I wrote about ‘understanding risk’ 6 years ago (https://safetyrisk.net/understanding-risk/) referencing the work of Kahneman, Slovic, Plous and Tversky. Their work on risk decision making first emerged in the 1970s. This ground breaking researched should have shifted the addiction of Safety to … [Read more...] about Safety Doesn’t Understand The Dance of Risk
Behaviour Based Safety
Seven Ways To Tell If BBS Is Right For You
By Phil LaDuke. First published here As many of you know I rarely miss a chance to take a cheap shot at Behavior Based Safety so it might surprise you that I am writing an article that supports the use of BBS in some circumstances. There are indeed many circumstances where BBS isn’t just the … [Read more...] about Seven Ways To Tell If BBS Is Right For You
Tackling the Challenge of Heuristics in Safety
The recognition of heuristics as the foundation for all human decision making is critical to skill development and implementation of SPoR (https://safetyrisk.net/spor-and-disposing-of-bad-myths/) in the workplace. One of the silly myths of behaviourism in safety is the complete ignorance of … [Read more...] about Tackling the Challenge of Heuristics in Safety
SpoR and The BBS Myth
Continuing our series on Safety Myths – see them all hereThe BBS Myth (https://safetyrisk.net/is-bbs-credible/) is founded on the erroneous assumptions of behaviourism. Behaviourism is an antiquated idea developed in the 1930s based on simplistic binary notions of humans as objects … [Read more...] about SpoR and The BBS Myth
No Safety in Numbers
No Safety in Numbers I was asked to present recently to a group in the USA on the fixation/psychosis of Safety with numbers. I started with the title of this blog making two points: that you are no safer in a crowd/group, dispelling the myth ‘there is always safety in numbers’ and then spoke on the … [Read more...] about No Safety in Numbers
More Safety Code to Disguise Behaviourism
It’s always entertaining when Safety talks about what it believes in and it’s ‘values’ by omitting what it believes in and naming its values. Such is safety code (https://safetyrisk.net/deciphering-safety-code/). Take for example this piece, clearly Behaviourist (SHP meets Bertrand Gibert) that … [Read more...] about More Safety Code to Disguise Behaviourism
Why Safety is Attracted to Behaviourism
There is no doubt that simplistic back and white binary thinking and methods are attractive. Who wants complex or ‘wicked’ when a simple delusion will do. All you have to do is place such a worldview over reality and make it fit your assumptions and then ensure you never talk about any of the … [Read more...] about Why Safety is Attracted to Behaviourism
Culture Silences in Safety – Stress, Personality and Behaviours
In all the mythology projected by BBS (the darling of safety) you never read about the subjectivities of perception, aberrations of behaviour or how personality/temperament determination enactment. The crazy assertion of BBS is that behaviours in themselves are somehow objective, when they are not. … [Read more...] about Culture Silences in Safety – Stress, Personality and Behaviours
Wisdom Based Safety
In a appreciative response to a blog on A Philosophy of Safety John Phillips used the phrase ‘Wisdom-Based Safety ‘(WBS), what a wonderful expression. What a delightful expression and far better than the brutalism of BBS. More on WBS later. There are two most profound indictments of the … [Read more...] about Wisdom Based Safety
The ‘Roots’ of Behaviour
The ‘Roots’ of Behaviour It’s always fascinating watching the risk industry battle with behaviourism, because it doesn’t work (https://safetyrisk.net/the-curse-of-behaviourism/ ). It doesn’t matter that behaviourism doesn’t work, Safety believes it does. So, the constant quest is to go deeper, even … [Read more...] about The ‘Roots’ of Behaviour
