• 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 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
  • 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 / Free Safety Stuff / For The Love of Zero–Now Free To Download

For The Love of Zero–Now Free To Download

January 1, 2022 by Admin 26 Comments

imageWith his new eighth book approaching (I’ve read an early draft and it is a cracker! – stay tuned), Dr Rob Long has decided to put “For the Love of Zero” up as a free download.

You can also download “Real Risk” and “Fallibility and Risk” free. The 3 free book downloads are now here: https://www.humandymensions.com/shop/

This is a book for the fallible, the human and those committed to learning.

GREAT REVIEW OF THIS BOOK HERE: https://safetyrisk.net/book-review-for-the-love-of-zero/

What is it about?

In a perfect world things don’t go bump and wheels don’t fall off, humans don’t make mistakes and people don’t suffer – but we don’t live in a perfect world. No amount of denial of human fallibility makes it so. We have hospitals, morgues and cemeteries that remind us that human life is not only finite but that suffering and risk test your attitude to learning. In the midst of human reality there are proponents claiming that ‘all accidents are preventable’ and advocating ‘zero harm’. Some organisations even reward employees for meeting ‘zero’ goals and thereby ‘prime’ workers to hide, deny and under-report harm.

This book is an extension of the previous book Risk Makes Sense: Human Judgement and Risk. There is no sense in total risk aversion or risk elimination. There is no learning without risk.

The absolute of ‘zero’ is actually not possible. There is no nothing. This is despite the fact that the word ‘zero’ dominates our culture, giving its name to everything from drinks, motorbikes and shops. There is no void and any effort to try and measure zero is affected by the efforts to measure it. Scientists can’t get to absolute zero (Zero Kelvin −273.15°). Yet there are many organisations and CEOs who set ‘zero’ goals for their organisations in the management of risk .

What do perfectionist goals do to humans? Do perfectionist goals motivate humans to learn? Do perfectionist goals set people up to fail? Why are absolute goals for perfection absent from all walks of life except mining and construction companies? Why do academics, teachers and sport coaches know that absolutes and perfection are de-motivating yet these organisations don’t? Why do psychologists associate perfectionism with mental health disorders yet some CEOs see perfectionism as healthy? Are such perfectionist goals applicable for themselves or only for others?

Much of the quest for zero is based on binary opposition thinking. This is black and white fundamentalist thinking. Binary opposition thinking can only imagine two options: if it’s not white, it must be black. You are either a good citizen or a terrorist. There are no ‘50 shades of grey’ in the ‘zero’ mind-set. One either sets a goal for harm or one must only have goals for ‘zero’. Such simplistic thinking is endorsed by language of entrapment to prove its own assumption. There are more sophisticated ways of thinking and speaking that make better sense of the real world and enable motivation and learning.

This book seeks to contribute to the debate about the value of zero harm as a goal and motivational tool to stimulate ownership in risk. The ever expanding-popularity of the mantra of zero harm across mining, building and construction and related industries has spread like an epidemic in the last 10 years. But is the concept all it’s claimed to be? Has the adoption of zero harm language been well thought through? Does the concept of zero harm inspire and motivate leadership, ownership and better practice? Does the discourse of zero harm promote the right outcome, or are there hidden dynamics associated with its promotion? What is the logic of zero harm? Is the ideology of zero harm ethical or helpful? Is the binary oppositional mindset that accompanies zero helping lead people to thinking, learning and dialogue about risk? Does the language of ‘zero’ perpetuate adversarialism? Could it be that the discourse of zero harm counter-intuitively stimulates the opposite of what it seeks to achieve? These and many more questions are answered by the discussion of this book.

Everywhere you look in the mining, building and construction industry you can see the advocacy for zero harm. The Queensland Government offer a Zero Harm at Work Leadership Program as part of their ‘zero harm strategy’, with more than 300 hundred members made up of nearly every company of significance in the state. You can find companies called Zero Harm and positions advertised as ‘Manager of Zero Harm’. There are advertisements for ‘zero harm auditing services’, ‘zero harm training’, ‘zero harm directors’ and ‘zero harm charters’. As you fly about Australia and walk through airport lounges the badging for zero harm is everywhere, on shirts, cups, drink bottles and every imaginable marketing trinket, but not on the airline marketing. The language of zero harm seems to be everywhere. Companies give out ‘zero harm safety awards’, speak about ‘designing zero harm’, ‘towards zero harm’ and ‘think zero harm’. Some even go to the absurd use of language, espousing such meaningless language as ‘beyond zero harm’.

imageSo, in writing this book I may not be winning lots of friends and certainly am running against the tide. It would be easy to endorse the status quo and tell everyone what they want to hear, the language of simplicity seems so attractive and certainly a source of income in safety, security and risk consulting. If you want business in training in risk it seems you conform to and espouse zero harm or you don’t get the work. However, that would be counter to the evidence that shows that the ‘zero’ concept and ‘zero’ language are far from harmless or motivational.

This book seeks to show that the zero harm concept, zero harm discourse and zero harm ideology undermine a culture of learning in organisations. The book discusses issues to do with culture, language, motivation, goal setting, binary opposition, unconscious priming, cognitive dissonance, counter-intuitive dynamics and survey evidence on zero harm believability and ownership.

Whilst this book is primarily focused on risk and safety it is important to realise that any discussion of zero extends way beyond such interests. As the issues of zero and risk are discussed it is important to remember how other areas of business such as quality, sustainability, environment, management, leadership and health might also be influenced by this ideology.

All 3 free book downloads are now here: https://www.humandymensions.com/shop/

Free book downloads

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: Free Safety Stuff, Robert Long, Safety Books, Zero Harm Tagged With: For The Love Of Zero, free downloads

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tony Cartwright says

    February 13, 2020 at 8:04 PM

    Really appreciate your generosity Rob, thank you.

    Reply
    • Rob long says

      February 13, 2020 at 9:41 PM

      Thanks Tony. I appreciate your appreciation. Rob

      Reply
      • bernardcorden says

        February 13, 2020 at 9:43 PM

        The entire collection of Dr Rob Long’s books and the social psychological perspective is essential reading for any people involved in safety, especially those in senior management and leadership roles.

        It is somewhat unfortunate or maybe deliberate that none of the publications are recommended on the Australian OHS Education Accreditation Board website:

        https://www.ohseducationaccreditation.org.au/projects-activities/readings-and-references/

        This is somewhat incongruous with the current AIHS strategy, which advocates holding a broader vision for the future:

        https://www.aihs.org.au/sites/default/files/AIHS%20Strategic%20Plan%202019_2024.pdf

        Reply
        • Rob long says

          February 13, 2020 at 10:14 PM

          When your mantra is zero harm, your reading and research is naturally pathetic.

          Reply
          • Rob long says

            February 13, 2020 at 10:14 PM

            Dave, if you are looking for some entertainment read their vision statement that has no vision. There can be no vision when the global language of safety is zero.

        • Dave Collins says

          February 13, 2020 at 10:14 PM

          That is a very sad list on the Accreditation Board website – what hope do future safety people have if they follow those recommendations?

          Reply
  2. Ramesh Rama says

    February 13, 2020 at 8:04 PM

    How do i download this book? The links are not taking me to the right site.

    Reply
    • Rob long says

      February 13, 2020 at 9:41 PM

      Everyone one is downloading and links working fine.

      Reply
    • Dave Collins says

      February 13, 2020 at 9:41 PM

      What site are you being taken to? The links seem to be working fine?

      Reply
      • Ramesh Rama says

        February 13, 2020 at 9:43 PM

        https://www.humandymensions.com/shop/ – this one Dr. If not, Can u guide me to the right one pls? thks.

        Reply
        • Rob Long says

          February 13, 2020 at 10:14 PM

          Yep, that’s it

          Reply
          • Ramesh Rama says

            February 14, 2020 at 4:48 AM

            Many Thks Dr. I managed to download a copy. The firewall was the prob! Tc.

      • Rob Long says

        February 13, 2020 at 10:13 PM

        Hundreds of multiple downloads so far and all working well. Maybe people zero hate my work!

        Reply
  3. Ramesh Rama says

    July 28, 2019 at 1:24 PM

    How do i download this book? The links are not taking me to the right site.

    Reply
    • Rob long says

      July 28, 2019 at 5:24 PM

      Everyone one is downloading and links working fine.

      Reply
    • Dave Collins says

      July 29, 2019 at 6:50 AM

      What site are you being taken to? The links seem to be working fine?

      Reply
      • Rob Long says

        July 29, 2019 at 8:44 AM

        Hundreds of multiple downloads so far and all working well. Maybe people zero hate my work!

        Reply
      • Ramesh Rama says

        July 29, 2019 at 11:35 AM

        https://www.humandymensions.com/shop/ – this one Dr. If not, Can u guide me to the right one pls? thks.

        Reply
        • Rob Long says

          July 29, 2019 at 1:00 PM

          Yep, that’s it

          Reply
          • Ramesh Rama says

            July 30, 2019 at 11:53 AM

            Many Thks Dr. I managed to download a copy. The firewall was the prob! Tc.

  4. Tony Cartwright says

    July 25, 2019 at 9:48 PM

    Really appreciate your generosity Rob, thank you.

    Reply
    • Rob long says

      July 26, 2019 at 9:16 AM

      Thanks Tony. I appreciate your appreciation. Rob

      Reply
      • bernardcorden says

        July 26, 2019 at 11:14 AM

        The entire collection of Dr Rob Long’s books and the social psychological perspective is essential reading for any people involved in safety, especially those in senior management and leadership roles.

        It is somewhat unfortunate or maybe deliberate that none of the publications are recommended on the Australian OHS Education Accreditation Board website:

        https://www.ohseducationaccreditation.org.au/projects-activities/readings-and-references/

        This is somewhat incongruous with the current AIHS strategy, which advocates holding a broader vision for the future:

        https://www.aihs.org.au/sites/default/files/AIHS%20Strategic%20Plan%202019_2024.pdf

        Reply
        • Dave Collins says

          July 26, 2019 at 11:49 AM

          That is a very sad list on the Accreditation Board website – what hope do future safety people have if they follow those recommendations?

          Reply
        • Rob long says

          July 26, 2019 at 6:51 PM

          When your mantra is zero harm, your reading and research is naturally pathetic.

          Reply
          • Rob long says

            July 26, 2019 at 6:52 PM

            Dave, if you are looking for some entertainment read their vision statement that has no vision. There can be no vision when the global language of safety is zero.

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 7,495 other subscribers

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

SAFETY MYTHS SERIES

The Mythic Symbology of Safety

Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics

Safety Mythbusters

Don’t Be Emotional! Another Safety Myth

Tackling the Challenge of Heuristics in Safety

The Myth of Normal

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • 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)
  • Anonymous on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • Jason on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Rob Long on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Admin on How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Rob Long on 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Gustavo Saralegui on 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Rob long on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Wynand on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Rob Long on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • simon cassin on To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Rob Long on Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?
  • Matt Thorne on Free Online Workshops
  • Rob long on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Brian Edwin Darlington on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Risk Diversity on Book Launch – For the Love of Zero – in Portuguese
  • Rob Long on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Risk Culture Builder on No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Mark Taylor on All Things Must Pass in Risk

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

  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • 500 OF THE BEST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Safety Acronyms
  • What is SPoR?
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators

Recent Posts

  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • 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?
  • Zero, The Seeking of Infinity
  • Safety Leadership Essentials
  • What Can Indiana Jones Tell Us About Culture
  • Safety as a Worldview
  • The Loathing of Limits
  • Culture Cannot be Framed Through Safety
  • Free Online Workshops
  • Safety Culture–Hudson’s Model
  • Book Launch – For the Love of Zero – in Portuguese
  • Advancing Backwards in Safety
  • The ‘Noise’ of Safety, Silence and Practicing of Mindfulness
  • All Things Must Pass in Risk
  • I’m just not that into safety anymore
  • Sticks and Stones and the Nonsense of Zero Harm
  • Courting Infallibility in Safety
  • Indicators of Risk
  • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
  • No Good Reason to Follow Reason
  • Just as Well Culture Doesn’t Listen to Safety
  • What Are the Benefits Of Social Psychology of Risk?
  • Short-Sighted Lenses by Safety
  • Is Safety the Empire of Non-Sense?
  • No Wonder Safety is Confused About Culture
  • Building High Performance Safety Cultures
  • Understanding iCue, a Visual, Verbal, Semiotic Method for Tackling Risk
  • On Culture and Safety
  • Focus on ‘Meeting’ people, not legislation – a path to risk maturity
  • The Moral Harm of the Zero Cult

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

How I Feel About Risk

Anxiety and Fear Professionals

The Safety Worldview

Social Sensemaking – Book Launch Dates & Venues Confirmed

The Immediacy of Zero

What is Your Risk iCue?

Three Cheers for the Safety Literalists

The Bias of Method Design in Risk

What is SPoR?

Knowing When to Break the Rules

iCue Education Pack to Enable Learning in the SPoR Approach to Risk

The Curse of Dataism

Paralysis by Precaution

Perth Workshops

The Tension of Opposites and Binaries in Risk

All You Love is Need

No Gurus, No Stars, No Heroes Needed in Safety

The Strange Challenge of Unlearning in Safety

What are Your Secret Messages in Safety?

Just Hangin’ Out…

Acceptable Risk as a Decision Making Process

Dumbs for Safety

The Primacy of Play in Learning

SPoR Ontology and Methods – A Video

What Does Your Risk and Safety Icon Say?

There is Another Ethic than Zero Accidents

The Domino Myth in Safety

The Measurement Mindset in Safety???

Dumb Ways to Die Doesn’t Work

Understanding Risk

Desensitization, Statistics and the Psychic Numbing of Numerics

The Convenience of Complacency

Selective Safety and Well Being

International Workshops – Belgium

The Disembodied Human and Persons in Safety

Looking Forward, Looking Back

20 Cognitive Biases That Affect Risk Decision Making

The Great Heinrich Hoax

Subliminal and Subconscious Influence

Trinket Safety

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 7,495 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?