{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T01:34:06Z","timestamp":1773797646900,"version":"3.50.1"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"group-title":"SSRN","reference-count":0,"publisher":"Elsevier BV","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Commercial aviation constitutes a high-reliability sociotechnical system in which medical fitness functions as a central instrument of risk governance. However, the human and organisational consequences of permanent unfitness decisions remain insufficiently integrated into dominant models of safety assessment. This study examines the permanent unfitness of cabin crew following occupational accidents as a residual risk governance phenomenon in safety-critical contexts.,Adopting an interpretive, multilevel qualitative design based on a multiple case study approach, 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted in Portugal: 15 cabin crew declared permanently unfit and 9 specialist participants, including occupational physicians, aeromedical examiners, a representative of the regulatory authority, organisational and trade union representatives, and legal experts. Thematic analysis, supported by documentary and legal-regulatory triangulation, identified recurring patterns at the micro (lived experience), meso (medical-regulatory and organisational processes), and macro (institutional architecture) levels.,The findings suggest that, although the system ensures normative coherence and high operational safety standards, the management of the human consequences of the unfitness decision is characterised by institutional fragmentation, discontinuity in follow-up, and the frequent externalisation of protection to corrective instances, namely trade unions and labour courts. Permanent unfitness thus emerges as a mechanism of social redistribution of risk: by reducing collective operational risk, it shifts identity-related, professional, and socioeconomic costs onto affected workers. This dynamic generates post-decision governance gaps, weakening perceptions of procedural justice, perceived institutional legitimacy, and organisational responsibility.,The study conceptualizes permanent unfitness as a sociotechnical governance problem of residual risk, integrating operational safety, organisational justice, and social responsibility within a common analytical matrix.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.6434460","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]],"date-time":"2026-03-17T21:40:45Z","timestamp":1773783645000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Permanent unfitness for flight among cabin crew: residual risk governance and the human consequences of preventive safety decisions"],"prefix":"10.2139","author":[{"given":"Pedro","family":"Alberto","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8497-7027","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Maria","family":"Baltazar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"78","container-title":[],"original-title":[],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]],"date-time":"2026-03-17T21:40:46Z","timestamp":1773783646000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ssrn.com\/abstract=6434460"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2139\/ssrn.6434460","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"subtype":"preprint"}}