No Gurus, No Stars, No Heroes Needed in Safety The discourse of gurus and heroes in the safety industry draws attention away from everyday realities (https://safetyrisk.net/everyday-safety/) of tackling risk. The endless quest for silver bullets and ‘safety programs’ is a distraction from the basic … [Read more...] about No Gurus, No Stars, No Heroes Needed in Safety
Well Being is a Social Challenge
Well Being is a Social Challenge These days I have quite a number of friends who live alone and for a number of reasons like it that way. However, the challenges of old age, retirement and loneliness are real regardless of Internet activity. Within the Health sector and community services the … [Read more...] about Well Being is a Social Challenge
Standing on the Myths of Safety
Standing on the Myths of Safety Most people confuse the definition of myth with fable, when this is not the case. When I use the word ‘myth’ in the tradition of Social Psychology its meaning is synonymous with symbolic reality. In Social Psychology a myth and symbol are the flip side of the same … [Read more...] about Standing on the Myths of Safety
Intuitional Ways of Knowing in Safety
Intuitional Ways of Knowing in Safety One of the miracles/mysteries of human decision making is the way we embody knowledge through heuristics. Some of the many heuristics humans use for fast and efficient decision making are listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic. However, this list … [Read more...] about Intuitional Ways of Knowing in Safety
The Fear of Learning in Risk
The Fear of Learning in Risk There is no learning without risk and no risk without learning. I find it interesting when Safety gets on the learning bandwagon that confuses learning with cognitive knowing and training with education. There is no component of the WHS curriculum that deals with the … [Read more...] about The Fear of Learning in Risk
How the Secular is Made Sacred In Safety
How the Secular is Made Sacred In Safety The work of helping others, listening and conversation is not a sacred activity but should be an everyday activity and one that safety people need to do well. The foundation of good safety is not controlling others in our image but rather listening to others … [Read more...] about How the Secular is Made Sacred In Safety
The Safety Cacophony Cupboard
The Safety Cacophony Cupboard I often get contacted by people in safety after they ‘try everything’ and they discover that ‘none of it works’. Safety is so good at exploring every yo-yo theory possible from BBS to useability in search for the ‘silver bullet’ when there is none. With so much … [Read more...] about The Safety Cacophony Cupboard
Poetic Practice and Risk
Poetic Practice and Risk Our daily living is a continual poetic engagement with experience. We only know personally what we experience and the power of cognitive learning is quite weak. Shifting some brain-centred concept is not how learning works. A change in cognition or idea unless enacted in … [Read more...] about Poetic Practice and Risk
The Delusion of Numbers and a Number of Delusions
The Delusion of Numbers and a Number of Delusions I have a friend who was recently threatened with the sack for challenging the delusion that injury rates represent something, safety. The attribution of significance to any number is a reflection of the ideology of the speaker not reality. Numbers … [Read more...] about The Delusion of Numbers and a Number of Delusions
Positives and Negatives in Dialectic in Safety
Positives and Negatives in Dialectic in Safety I find it interesting how positives (in language and discourse) have now been attributed with a moral imperative in safety. Of course, negatives and positives ought to be held in balance/tension, one is not morally better than the other. If the outcome … [Read more...] about Positives and Negatives in Dialectic in Safety