Passionately Unethical About Safety ‘I’m a Bully for Safety’ the T-shirt read, ‘Get some Thug into Ya, for Safety!’ It seems you can present any nonsense in safety as long as it’s justified by passion. And don’t criticise anything because the person projecting the metaphor or symbol is passionate about it. It seems everything in […]
The Immediacy of Zero
The Immediacy of Zero One of the problems of zero ideology is not just its fixation on counting but the way the psychology of numerics and lower order goal-setting puts the focus on short-sightedness. As long as we get zero today, it doesn’t matter what eventuates in 20 years time, that’s someone else’s counting problem. […]
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Symbols Matter
Symbols Matter We learnt this week that symbols matter. The unprecedented protest of signatures on change.org this week (Defend Our Opera House: Support Louise Herron) demonstrates this. In less that a week over 300,000 signatures were gathered against the NSW Government’s decision to project advertising for a horse race on the Sydney Opera House. It […]
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A Professional Ethic of Risk
A Professional Ethic of Risk My daughter who is completing a degree in Paramedics has spent all of the last semester tackling the challenges of ethics in medical practice. One of her assignments was based on a case study where: welfare of the patient, institutional interests, self-interest, community, a code of ethics and moral agency […]
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Right and Wrong in Safety
Right and Wrong in Safety Safety is fundamentally a moral and ethical activity. Any desire for a ‘good’ or a virtue, necessitates an ethic. Unfortunately, even in how Safety shapes its own identity it doesn’t know nor consciously articulate an ethic. Even the brand of ‘professional’ demands an ethic. (It ought be remembered too that […]
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No Moral Compass in Zero
No Moral Compass in Zero ‘Humans by nature are social animals that are intended to co-inhabit in a polis’ William Bennett (1996) The Moral Compass, Stories of a Life’s Journey. Ethics is the study of moral philosophy and moral systems. Without an ethic one cannot have an understanding of the core principles that guide behavior. […]
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The Best Book I Know for Safety
The Best Book I Know for Safety What is the book you would you grab if the house was on fire? For me, it has to be the wonderful book Learning to Plan and Planning to Learn by Donald N. Michael. (1997) Miles River Press. You can only buy it on eBay these days but […]
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Shoelaces and Getting Some Perspective in Safety
Shoelaces and Getting Some Perspective in Safety Phil La Duke doesn’t write to be ‘nice’, middle class and pedestrian. He seeks to provoke thinking and action about safety in a style that some find offensive. On the other hand Phil also finds un-safety offensive and so tries to strike a balance between triggering critical thinking […]
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Commandments, Cardinal and Life Saving Rules
Safety Commandments, Cardinal and Life Saving Rules The popularity of Ten Commandments, Life Saving Rules, Cardinal Rules, Non-Negotiables, Heroes and Deadly Sins are a common characteristic of the culture in safety. As artefacts, they adorn many safety notice boards and work rooms. Here is a sample: · https://www.iogp.org/oil-and-gas-safety/life-savingrules/ · https://www.energypower.com.au/news/article/16062016-167/life-saving-rules.aspx · https://www.vivaenergy.com.au/about-us/hsse/safety · https://www.shell.com/sustainability/safety/personal-safety.html · […]
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No Help for Mental Health in Zero
No Help for Mental Health in Zero I came into work in the safety industry after many years in various professions including Community Services, not-for-profit services, Social Work, Education, Youth Services, Youth Detention, Pastoral Counselling, EAP and Corrections. In all of these professional service cultures a core value is tolerance. You never know who will […]
