• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Safety Risk .net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

Discover More on this Site

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE RESOURCES
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • FREE DOWNLOADS
    • TOP 50
    • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS
    • Find a Safety Consultant
    • Free Safety Program Documents
    • Psychology Of Safety
    • Safety Ideas That Work
    • HEALTH and SAFETY MANUALS
    • FREE SAFE WORK METHOD STATEMENT RESOURCES
    • Whats New In Safety
    • FUN SAFETY STUFF
    • Health and Safety Training
    • SAFETY COURSES
    • Safety Training Needs Analysis and Matrix
    • Top 20 Safety Books
    • This Toaster Is Hot
    • Free Covid-19 Toolbox Talks
    • Download Page – Please Be Patient With Larger Files…….
    • SAFETY IMAGES, Photos, Unsafe Pictures and Funny Fails
    • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
    • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • PSYCHOLOGY OF SAFETY & RISK
    • Safety Psychology Terminology
    • Some Basics on Social Psychology & Risk
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk – Prof Karl E. Weick
    • The Psychology of Leadership in Risk
    • Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
    • The Psychology of Conversion – 20 Tips to get Started
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
    • Psychology and safety
    • The Psychology of Safety
    • Hot Toaster
    • TALKING RISK VIDEOS
    • WHAT IS SAFETY
    • THE HOT TOASTER
    • THE ZERO HARM DEBATE
    • SEMIOTICS
    • LEADERSHIP
  • Covid-19
    • COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
    • Covid-19 Returning to Work Inductions, Transitioning, Safety Start Up and Re Entry Plans
    • Covid-19 Work from Home Safety Checklists and Risk Assessments
    • The Hierarchy of Control and Covid-19
    • Why Safety Loves Covid-19
    • Covid-19, Cricket and Lessons in Safety
    • The Covid-19 Lesson
    • Safety has this Covid-19 thing sorted
    • The Heart of Wisdom at Covid Time
    • How’s the Hot Desking Going Covid?
    • The Semiotics of COVID-19 and the Social Amplification of Risk
    • Working From Home Health and Safety Tips – Covid-19
    • Covid-19 and the Hierarchy of Control
  • Dr Rob Long Posts
    • Learning Styles Matter
    • There is no HIERARCHY of Controls
    • Scaffolding, Readiness and ZPD in Learning
    • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
    • Presentation Tips for Safety People
    • Dialogue Do’s and Don’ts
    • It’s Only a Symbol
    • Ten Cautions About Safety Checklists
    • Zero is Unethical
    • First Report on Zero Survey
    • There is No Objectivity, Deal With it!
  • Quotes & Slogans
    • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
    • When Slogans Don’t Work
    • 77 OF THE MOST CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
    • 500 BEST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2020
    • 167 CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
    • COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
    • Safety Acronyms
    • You know Where You Can Stick Your Safety Slogans
    • Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
    • Spanish Safety Slogans – Consignas de seguridad
    • Safety Slogans List
    • Road Safety Slogans
    • How to write your own safety slogans
    • Why Are Safety Slogans Important
    • Safety Slogans Don’t Save Lives
    • 40 Free Safety Slogans For the Workplace
    • Safety Slogans for Work

Anchoring, Framing and Priming Risk

July 17, 2016 by Dr Rob Long 6 Comments

Anchoring, Framing and Priming Risk

anchor and Life Buoy on a white backgroundOne of the foundations of communicating to the unconscious through semiotics is understanding how words, language, signs, symbols and discourse ‘prime’, ‘frame’ and ‘anchor’ at an unconscious level. Every communication operates at a number of levels and it is most often the ‘hidden’ message that is the most powerful. This is why a study or archetypes and semiotics go together in understanding why people do what they do (http://cart.humandymensions.com/?product=the-social-psychology-of-risk-and-semiotics-three-day-workshop). A classic example is the Dumb Ways to Die campaign. The overt message is be careful but the hidden message associates being ‘cool’ and humour with suicide. Hazardman is another classic, the message of be careful is drowned out by masculinist symbols of power, superiority over petty, ‘pissy’ hazards.

Jung understood archetypes as semiotic patterns and ‘forces’ that guide and give meaning. (http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_ne160/gtr_ne160_025.pdf)

Jung understood symbols and signs to have a transcendent dynamic that operated on the unconscious. This is why the nature of semiotics in the study of mythology, cults and religious dynamism was so important to Jung. Archetypes operate in the symbolic realm and have unconscious power as Jung contextualizes (Hull, 1959, p. 48) ‘If thirty years ago anyone had dared to predict that our psychological development was tending towards a revival of the medieval persecution of the Jews, that Europe would again tremble before the Roman fasces and the tramp of legions, that people would once more give the Roman salute, as two thousand years ago, and that instead of the Christian Cross an archaic swastika would lure onward millions of warriors ready for death – why, that man would have been hooted at as a mystical fool’.

Jung, like many social psychological contemporaries (Zimbardo, Milgram, Adorno, Levinson, Brunswick, Allport, Lewin, Darley, Ellul etc) ‘cut their teeth’ on the Nazi problem. How could a population full of highly rational logical sophisticated people commit such atrocities? How can one explain how Propaganda works? How could the country with more Nobel Prizes than any other so systematically commit such a program? Why do people do what they do? The study of the Nazis stimulated the growth of the discipline of Social Psychology.

The reason why Jung is so relevant to thinking about Safety is because Safety has become so profoundly religious. This has been recognized by Dekker and others as a characteristic of Safety (http://www.safetydifferently.com/zero-vision-and-the-western-salvation-narrative/) and is something I have discussed before (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-for-true-believers/, https://safetyrisk.net/safety-as-faith-healing-2/, https://safetyrisk.net/supernatural-safety/). The semiotics of Safety is infused with religious narrative, imagery of salvation and perfectionism (https://safetyrisk.net/is-risk-and-safety-perfectionism-a-disorder/). The discourse of ‘saving lives’ lends itself to such symbols and signs as is common in any religion. The path to perfection is the narrative of zero. The popular Bradley Curve is a profound religious metaphor for safety.

What is most curious is when people critique safety but still anchor, frame and prime their discourse to safety. I was asked recently to present at a conference that was framed by the symbols and language of ‘beyond zero’. I was told by the organisers of the conference that they wanted to leave the discourse of zero behind and wanted to step beyond it. Yet, in framing the language and symbols of the conference they still anchored and framed the future to their discourse to zero. Zero still framed the narrative, zero was the benchmark and starting point, they had not left zero behind at all but gave the symbol even greater power by their framing. I didn’t want to speak at such a conference.

If we want to escape the archetype of Safety we need a new discourse and anchoring to people, humans, learning and living. It doesn’t make much sense to use old symbols for safety to frame and anchor a new semiotic for risk. It doesn’t make much sense to want to do ‘safety differently’ and continue to use the symbols for safety that are anchored to old safety in discourse, language and semiotics. It doesn’t make much sense to use objects and things as symbols for safety, when one wants to stimulate a new approach to people and risk. The symbols Safety is anchored to such as: PPE, bollards, barricades, zebra tape, marker cones, hard hats etc are the anchoring of Safety that symbolize a trajectory away from people and conversation to a discourse of checklists and policing. Any new approach to safety differently will need to find new semiotics and discourse that transcends the archetype of Safety.

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Rob
Dr Rob Long

Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions
Dr Rob Long

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

  • Measurement Anxiety in Safety - January 15, 2021
  • Are You a Safety Clown? - January 13, 2021
  • The Quantitative and Qualitative Divide in Safety - January 11, 2021
  • Balance in Risk and Safety - January 10, 2021
  • It’s Always About Paperwork - January 8, 2021
Dr Rob Long
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.

Please share our posts

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Robert Long, Safety systems, Social Psychology of Risk, Zero Harm Tagged With: anchoring, priming language

Reader Interactions

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

How we pay for the high cost of running of this site – try it for free on your site

Visit Count – Started Jan 2015

  • 21,266,392 Visitors

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join over 30,000 other discerning safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Atharva on Road Safety Slogans
  • Rob Long on It’s Always About Paperwork
  • Keith on It’s Always About Paperwork
  • Sairam on Road Safety Slogans
  • Rob Long on Merry Covid Xmas–2020
  • Bernard Corden on Merry Covid Xmas–2020
  • Bernard Corden on Some Christmas Reading for Risk and Safety People
  • Rob Long on To laugh or not to laugh
  • James Parkinson on To laugh or not to laugh
  • James Parkinson on To laugh or not to laugh

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Featured Downloads

  • Presenting-Dos-and-Donts.pdf (349 downloads)
  • Safety_Training_Needs_Analysis6.doc (5106 downloads)
  • Hazardous Substances Risk Assessment Form (338 downloads)
  • WHO-recommended Handrub Formulations (1050 downloads)
  • Active Living at Work (13688 downloads)
  • Supervisor-Induction-Checklist.docx (343 downloads)
  • Contractor Risk Assessment Form (2198 downloads)
  • Professional-Challenges-for-the-Safety-Industry.pdf (716 downloads)
  • Seven-Essential-Safety-Reminders.pdf (677 downloads)
  • Manual Handling Risk Assessment Form (353 downloads)
  • Covid-19 Re-Entry Considerations (4363 downloads)
  • SAFETY-SLOGANS-LIST.doc (6583 downloads)
  • OHSW-Plant-Specific-Hazard-Identification.doc (2674 downloads)
  • My_Defining Moments in Safety .pdf (2073 downloads)
  • Linz Workshop-17_18-Jan.pdf (535 downloads)

Recent Posts

  • Certificate, Diploma and Masters Studies in SPoR
  • Measurement Anxiety in Safety
  • Are You a Safety Clown?
  • The Quantitative and Qualitative Divide in Safety
  • Balance in Risk and Safety
  • It’s Always About Paperwork
  • Sin-Eaters for Safety
  • Mixed Messages but No Redemption
  • The Silver Bullet
  • Merry Covid Xmas–2020

Footer

AUTHORS

  • Alan Quilley
    • Heinrich–Industrial Accident Prevention
    • The Problem With ZERO Goals and Results
  • Bernard Corden
    • AHH$ Covid$afe Chri$tma$ New$letter
    • Paradise by the dashboard light
  • Bill Sims
    • Employee Engagement: Chocolate, Vanilla, or Strawberry?
    • Injury Hiding-How do you stop it?
  • Craig Clancy
    • Task Based vs Activity Based Safe Work Method Statements
    • Safety And Tender Submissions
  • Daniel Kirk
    • It’s easy being wise after the event.
    • A Positive Safety Story
  • Dave Whitefield
    • Safety is about…
    • Safety and Compliance
  • Dennis Millard
    • Are You Risk Intelligent?
    • Honey they get me! They get me at work!
  • Drewie
    • Downturn Doin’ Your Head In? Let’s Chat….
    • How was your break?
  • Gabrielle Carlton
    • All Care and No Care!
    • You Are Not Alone!
  • George Robotham
    • How to Give an Unforgettable Safety Presentation
    • How To Write a Safety Report
  • Goran Prvulovic
    • Safety Manager – an Ultimate Scapegoat
    • HSE Performance – Back to Basics
  • James Ellis
    • In search of plan B in workers’ recovery
    • What and how should we measure to support recovery from injury?
  • James Parkinson
    • To laugh or not to laugh
    • People and Safety
  • John Toomey
    • Who is Responsible for This?
    • Who Are Your People?
  • Karl Cameron
    • Abby Normal Safety
    • The Right Thing
  • Ken Roberts
    • Safety Legislation Is Our Biggest Accident?
    • HSE Trip Down Memory Lane
  • Mark Perrett
    • Psychology of Persuasion: Top 5 influencing skills for getting what you want
  • Mark Taylor
    • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
    • Enculturing Safety
  • Max Geyer
    • WHS Legislation is NOT about Safety it’s about Culture
    • Due Diligence Is Not Just Ticking Boxes!
  • Matt Thorne
    • It was the SIA until someone wanted to swing from the Chandelier
    • Common Sense is Remarkably Uncommon
  • Peter Ribbe
    • Is there “Common Sense” in safety?
    • Who wants to be a safety professional?
  • Phil LaDuke
    • Hey Idiots, You’re Worried About the Wrong Things
    • Misleading Indicators
  • Admin
    • Certificate, Diploma and Masters Studies in SPoR
    • Merry Covid Xmas–2020
  • Dr Rob Long
    • Measurement Anxiety in Safety
    • Are You a Safety Clown?
  • Rob Sams
    • I’m just not that into safety anymore
    • Social ‘Resiliencing’
  • Barry Spud
    • Barry Spud’s Hazard Control Tips
    • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
  • Sheri Suckling
    • How Can I Get the Boss to Listen?
  • Safety Nerd
    • The Block isn’t portraying safety as it should be
    • Toolbox Talk Show–PPE
  • Wynand Serfontein
    • Why The Problem With Learning Is Unlearning
    • I DON’T KNOW
  • Zoe Koskinas
    • Why is fallibility so challenging in the workplace?

FEATURED POSTS

I Just Don’t Know

The Mystery and Paradox of Being an Individual in a Social World

Social Psychology of Risk Workshop-Sydney

Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk – Prof Karl E. Weick

Take Safety Seriously

The Rational, aRational and Irrational in Safety

The Disembodied Human and Persons in Safety

Learning Wisdom from the Collective Unconscious

The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk

It’s a Great Goal, it Just Doesn’t Work

Two Week Intensive Workshops 5-16 August 2019 Canberra

Focus on ‘Meeting’ people, not legislation – a path to risk maturity

Workshop – Introduction to the Social Psychology of Risk

Semiotics and Safety

The Village Effect

What is Your Risk iCue?

Even Safety Is Fallible

Abduction in Risk and Safety

What Safety and Risk Could Learn From Patch Adams

King of the World – Why is Sociopathy and Psychopathy so prevalent ‘at the top’?

More Posts from this Category

Paperwork

https://vimeo.com/162034157?loop=0

Due Diligence

https://vimeo.com/162493843?loop=0

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.