• 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
      • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST 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
    • 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 / Robert Long / Face-to-Face Safety

Face-to-Face Safety

May 31, 2017 by Dr Rob Long 6 Comments

Face-to-Face Safety

imageAs companies seek to cut costs they often go to the ubiquitous online induction and commit to device recording options but what are the by-products and trade-offs in such an approach?

We know that online inductions and online training may save money but expose organizations to significant risks, including legal liability. (https://vimeo.com/164670789) As Greg Smith often makes the point in the Risky Conversation video series (https://vimeo.com/humandymensions ), what many organisations do in the name of managing safety simply helps to build a database of non-compliance. (https://vimeo.com/162034157) In building and construction industry for example, we now have a White Card as an extra layer of meaninglessness in the safety management regime that no one gives much value. Holding out a White Card simply shows that one knows how to get one and fork out a few dollars, not that one knows anything about the management of risk. So when they come on site we must assume they don’t really know anything about safety, so they get re-inducted. No wonder people think that safety is an embuggerance.

The more we flood the market with extra layers of meaningless process (for example, the Federal Safety Commissioner) the less safe we make building and construction. How can people take safety seriously when so much pessimism and skepticism is fed into the system with processes that make no difference to safety on site? When anything becomes an embuggerance, people stop listening.

The idea of being ‘face-to-face’ emphasizes relationship, sharing, presence and immediacy. There is no substitute for ‘being present’, so much is communicated without even needing to say anything. Are we losing the value of ‘being present’ in our organisations? Particularly when it comes to such things as managing critical risks. It seems absurd that we would delegate the managing of risk to a process of distance and indifference that cannot ensure learning. It seems crazy that the safety industry thinks a signature on a piece of paper for an induction is a defense in court.

Imagine if something bad were to happen in your family or community and you decided to express your concern. Do you send an email? Do you decide to sms your feelings? Do you suggest an online funeral? No, you know you have to be present. Similarly for any occasion, celebration or life event. We know that being present is critical. It would be like saying one watched a video of being in Paris and suggesting it was the same as ‘being’ there. We know that ‘being present’ improves relationships and enhances knowledge. If there is a conflict on site or a challenge at work, we know it is better to ‘meet’ and ‘be present’ than to try to manage that conflict online. Often seeking to do so makes things much worse.

Unfortunately, most of the benefits of meeting face-to-face are not easily measureable, this doesn’t mean they lack value. Indeed, most of the things that are most valuable such as trust, hope, engagement, listening, helping and care cannot be measured. Let’s just take a quick look at two essential skills for practicing ‘face-to-face safety’.

‘Being present’ is about much more than being physically present. In beginner pastoral psychology one learns the skill of ‘attending’ (http://www.thecounsellorsguide.co.uk/attending-skills.html ). Attending is a way of orienting oneself to another and towards an issue. It’s not just enough to show up, being present and playing on your phone is not ‘being present’. You can’t be face-to-face if you are being face-to-phone!

What also has to go with attending is ‘suspension of agenda’. This means pushing one’s own interests into the background for a moment in order to listen effectively. You can’t ‘be present’ if your head is full of distractions and ‘agenda’. If one wants to walk the site and converse with others about how they manage risk but doesn’t know how to listen, then its actually better to not walk the site at all. Doing a poor safety walk does more damage than good.

These and many other beginner helping skills are also essential to any Investigations process (https://www.safetyrisk.net/seek-investigations-workshop/). Knowing the fundamentals of effective dialogue and engagement are essential if one wants to listen and help others converse about risk. If ‘face-to-face safety’ is too expensive or if ‘being present’ is too onerous, one has already made a real statement about one’s priorities in safety, despite the slogans and mantras on one’s safety letterhead.

13. TRAINING from Human Dymensions on Vimeo.

3. PAPERWORK from Human Dymensions on Vimeo.

  • 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)

  • A Leadership Worldview for Psychosocial Safety - February 5, 2023
  • How to Do the Best Risk Assessment - February 4, 2023
  • Tensions and Faultiness in Risk - February 4, 2023
  • Psychosocial Safety, Following-Leading in Risk - February 4, 2023
  • Free Program on Due Diligence - February 4, 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: Robert Long, Safety Induction, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: CLLR, Induction, risky conversations, white card

Reader Interactions

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below Cancel 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 7,500 other subscribers

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

A Leadership Worldview for Psychosocial Safety

Psychosocial Safety, Following-Leading in Risk

Not Just Another ‘Hazard’

Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?

How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety

ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do

The KISS of Death in Safety

Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health

The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’

The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Rob long on How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Matt Thorne on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Hurak Learning on How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Rob Long on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Paul Gentles on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Brent Charlton on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Rob Long on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian Edwin Darlington on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Jaise on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Rob Long on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Linda McKendry on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Rob long on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Matt Thorne on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Footer

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

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

  • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • NATIONAL SAFETY DAY/WEEK IN INDIA 2023
  • A Leadership Worldview for Psychosocial Safety
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • Proving Safety
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • What Is Safety?

Recent Posts

  • A Leadership Worldview for Psychosocial Safety
  • How to Do the Best Risk Assessment
  • Tensions and Faultiness in Risk
  • Psychosocial Safety, Following-Leading in Risk
  • Free Program on Due Diligence
  • Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • Work-Life and Risk, Feminine Perspectives
  • Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Free Download – Real Risk – New Book by Dr Robert Long
  • Proving Safety
  • ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do
  • Harming People in the Name of Good
  • An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Risk and Safety Maturity
  • The KISS of Death in Safety
  • SPoR, Metanoia and a Podcast on Change with Nippin Anand
  • Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health
  • The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’
  • SPoR Comes to Vienna June 2023
  • The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • The Visionary Imagination – Louisa Lawson
  • Heaven ‘n Hell and the Safety Religion
  • Confirmity in Conformity
  • Numerology and Psychic Numbing
  • Thinking of Mortality
  • Safety is the Wrong Anchor
  • Foresight Blindness, Hindsight Bias and Risk
  • Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk
  • What is SPoR?
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Afraid to Let Go of What Doesn’t Work in Safety
  • When You Don’t Know What to do in Safety, Have Another Blitz!!!
  • Gloves and Glasses Compliance
  • A Case of Desensitisation – What Would You Do?
  • How to Leave the Safety Industry
  • The Mythic Symbology of Safety
  • Dark Waters, The True Story of DuPont and Zero
  • 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that…
  • Don’t Look Now Safety, Your Metaphor is Showing
  • Ratio Delusions and Heinrich’s Hoax
  • To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Culture as a Wicked Problem, for Safety
  • Safety Leadership Training
  • Cultural Orientation in Risk
  • The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk
  • Objectivity, Audits and Attribution When Calculating Risk
  • Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

How to Leave the Safety Industry

Understanding Goal States, Motivation and SPoR, A Video

Counter Intuitive Safety

Safety Investigation – Whodunit?

SEEK is not a Method

A Small Change and ‘Y’ it Matters?

Understanding Safety Myths

Cognitive Dissonance and Safety Beliefs

Safety as Policing

In Praise of Balance in Risk and the Threat of Extremism

Social Psychology of Risk Post-Grad Pics

The Curse of Cognitivism

Due Diligence and Holistic Ergonomics Workshops

Certificate, Diploma and Masters Studies in SPoR

Social Psychology of Risk Challenge

The De-Ethicization of the Object in Safety

Why we make mistakes

Stop the Train I Want to Get Off

Looking for Another Side

Cultivating Resilience

Suggested Safety Reading for 2018

Ten Secrets to Risk and Safety Motivation and Ownership

Dumb Ways to Discourse, a Failed Approach in Safety

The Hero Myth in Modern Management

What’s the Alternative to Traditional Safety? SPoR.

Framing Your World

Understanding Safety as an Archetype

SPoR Quarterly Newsletter September 2021

What Does Misinformation Do in Safety?

Are You a Safety Fool?

The Worm at the Core

Disrupting the Methodology in Safety?

Safety Can’t Control Nature (or People)

Data Cannot Drive Vision

Free Online Introduction to the Social Psychology of Risk

There is Another Ethic than Zero Accidents

Just Tell Your Mind to Stop It

Safety and Non-Neuroscience

non-Leadership in Risk

Human Dymensions Newsletter September 2016

More Posts from this Category

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 7,500 other subscribers

How we pay for the high cost of running of this site – try it for free on your site

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?


WHAT IS PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY