives and rationalities in crisis sensemaking. Stakeholders at the inquiry are shown to differ in terms of their social organization, the cultural biases they hold, and the interpretations they make of events and risks. The paper extends the multiple perspectives approach to crises by linking this approach to theoretical developments in cultural analysis, and by showing the implications multiple perspectives have for inquiry and crisis stakeholders.