Scandals and unethical conduct are quickly forgotten in an age of mis-information, noise and the 10 second news cycle. We saw this week two examples of corporate unethical conduct from organisations with all the codes of conduct in place but no ethical or moral being. PwC and BHP: PwC … [Read more...] about Fake Paperwork Ethics, Spin and The Freedom to Harm
Robert Long
When Blame Comes Easy, A Lesson From Job
When Blame Comes Easy, A Lesson From Job Blame is the joy of the Justice Cult. The Justice Cult is best explained by reading wisdom literature particularly, the allegory/mythology of Job . Blame in the Justice Cult is when we decide by (undisclosed) moral norm what has been transgressed and assume … [Read more...] about When Blame Comes Easy, A Lesson From Job
Identity, Regulation and Risk, It’s not Just Worksafe NZ
It is not surprising that Worksafe NZ struggles with identity and funding. When the discourse of the regulator is articulated as pickles, meerkats, warriors and ‘spokes cats’ you have to wonder why it doesn’t focus on the basics (https://safetyrisk.net/skilled-conversations-in-risk-and-safety/ … [Read more...] about Identity, Regulation and Risk, It’s not Just Worksafe NZ
AI and Safety, Brutalism on Steroids
There has been so much hype about AI recently and such little discernment about what is hidden in the language and discourse of so much ‘noise’ about the issue. So much of what Ellul described 70 years ago: The Technological Society Never Mind Where, So Long As It's Fast: Jacques Ellul and … [Read more...] about AI and Safety, Brutalism on Steroids
Embodied Risk
One of the challenges with the engineering-behaviourist worldview of safety is that it has no answer for the question: what is the body for? (https://safetyrisk.net/what-is-the-human-body-for-in-safety/). (Other than it is simply a carrier for a computer) So much of safety work is brain-centric … [Read more...] about Embodied Risk
The Convenience of Complacency
The Convenience of Complacency One of the cultural characteristics of the safety industry is fundamental attribution error . It seems that safety seeks blame before it breathes, you certainly need to if your job title includes zero. Whenever there is an event in comes safety to quickly ensure that … [Read more...] about The Convenience of Complacency
Asking Better Questions in Risk
Asking Better Questions in Risk I have written before about questioning skills: https://safetyrisk.net/questioning-skills-and-investigations/ https://safetyrisk.net/conforming-and-questioning-in-safety/ https://safetyrisk.net/critical-thinking-and-questioning-in-safety/ Unfortunately, there … [Read more...] about Asking Better Questions in Risk
SPoR – Positive, Constructive, Practical, Rational, Visual, Verbal, Social, Relational, Person-Centric, Respectful, Ethical and Real
SPoR - Positive, Constructive, Practical, Rational, Visual, Verbal, Social, Relational, Person-Centric, Respectful, Ethical and Real These are all the qualities and moral values of SPoR and all those who enquire, learn and engage in SPoR quickly discover just how much its methods add value to the … [Read more...] about SPoR – Positive, Constructive, Practical, Rational, Visual, Verbal, Social, Relational, Person-Centric, Respectful, Ethical and Real
History and Hindsight in Safety
History and Hindsight in Safety In this post I wish to continue the discussion about significance through a discussion of history. It was Weick who said: ‘I don’t know what I believe until I see what I do’. In other words, everything we ‘know’ is retrospective. Humans have unlimited hindsight but … [Read more...] about History and Hindsight in Safety
Anchoring, Framing and Priming Risk
Anchoring, Framing and Priming Risk One 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 … [Read more...] about Anchoring, Framing and Priming Risk
