Continuing our series on Safety Myths – see them all here It seems whenever a safety book wants to identify its roots it traces itself back to Heinrich, Bird, Weaver, Adams, Loftus, Reason and Petersen and the mythical domino construct (The Domino Delusion). Always be suspicious of engineers using … [Read more...] about The Domino Myth in Safety
Robert Long
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
Complacency, Consciousness and Error in Safety
Recent research into the effects of drugs like Psilocybin, an ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’ show some promise in helping with addictions and some mental health disorders. And yet, even then, researchers still don’t understand much about consciousness and the unconscious, and use the language of … [Read more...] about Complacency, Consciousness and Error in Safety
The Safety Professional Myth
Continuing our series on Safety Myths – see them all here I was sent this image recently and it says it all about the myth of the safety professional (see Figure 1. SP Myth) Figure 1. SP Myth As we have been asserting in this series on myths: all symbols that embed ideology are mythical. The … [Read more...] about The Safety Professional Myth
Do Not Go Gently, SPoR and the Civility Myth
Continuing our series on Safety Myths – see them all here Dylan Thomas captures the criticality of facing death, in the throes of life, in his classic poem: ‘Do not go gentle in to that good night’. Sometimes when things cannot be stated by propositional definition they can only be spoken in … [Read more...] about Do Not Go Gently, SPoR and the Civility Myth
SPoR, Ideology and Safety Myth
Continuing our series on Safety Myths – see them all here Ideology is one of those tricky words that can be defined 100 ways. So, it’s always good to define meaning before assuming others know the application of language. In language context, philosophy and culture are critical determinant of … [Read more...] about SPoR, Ideology and Safety Myth
Listening, Learning, Helping and Caring about Risk
Listening, Learning, Helping and Caring about Risk I was with a group of managers yesterday and as I often do asked them to list the words they associate with safety. We brainstorm in teams for a bit and then once each team has 10 words we put them in rank order from most important to least … [Read more...] about Listening, Learning, Helping and Caring about Risk
SPoR and Myth
The Social Psychology of Risk (SPoR) is first and foremost a worldview, a philosophy, disposition, methodology, paradigm and orientation. It is a way of seeing (envisioning) the world through the lens of being, Socialitie and risk. When one has a methodology, it is relatively straight forward to … [Read more...] about SPoR and Myth
People Skills Are Not Soft Skills
People Skills Are Not Soft Skills When you know language matters you don’t to repeat the common discourse that ‘frames’ the Discourse that hides undisclosed assumptions and ideological agenda. I read an AIHS piece about a a so called ‘safety thought leader’ who referred to the skills of Listening, … [Read more...] about People Skills Are Not Soft Skills
The Bogus Bow-Tie Myth
Continuing our series on Safety Myths – see them all here There’s no doubt about it, Safety loves the linear in-out binary box. This is not just manifest in the swindle swiss-cheese but in many other safety myth models eg. The Bow-Tie that perpetuate the mythologies of certainty, control, order, … [Read more...] about The Bogus Bow-Tie Myth
