Secondary socialization of andragogical content knowledge: What are the forces at work in an oil and gas safety training conference? Mario Antonio Martinez Texas Tech University, United States article info Article history: Received 11 September 2015 Received in revised form 10 January 2016 Accepted 20 January 2016 Available online 12 February 2016 Keywords: Andragogical content knowledge Safety training ANSI H 2 S Training techniques Adult safety education abstract This study examines the larger sociological issues surrounding the standardization and institutionaliza- tion of safety training in the United States. The data consist of .MP3 audio files of professional develop- ment sessions recorded at a major international oil and gas safety conference. Qualitative content analysis is carried out using deductive and inductive techniques. Findings include that standards are built by subjective consensus and bypass empirically and philosophically based knowledge supporting adult education in safety training. The study also discusses the need for empirically based adult safety education in high risk industries respective to individual safety cultures. A number of reforms are recommended. Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Safety in the oil and gas industry is an ongoing concern for its impact on human life at the dawn of the 21st century. This has been cited throughout the literature (Graham et al., 2011; Hoke, 2013; Kitchen, 1974; Weaver, 2014; Hill, 2014). The ongoing con- cern is valid because drilling for oil has inherent risks involved such as injury or death to workers (Attwood et al., 2006). The British Petroleum (BP) explosion of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, for instance, will be remembered as a time when 11 people died as a result of shortcuts in regulatory oversight (Broder, 2011). Risk abounds on and off the oil rigs for oil and gas operators (Urbina, 2012). A major concern for the oil and gas industry in the United States is how to reduce accidents caused by human error on the job through safety training. 1.1. Statement of the problem The main problem is found in the lack of description over how adult learning theory appears as a result of secondary socialization in oil and gas contexts. Secondary socialization can be tentatively defined as the acquisition of knowledge beyond primary socializa- tion, made necessary due to the division of labor (Berger and Luckmann, 2007). Within the provisions of the law, OSHA docu- ments refer to adult learning models of training which assume trainers’ and trainers of trainers’ expert knowledge over how to best train adults (DOL, 1998; OSHA, 2010). To date, little is known about how adult learning theory is institutionalized in the field of oil and gas professional development sessions in a major interna- tional safety conference setting. This paper fills that gap in knowl- edge by describing how andragogy (the study of how adults learn) is socialized into the minds of trainers and trainers of trainers in a major international conference setting in the United States. 2. Theoretical frameworks Two theoretical frameworks are the basis of the discussion. These are secondary socialization (Berger and Luckmann, 2007) and andragogical content knowledge as derived from Shulman (2004). They are discussed below. 2.1. Secondary socialization ‘Secondary socialization’ refers to the process of habitualization of repeated actions, where social actors can perform actions with shortness of time, and in the most economical way possible (Berger and Luckmann, 2007). It is subject to the process of institu- tionalization, where actions are standardized by particular actors within a social group. This gives rise to institutions which focus on standardization. This investigation explores the following terms: definitions of andragogy, training, institutes, institutionalization, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2016.01.016 0925-7535/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. E-mail address: mario.a.martinez@live.com Safety Science 85 (2016) 220–229 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Safety Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ssci