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

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE
    • Slogans
      • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
      • When Slogans Don’t Work
      • CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
      • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
      • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
      • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) 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 2023
      • 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
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • Free Hotel and Resort Risk Management Checklist
    • 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
  • Social Psychology Of Risk
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • 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
  • Dr Long Posts
    • ALL 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!
  • THEMES
    • Risk Myths
    • Safety Myths
    • Safety Culture Silences
    • Safety Culture
    • Psychological Health and Safety
    • Zero Harm
    • Due Diligence
  • Free Learning
    • Introduction to SPoR – Free
    • FREE RISK and SAFETY EBOOKS
    • FREE ebook – Guidance for the beginning OHS professional
    • Free EBook – Effective Safety Management Systems
    • Free EBook – Lessons I Have Learnt
  • Psychosocial Safety
    • What is Psychosocial Safety
    • Psychological Safety
      • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
      • Managing psychosocial hazards at work
      • Psychological Safety – has it become the next Maslow’s hammer?
      • What is Psychosocial Safety
      • Psychological Safety Slogans and Quotes
      • What is Psychological Safety?
      • Understanding Psychological Terminology
      • Psycho-Social and Socio-Psychological, What’s the Difference?
      • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
      • It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!
You are here: Home / Robert Long / And the Enemy of Safety is? … Humans!

And the Enemy of Safety is? … Humans!

September 23, 2022 by Dr Rob Long 12 Comments

Originally posted on November 13, 2019 @ 7:02 PM

clip_image002One of the sad aspects of zero language and discourse are its by-products.

The only trajectory of zero and its tandem fixations, numeric and metrics, is to demonize humans as the enemy of safety. Such is an industry that has no idea what to do about human fallibility except drift into a psychosis of fallibility denial (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/). We have seen this recently at a number of safety conferences and symposia. (People send me lots of this stuff and its simply depressing how dumb the industry evolves). Surely intelligence and critical thinking should be a foundation for being professional?

So here are some of the latest contributions from a conference of course focused not just on zero but Triple Zero! Ah, when one zero is not enough! Of course captured in super dumb iconography with an image of a heart inside a brain! Ah that computer metaphor pushed by STEM comes up again and again. Human emotions are the problem and must be controlled. A sure sign that the presenter has not a clue about human emotions. And then in text ‘social trust’. Ha! With zero language there can never be social trust. The lack of professional intelligence is astounding.

imageParticipants at the safety conference were asked to put post-it notes under a range of sub-headings attached to each mantra and some classics serve as an indictment of the industry.

Here’s one amongst many. Remove humans from workplaces and replace with robotics.

Ah the olde human factor is the enemy caper. How crazy is this? We all know AI can’t learn, because it cannot be programmed with fallibility, essential for learning (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/tackling-risk/ ). But what is more scary about the kinds of comments that went up on the board is a clear view that humans are the problem. The opposite is the case. The mystery of human brilliance, creativity, innovation, ingenuity, bricolage and invention are a testament to the necessity of fallibility in human being and the criticality that Risk Makes Sense (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/risk-makes-sense/ ).

clip_image006Here is another classic from the safety conference (but there are dozens). The enemy of safety is ‘wreckless workers’ and workers who ‘don’t pay attention’. Amazing stuff when the industry doesn’t even know what paying attention is (https://safetyrisk.net/the-challenge-of-the-consciousness-taboo/). But what is more worrying is the continued trend in blaming and simplistic thinking about humans.

This is clearly what pervades the industry as this kind of stuff gets sent to me weekly. This is what evolves in an industry with a global mantra of zero (http://visionzero.global/node/6) that claims to be professional but has a curriculum that teaches the opposite (https://safetyrisk.net/isnt-it-time-we-reformed-the-whs-curriculum/). When you fall in love with zero (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/for-the-love-of-zero-free-download/) all critical thinking stops. Just keep counting injuries and carry on with the delusion that perfection is achievable, the gods will be pleased.

At a symposia recently it was posited that safety and resilience were ‘a thing’, a capacity object that could be ‘controlled’, ‘defended’ and ‘leveraged’. This was accompanied with military and engineering metaphors to shine a light on ‘human factors’. This apparently was doing safety ‘differently’. When a human is made an object in a system, they will never be viewed as fallible persons.

How interesting, and at what safety conference has there ever been a discussion of human personhood? At what safety conference was there a discussion about fallibility? At what safety conference was there a presentation on the nature of human consciousness? At what safety conference was there a discussion about what defines professionalism? At what safety conference was there a discussion about ethics and why none of this zero stuff can ever be ethical or professional? No, no, no, let’s trot out zero once again and trawl through the entrails of a dying carcass and wonder why nothing improves.

  • 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)

  • Not Just Another ‘Hazard’ - February 3, 2023
  • Work-Life and Risk, Feminine Perspectives - February 3, 2023
  • How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety - February 2, 2023
  • Free Download – Real Risk – New Book by Dr Robert Long - February 2, 2023
  • ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do - February 1, 2023
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 a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Robert Long, Social Psychology of Risk, Zero Harm Tagged With: human factors, safety differently

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shane says

    February 13, 2020 at 7:31 PM

    A recent incident on a work site i look after where a forklift operator struck low height racking. When investigating the incident only thing i said to my fellow human forklift operator was are you OK and I’m not here to blame you, we are human, “accidents” can and will happen.
    No one was hurt, investigation closed

    Reply
    • Rob Long says

      February 13, 2020 at 7:31 PM

      Well done Shane. The inevitability of accidents and fallibility is only a problem for Safety, the rest of us accept this and pay our insurance policies.

      Reply
  2. charlestortise says

    February 13, 2020 at 7:31 PM

    Hi Rob, there is much meaning contained within the phrase “the delusion that perfection is achievable”. If Zero is possible and therefore desirable why go down? Why not go up? If it is possible to get everything right why are the same organisations not aiming for 100% profit or success or whatever? If it comes back that that is unrealistic why is it considered Zero is not unrealistic? Is it because the conceit is that the plan, organisation, set-up is near perfect because of who is responsible but the execution is imperfect and hence mishaps and accidents occur because those doing the work are stupid, lazy, uninterested. But if your thinking is done for you why engage?

    Reply
    • Rob long says

      February 13, 2020 at 7:31 PM

      Of course Charles. All the more demonstration that this ideology is a faith/belief. So despite all the claims to scientific thinking in the sector it decides to refute all the evidence to the contrary and believe in perfection.
      I wonder when some moron will come out and in the face of climate change say their goal for Australia is zero bushfires?

      Reply
  3. bernardcorden says

    February 13, 2020 at 7:31 PM

    Despite the scientism, human factors often masquerades as Orwellian doublespeak for behavioural safety.

    Reply
    • Rob Long says

      February 13, 2020 at 7:31 PM

      Bernard, the whole WHS curriculum prepares safety people for this delusion. It then politicises its knowledge so that it remains uncontestable and shifts any hope of thinking into demands for loyalty to the club.

      Reply
  4. Shane says

    November 14, 2019 at 11:51 AM

    A recent incident on a work site i look after where a forklift operator struck low height racking. When investigating the incident only thing i said to my fellow human forklift operator was are you OK and I’m not here to blame you, we are human, “accidents” can and will happen.
    No one was hurt, investigation closed

    Reply
    • Rob Long says

      November 14, 2019 at 12:06 PM

      Well done Shane. The inevitability of accidents and fallibility is only a problem for Safety, the rest of us accept this and pay our insurance policies.

      Reply
  5. bernardcorden says

    November 14, 2019 at 7:23 AM

    Despite the scientism, human factors often masquerades as Orwellian doublespeak for behavioural safety.

    Reply
    • Rob Long says

      November 14, 2019 at 10:17 AM

      Bernard, the whole WHS curriculum prepares safety people for this delusion. It then politicises its knowledge so that it remains uncontestable and shifts any hope of thinking into demands for loyalty to the club.

      Reply
  6. charlestortise says

    November 13, 2019 at 8:14 PM

    Hi Rob, there is much meaning contained within the phrase “the delusion that perfection is achievable”. If Zero is possible and therefore desirable why go down? Why not go up? If it is possible to get everything right why are the same organisations not aiming for 100% profit or success or whatever? If it comes back that that is unrealistic why is it considered Zero is not unrealistic? Is it because the conceit is that the plan, organisation, set-up is near perfect because of who is responsible but the execution is imperfect and hence mishaps and accidents occur because those doing the work are stupid, lazy, uninterested. But if your thinking is done for you why engage?

    Reply
    • Rob long says

      November 14, 2019 at 4:59 AM

      Of course Charles. All the more demonstration that this ideology is a faith/belief. So despite all the claims to scientific thinking in the sector it decides to refute all the evidence to the contrary and believe in perfection.
      I wonder when some moron will come out and in the face of climate change say their goal for Australia is zero bushfires?

      Reply

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

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,500 other subscribers

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

Not Just Another ‘Hazard’

Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?

How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety

ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do

The KISS of Death in Safety

Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health

The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’

The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health

Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)

No Good Reason to Follow Reason

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Not Simply One other ‘Hazard’ - Personal Safety News on Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Rob long on How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Matt Thorne on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Hurak Learning on How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Rob Long on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Paul Gentles on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Brent Charlton on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Rob Long on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian Edwin Darlington on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Jaise on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Rob Long on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Linda McKendry on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Rob long on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Footer

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

Top Posts & Pages. Sad that most are so dumb but this is what safety luves

  • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • Proving Safety
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • NATIONAL SAFETY DAY/WEEK IN INDIA 2023
  • Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • Safety Acronyms

Recent Posts

  • Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • Work-Life and Risk, Feminine Perspectives
  • Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Free Download – Real Risk – New Book by Dr Robert Long
  • Proving Safety
  • ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do
  • Harming People in the Name of Good
  • An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Risk and Safety Maturity
  • The KISS of Death in Safety
  • SPoR, Metanoia and a Podcast on Change with Nippin Anand
  • Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health
  • The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’
  • SPoR Comes to Vienna June 2023
  • The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • The Visionary Imagination – Louisa Lawson
  • Heaven ‘n Hell and the Safety Religion
  • Confirmity in Conformity
  • Numerology and Psychic Numbing
  • Thinking of Mortality
  • Safety is the Wrong Anchor
  • Foresight Blindness, Hindsight Bias and Risk
  • Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk
  • What is SPoR?
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Afraid to Let Go of What Doesn’t Work in Safety
  • When You Don’t Know What to do in Safety, Have Another Blitz!!!
  • Gloves and Glasses Compliance
  • A Case of Desensitisation – What Would You Do?
  • How to Leave the Safety Industry
  • The Mythic Symbology of Safety
  • Dark Waters, The True Story of DuPont and Zero
  • 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that…
  • Don’t Look Now Safety, Your Metaphor is Showing
  • Ratio Delusions and Heinrich’s Hoax
  • To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Culture as a Wicked Problem, for Safety
  • Safety Leadership Training
  • Cultural Orientation in Risk
  • The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk
  • Objectivity, Audits and Attribution When Calculating Risk
  • Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?
  • Zero, The Seeking of Infinity
  • Safety Leadership Essentials
  • What Can Indiana Jones Tell Us About Culture
  • Safety as a Worldview
  • The Loathing of Limits

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

Brain-Centredness and Occular-Centredness in Risk

Safety for Luddites

Why is fallibility so challenging in the workplace?

What Can Safety Learn from Barbie

What Can ‘Safety’ Learn From a Rock?

Understanding Psychological Terminology

Sitting Safely at the Table

Do Not Go Gently, SPoR and the Civility Myth

Question for the Safety Thinkers

Why Would You Talk That Way?

An Engineering Dreamworld

What’s the Alternative to Traditional Safety? SPoR.

Meeting is NOT About Technique

Goals and Vision in Safety

Critical Thinking and Questioning in Safety

Incrementalism, Catastrophism and All That’s In-between

Mapping Social Influence Strategies

Speaking Truth to Power and Safety

Stop the Train I Want to Get Off

Out of your (Unconscious) Mind

Safety Can’t Control Nature (or People)

Don’t Dare Speak the ‘f’ Word

Sensemaking and ‘Hapori’ – Essential for Tackling Risk in New Zealand

Predictably Arational, Safety as a Superstition

Three Cheers for the Safety Literalists

Is Risk and Safety Perfectionism a Disorder?

Online Inductions and Safety Effectiveness

Risky Conversations – Free Download

CLLR Christmas 2016 Newsletter and Competition

The Power in Silence

Talking Risk Video–Anti-Fragility

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

The Futility of the Centralised Safety Management System?

Tattoos, Taboos and The Risk of Permanence

Real Risk for Real Life

Safety-as-Persona

Safety for True Believers

Does Safety Have A Soul?

Safety Gives Me the Right over Other Rights

The Bias of Method Design in Risk

More Posts from this Category

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,500 other subscribers

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

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?


WHAT IS PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY