Work as Imagined is Good, Learning from Normal Work is Myth

One of the many myths created by the HOP, NV, RE, S2 and SD group is the binary opposition of ‘work as imaged vs work as done’. Unfortunately, just another simplistic slogan among many for this group. However, what does this slogan mean? Indeed, why is it that something imagined is somehow wrong? And, something as done, is better? Then how strange that this group never talk about the nature of imagination or why it is essential for tackling risk?

Human imagination is one of the greatest joys of being a person. There is nothing quite like being an observer of grandchildren playing imagination games. Similarly, reading the imaginative work of poets, novelists, film makers and dramatists as what most people seek to engage with in their recreation time.  Imagination is so much fun. Imagination is exciting, stimulating and energising because it’s the stuff of dreams and what can or could be. There’s so much motivation, in playing the game ‘what-if’.

One of the skills of being a parent is trying to imagine what a child could get up to, a lost cause when parenting teenagers. When parenting teenagers, one can’t go back to one’s own experience and apply such knowledge to a new context. The joy of parenting a teenager is all about surprise.

The foundation for tackling risk demands skills in creative, innovative and imaginative decision making. The idea that decision making is about rationalism or explicit reasoning is a myth.

In the day to day of work, we mostly make decisions by intuition, feeling and imagination. When faced with a risk, whether seen or unseen, we instantly try to imagine what the outcome could be. Of course, as fallible persons, we cannot predict or see the future and so, we use knowledge of the past to imagine what an outcome might look like. Often, we get it right and sometimes we get it wrong. It’s not rocket science.

If there is an accident, often this is the result of incongruence between a learned heuristic and a change in context. Most accidents are caused this way.

It was Kierkegaard who stated that: ‘life can only be understood backwards and only lived forwards’.

In the workplace, this how all risk assessment works. So, of course there will always be disconnect between what is imagined and what is enacted. The dichotomy posed by Hollnagel is just more S2 safety myth. The fact that Safety thinks Hollnagel’s spin is some kind of revelation says much about the immaturity of Safety and its addiction to spin.

Imagination is a skill. Not something Safety is interested in. Afterall, imagination cannot be controlled or measured. And if you can’t measure it, it can’t be managed, or so the myth goes.

The real question is. How can an industry consumed by conformance and controls, ever develop skills in imagination?

The fact that S2 understands imagination as a problem, demonstrates that S2 is consumed with traditional safety.

Imagination requires extensive effort, skill and practice. If you are in the business of supressing imagination, how on earth can you become skilled in it?

The truth is, developing the imagination is transformative (Kind, A. (2025). Imagination as Transformative. In Lydia Amir, Handbook of Transformative Philosophy. Springer).

One of the best books I have ever read on Imagination is by Johnson, Inner Work

Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth (https://www.docdroid.net/wI22lvN/inner-work-using-dreams-and-active-imagination-for-personal-growth-pdf ). A must read for anyone in the risk and safety industry and of course those in traditional safety such as HOP.

Understanding the nature of risk and uncertainty starts with imagination NOT with ‘work as done’. Indeed, only the likes of Hollnagel and traditional safety could imagine that imagination is a problem. Such is the worldview of traditional safety.

If you want to a be a visionary leader in safety then the key is NOT ‘learning from normal work’ but rather, encouraging the imagination, Poetics and Semiotics in tackling risk.

We have a video you may like to watch on this: https://safetyrisk.net/is-there-space-for-imagination-in-safety-a-video/

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Prof. Robert Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions

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PhD., MEd., MOH., BEd., BTh., Dip T., Dip Min., Cert IV TAA, MRMIA Rob is the founder of Human Dymensions and has extensive experience, qualifications and expertise across a range of sectors including government, education, corporate, industry and community sectors over 30 years. Rob has worked at all levels of the education and training sector including serving on various post graduate executive, post graduate supervision, post graduate course design and implementation programs.