Book Launch
The primary purpose of this newsletter is to launch the new book. We are proud to announce the publication of the 10th book in the series on the Social Psychology of Risk (SPoR). You can see all books in the series here: https://www.humandymensions.com/shop/
It Works! A New Approach to Risk and Safety
The new book is entitled It Works! A New Approach to Risk and Safety.
You can purchase the book here:
https://www.humandymensions.com/product/it-works-a-new-approach-to-risk-and-safety/
This is the fourth book in the series that involves a collaboration of authors, this time with Brian Darlington, Group Head, Health and Safety for Mondi.
This book is directed by Brian Darlington and is a case study of an organization that moves away from the ideology of zero and practices the skills and principles of SPoR. This study could be told over and over, as many organisations realize the need to humanize the activities of safety in an ethical way in how they tackle risk.
To achieve the humanizing of safety, organisations soon realize that the traditions of safety immersed in engineering/science alone have not been effective. The industry of safety has now become bogged down in paperwork, a fixation on petty risk and anxiety about measurement. Worst of all, Safety defines itself by the ideology of zero, that safety practitioners don’t believe in.
Organisations that take on this new SPoR approach to risk, adopt a Transdisciplinary approach, that privileges persons over the quest to manage objects. They soon realize that a humanizing approach risk, works! Hence the title of the book.
What organisations discover when they take on the Social Psychology of Risk is that it brings a new approach to helping and care in tackling risk. What a sad indictment of an industry that is yet to articulate an ethic of helping and care in how it identifies itself in managing risk.
The book is being released in Europe and Australia and sells for:
$29.95 (aust) – post and packing $15
19.50 (euro) – post and packing 10 euro
Post and packing to US, Canada and Asia is $30 (aust)
Orders of multiple copies (including discount) will be managed by email: rob@humandymensions.com
About the Author – Brian Darlington
This is a book about a transformation in approach to risk and safety. It tells the story of how the Social Psychology of Risk (SPoR) has made a change in an organisation. The story-case study is set in Europe around the work of the author Brian Darlington and the transformation and change he has enacted in Mondi Group. The book chronicles personal and collective change in the organisation and how the new SPoR approach has enlivened the organisation to better manage risk in the workplace.
The case study starts with Brian’s personal story of change after being challenged by traditional approaches to risk and safety for many years. However, after one of his close friends Michael, implemented SPoR in his organisation (Borealis) Brian began to investigate and test the possibilities of SPoR and see if it could help him humanise risk and safety in a better way in his organisation.
So, Brian took a leap of faith in 2018 and, started his journey in the Social Psychology of Risk. He commenced a close relationship with Dr Rob Long, the founder of SPoR. After making several trips to Australia and Rob to Austria and Belgium, Brian commenced developing the practices of SPoR in Mondi and never looked back.
During implementation many Eureka moments were realised when the practice of SPoR enlivened people to a person-centric approach to risk. The old traditional modes of telling, policing, excessive paperwork and process-centric methods, faded to the background as people began to have better conversations in risk and became engaged in risk assessment from a person-centric model.
This is a book about very practical ways of improving the way organisations tackle risk and safety as if persons are central in all that is done. Whilst the book spends some time in discussion about what doesn’t work in risk and safety, it doesn’t get stuck on problems, but rather sets out SPoR methods in which change for the better has made a difference in an organisation.
SPoR is a disposition towards people that ensures its by-products consider the human first rather than an objects-centric approach common in traditional risk and safety.
The book gives details of the practical tools, processes and skills available in SPoR and how these have been enacted in an organisation over a two year period. The work of SPoR however, is ongoing and this book simply documents the beginning. The book includes details on training, skill development and engagement strategies across the Mondi Group, not just in Europe but globally.
The authors hope that the reader will realise by reading this case study, the possibilities for enhancing risk and safety in their own organisation so that persons matter.
Perhaps this book can help the reader discover their own Eureka moment too, when the world of risk and safety might become more humanised.
Sample Chapter from Book
You can download a sample chapter from the new book here: https://www.humandymensions.com/product/it-works-a-new-approach-to-risk-and-safety-free-download-chapter-4/
Video Launch
This is the first book in the series on risk that has been launched in Europe and Australia. So, the book has been launched from Austria, Europe, where Brian is located.
You can see the video launch here, where Brian explains why he wrote the book: https://vimeo.com/526759940
Competition to Win Copy of New Book
FIND THE CAT! Here is you chance to get a copy of Brian and Rob’s new book: It Works! A New Approach to Risk and Safety. This competition is a little different and requires a different form of envisioning to other previous puzzles.
So email your entry to admin@cllr.com.au along with your name and snail mail address and a book could be yours. First 5 correct entries are winners.
Free Workshop – The Poetics of Risk
This workshop is only for those who have previously undertaken studies with Dr Long or Dr Ashhurst.
Newcomers to SPoR will have to wait for the next free Introduction to the Social Psychology of Risk Module. You can register for the next free Introductory Module here: https://cllr.com.au/product/an-introduction-to-the-social-psychology-of-risk-unit-1-free-online-module/ The next free online module will be offerred in May-June.
The Workshops commence on Tuesday 20 April at 7.30am EST Australia.
If you are eligible and interested, please email rob@cllr.com.au
An outline of the module is here: https://cllr.com.au/product/poetics-flyer-module-22/
Poetics is not about poetry but all qualitative forms of expression and being. For those in the risk and safety world, Poetics is about everything that the safety industry is not interested. For those interested in Poetics but ineligible to do these studies, the following readings are a place to start to get your taste buds working:
The Poetics of Space
https://whslibraryblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/gaston-bachelard-the-poetics-of-space.pdf
The Tacit Dimension
https://monoskop.org/File:Polanyi_Michael_The_Tacit_Dimension.pdf
The Poetics of Resistance
https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/186934
The Poetics of Cinema
https://is.muni.cz/el/1421/jaro2016/FAVBKa13/um/61986740/Bordwell_David_-_Poetics_of_Cinema.pdf
Freebies and Downloads
Don’t forget there are free downloads of books by Dr Long here:
Five free books to download
https://www.humandymensions.com/shop/
Free posters here:
https://spor.com.au/downloads/posters/
Blogs
https://safetyrisk.net/robert-long/
Videos
https://vimeo.com/cllr
https://vimeo.com/humandymensions
The Law and Due Diligence
https://vimeo.com/showcase/3938199
Videos against zero ideology
https://vimeo.com/230093823
https://vimeo.com/172195306
Semiotics Videos
https://spor.com.au/downloads/semiotics/
Papers
https://spor.com.au/downloads/papers/
Newsletter Archive
https://spor.com.au/downloads/newsletter-archive/
Contacts and Websites
rob@cllr.com.au
https://cllr.com.au/
https://spor.com.au/
https://www.humandymensions.com/
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