• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE
    • Slogans
      • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
      • When Slogans Don’t Work
      • CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
      • BIGGEST COLLECTION of WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
      • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
      • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
      • Safety Acronyms
      • You know Where You Can Stick Your Safety Slogans
      • Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
      • Spanish Safety Slogans – Consignas de seguridad
      • Safety Slogans List
      • Road Safety Slogans 2023
      • How to write your own safety slogans
      • Why Are Safety Slogans Important
      • Safety Slogans Don’t Save Lives
      • 40 Free Safety Slogans For the Workplace
      • Safety Slogans for Work
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • Free Hotel and Resort Risk Management Checklist
    • FREE DOWNLOADS
    • TOP 50
    • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS
    • Find a Safety Consultant
    • Free Safety Program Documents
    • Psychology Of Safety
    • Safety Ideas That Work
    • HEALTH and SAFETY MANUALS
    • FREE SAFE WORK METHOD STATEMENT RESOURCES
    • Whats New In Safety
    • FUN SAFETY STUFF
    • Health and Safety Training
    • SAFETY COURSES
    • Safety Training Needs Analysis and Matrix
    • Top 20 Safety Books
    • This Toaster Is Hot
    • Free Covid-19 Toolbox Talks
    • Download Page – Please Be Patient With Larger Files…….
    • SAFETY IMAGES, Photos, Unsafe Pictures and Funny Fails
    • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
    • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • Social Psychology Of Risk
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • Safety Psychology Terminology
    • Some Basics on Social Psychology & Risk
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk – Prof Karl E. Weick
    • The Psychology of Leadership in Risk
    • Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
    • The Psychology of Conversion – 20 Tips to get Started
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
    • Psychology and safety
    • The Psychology of Safety
    • Hot Toaster
    • TALKING RISK VIDEOS
    • WHAT IS SAFETY
    • THE HOT TOASTER
    • THE ZERO HARM DEBATE
    • SEMIOTICS
    • LEADERSHIP
  • Dr Long Posts
    • ALL POSTS
    • Learning Styles Matter
    • There is no Hierarchy of Controls
    • Scaffolding, Readiness and ZPD in Learning
    • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
    • Presentation Tips for Safety People
    • Dialogue Do’s and Don’ts
    • It’s Only a Symbol
    • Ten Cautions About Safety Checklists
    • Zero is Unethical
    • First Report on Zero Survey
    • There is No Objectivity, Deal With it!
  • THEMES
    • Psychosocial Safety
    • Resiliencing
    • Risk Myths
    • Safety Myths
    • Safety Culture Silences
    • Safety Culture
    • Psychological Health and Safety
    • Zero Harm
    • Due Diligence
  • Free Learning
    • Introduction to SPoR – Free
    • FREE RISK and SAFETY EBOOKS
    • FREE ebook – Guidance for the beginning OHS professional
    • Free EBook – Effective Safety Management Systems
    • Free EBook – Lessons I Have Learnt
  • Psychosocial Safety
    • What is Psychosocial Safety
    • Psychological Safety
      • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
      • Managing psychosocial hazards at work
      • Psychological Safety – has it become the next Maslow’s hammer?
      • What is Psychosocial Safety
      • Psychological Safety Slogans and Quotes
      • What is Psychological Safety?
      • Understanding Psychological Terminology
      • Psycho-Social and Socio-Psychological, What’s the Difference?
      • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
      • It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!
You are here: Home / Risk Aversion / Desensitizing to Kids Risk and Safety

Desensitizing to Kids Risk and Safety

May 15, 2013 by Dr Rob Long 13 Comments

imageDr Rob beat me to the post on this one about the proposal to teach “safety” in schools so I’ll just make a few opening comments….. I fear the opposite of desensitization and that we will produce a generation of little “Zero Harmers”.  If the Public Service safety inductions that I have seen are an indication of the curriculum then a lot of kids will be way too scared to go into the workforce for fear of suffering a gruesome death very early in their careers.

My boys already think safety is a joke the way it is currently managed by schools, with risky activities (that we enjoyed) slowly being banned and the mountain of paperwork they hand me before an major activity with the comment: “here Dad, sign this, you love this stuff”!!!!!! 

I agree with Rob in that the course is likely to focus on risk aversion, legislation, compensation, paperwork, procedures and PPE. If they are serious about preparing them for the workforce then why not teach subjects like Leadership, Communication, Respect and Creative Thinking – all qualities essential for a successful AND SAFE career.

Desensitizing to Kids Risk and Safety

By Dr Rob Long from http://www.humandymensions.com/

ConstructorI read with interest the idea that School students need better health and safety education (University of Adelaide News Thursday, 9 May 2013 http://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news61201.html). It is interesting that this idea is put forward by ‘safety experts’. What a bizarre idea. Here we have a major problem in the workforce of people being continually desensitized to risk through excessive bureaucracy, excessive regulation and excessive legislation, cognitive overload and ‘tick and flick’ and then someone comes up with the idea that we should teach safety in schools. Just imagine how useful it will be to bring forward the desensitization process.

One of the best ways to desensitize people against effective assessment and management of risk and safety is to give them just enough exposure to something so, when it comes to actually experiencing the realities of risk, they have been inoculated against it. This happens in schools in politics education. It is remarkable the level of disinterest of young people against effective participation in politics yet they have all be inoculated against it. So when they get to become participants in it, they know all about it. Content knowledge without context is rarely educational, it’s just information. Information is not education and data is not learning.

In an overloaded school curriculum with alarm bells ringing about being behind the world in the basics, someone comes up with the bright idea of teaching safety in schools. I wonder what kind of safety would be taught? If the safety industry is anything to go by it will be lessons in regulation, fear and systems. Now there’s a good recipe for inoculation. Teach kids that safety is all about risk aversion and paperwork, whilst in the afternoon they take all their risks on social media, drug activity and rebelling against the boundaries. What a dichotomous and schizophrenic disposition towards education and learning. How can I know risk and safety and have real questions with meaning if there is nothing except abstract concepts in a school classroom with a teacher or safety officer who knows so little about the essentials of risk? Why is it that the safety industry doesn’t questions such ideas and see the problems and self interest associated with this.

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Rob
Dr Rob Long

Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions
Dr Rob Long

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

  • When You Don’t Know, Just Make S4*t Up - September 30, 2023
  • Zero is Founded on Deceit and Lies - September 29, 2023
  • Have You Had a Drink of SafeTea? - September 27, 2023
  • The Blessings of Fallibility - September 27, 2023
  • Safety as Zero, The Perfect Event - September 25, 2023
Dr Rob Long
PhD., MEd., MOH., BEd., BTh., Dip T., Dip Min., Cert IV TAA, MRMIA Rob is the founder of Human Dymensions and has extensive experience, qualifications and expertise across a range of sectors including government, education, corporate, industry and community sectors over 30 years. Rob has worked at all levels of the education and training sector including serving on various post graduate executive, post graduate supervision, post graduate course design and implementation programs.

Please share our posts

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Risk Aversion, Risk Management, Robert Long Tagged With: Child Safety, desensitisation, kids risk, School Safety

Reader Interactions

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them belowCancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,509 other subscribers.

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Recent Comments

  • Rob Long on The Blessings of Fallibility
  • Simon Cassin on The Blessings of Fallibility
  • Rob Long on Validating, Endorsing and Supporting Zero
  • Rob Long on The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • Rob Long on The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • Matthew Thorne on Validating, Endorsing and Supporting Zero
  • rosa a carrillo on The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • Matthew Thorne on The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • Rob Long on Hopkins-Dekker on Reason and Other Laughs
  • Matt Thorne on Myth Making and Why it Matters to Safety
  • Rob Long on What’s Funny About Safety?
  • Rob Long on Perfection is Safety Child’s Play
  • Rosa Carrillo on Hopkins-Dekker on Reason and Other Laughs
  • Brent Charlton on Perfection is Safety Child’s Play
  • Anonymous on What’s Funny About Safety?
  • Rob Long on Zero Hour part 6 Knowing Yourself
  • Rob Long on Safety Cops and Safety’s Adoration of Power
  • Rob Long on Book Launch – “Zero, The Great Safety Delusion” – Free Download
  • Rob long on Don’t Be Dumb Like Me, the Typical Safety Keynote
  • Anonymous on Don’t Be Dumb Like Me, the Typical Safety Keynote

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

Have You Had a Drink of SafeTea?

If You Can’t Manage Fallibility, You’ll Never Tackle Psychosocial Health

Embodiment, Myth and Psychosocial Risk

7 Golden Rules that are NOT Golden

Why Zero Vision Can Never Tackle Mental Health

If Psychosocial Health Matters, Stop Hot Desking

Effective Strategies in Mental Health at Work

CLLR Newsletter July 2023

Playing With Mental Health in Safety is Dangerous

STOP ‘BREAKING’ PEOPLE! The notion of Psychological Safety

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Footer

Top Posts & Pages. Sad that most are so dumb but this is what safety luves

  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • When You Don’t Know, Just Make S4*t Up
  • BIGGEST COLLECTION of WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS, CHECKISTS, REGISTERS, TEMPLATES and APPS
  • Workplace Safety Poems
  • CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
  • Free Risk Assessment Template in Excel Format
  • How To Write a Safety Report
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity

Recent Posts

  • When You Don’t Know, Just Make S4*t Up
  • The Critical Outcome is to Improve Safety
  • Zero is Founded on Deceit and Lies
  • Have You Had a Drink of SafeTea?
  • The Blessings of Fallibility
  • Safety as Zero, The Perfect Event
  • Validating, Endorsing and Supporting Zero
  • The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • If You Can’t Manage Fallibility, You’ll Never Tackle Psychosocial Health
  • Embodiment, Myth and Psychosocial Risk
  • Embodied Enactivity in Safety
  • The Meaning of Myth in Risk
  • Myth Making and Why it Matters to Safety
  • Icebreakers and Games that Safety Trainers Play
  • The Power of Safety Myths
  • What Do You Mean By Performance?
  • Hopkins-Dekker on Reason and Other Laughs
  • Perfection is Safety Child’s Play
  • Podcast – Dr Rob Long With John Morlan and The Risk Matrix
  • What’s Funny About Safety?
  • Zero Hour part 6 Knowing Yourself
  • Free Videos, Podcasts and Books on Zero
  • Don’t Be Dumb Like Me, the Typical Safety Keynote
  • If You’re Happy in Safety, Clap Your Hands
  • Safety Cops and Safety’s Adoration of Power
  • Zero Hour Part 5 – Surfacing the Unconscious
  • Zero Hour Part 4 – Zero and the Unconscious
  • Auditing the 7 Golden Rules of Zero, A Miserable Fail
  • 7 Golden Rules that are NOT Golden
  • The Non-Golden Rules for Leadership in Zero
  • Seven ‘Golden’ Rules for Zero and Yet No Ethic
  • Why Zero Vision Can Never Tackle Mental Health
  • Is this Your Safety?
  • SPoR Workshops Canberra 18-21 September
  • The Dominance of Zero as the ‘Common Denominator’ of Safety
  • Zero Hour Episode 3
  • Goal Setting and Zero
  • Zero as a Worldview
  • If Psychosocial Health Matters, Stop Hot Desking
  • Book Launch – “Zero, The Great Safety Delusion” – Free Download
  • Breach of Faith and Psycho-Social Risk
  • Zero Harm is Never Zero Harm
  • Why Would You Want to be a Safety “Geek’ or Hero?
  • The Mental Illness of Identifying as Safety
  • Zero Hour – Zero as a place holder
  • Zero Hour – Zero as a Philosophy
  • CARING ABOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
  • Care is NOT a Factor and Yes, Your Model Matters
  • Care Ethics and the Ethics of Care, in Risk
  • FEAR AND CONTROL – Dialogue in a technological society

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

I’m just not that into safety anymore

A Semiotic Map for Safety

Anchoring Safety to Objects

The Heart of Wisdom at Covid Time

‘Man Up’ Safety

Rituals in Risk Management – Podcast

Risk You Can Eat

Rhythms, Musicophilia and Safety

Cognitive Dissonance and Safety Beliefs

Humanising Safety Free Virtual Conference

Risk and Safety Starts with Being?

Calculators, Matrices and Mumbo Jumbo Risk Assessment

Impacts of Cognitive Dissonance in the Workplace

Why is Safety an Easy Target?

The Will To Be and Do

Update on SPoR in India, Brazil and Europe

Centre for Leadership and Learning in Risk (CLLR)–Study Calendar

What Can Safety Learn from Barbie

Who is the Enemy and What War is Safety Fighting?

non-Leadership in Risk

Not Much Like Safety…

The Trajectory of Zero Vision

Framing Risk Through Regulation

The Essentialist Pleasure Of Safety

The Ethics of Safety

The Domino Myth in Safety

Why Safety Controls Don’t Always Work

What in the (Risk & Safety) World is Imagination?

A Culture of Care (and sackings…)

The Curse of Behaviourism

Understanding How People Make Decisions and Judgments

SPoR Convention Canberra 18-21 September 2023

I Just Don’t Know

Off to a Flying Start in Learning with CLLR

The Social Politics of Risk Workshop

Incident Investigations and the Einstellung Effect

Ten Risk and Safety Program Essentials

What is Your Risk iCue?

Social Psychology of Risk – Body of Knowledge

Risky Conversations Book Launch in Perth

More Posts from this Category

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,509 other subscribers.

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?


WHAT IS PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY