Close Calls and Near Misses

Abstract

Workers are increasingly exposed to dangerous work environments that pose significant risks to their well-being. Scholars have sought to improve these environments through illuminating practices that organizations use to increase safety. Yet not all dangers can be eliminated. Since workers continue to face dangers, it is important to understand how workers sustain engagement in dangerous work over time. I explore this question through an ethnography of snowmakers – individuals who make snow at ski resorts. My findings shine a light on two important factors in sustaining engagement in dangerous work: auxiliary routines and enactments of masculinity. First, I found that snowmakers sustained engagement in dangerous work by actively altering their work experiences through two primary auxiliary routines: play and respite. These routines created positive experiences in the workplace, yet paradoxically often made the work more dangerous. Second, I found that the introduction of female snowmakers led men to take different paths to navigate enactments of masculinity in the presence of women by either protecting women through enactments of masculinity through chivalry or supporting women. By focusing on the processes that enable workers to sustain engagement in dangerous work, this dissertation illustrates how workers balance danger and positive work experiences through auxiliary routines and how workers navigate enactments of masculinity in dangerous male-dominated workplaces. In doing so, this research builds new theory in dangerous work, auxiliary routines, and masculinity literatures.