Focus Conceptual

This paper proposes a conceptual framework of pre-failure signal distortion mechanisms in socio-technical systems. Distinguishing between human, cultural, and systemic processes, we focus on five core mechanisms: silence, normalisation, fragmentation, metric substitution, and procedural shielding. Rather than removing information, these mechanisms undermine safety by weakening the system’s capacity for integration---the ability to hold human experience, organisational structure, and contextual meaning together over time.