• 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 / Creativity / Inspirational Safety Ideas

Inspirational Safety Ideas

November 12, 2016 by Admin 4 Comments

positive safety ideasInspirational Safety Ideas

A recent plea, from a frustrated Safety Professional on a Facebook forum, sparked a very interesting discussion. I have certainly seen many similar comments on this blog over the years and I am sure most of us have felt this way many times in our careers. Many search desperately for answers that confirm their beliefs and/or reject or avoid those which seem to be a mismatch for their expectations. Some (ie the Authors on this blog) have adjusted their views and changed their beliefs  (see more about Cognitive Dissonance and the bottom of this post and what I just said will seem clearer…..).

Here is the initial comment:

“Hi all. I’ve been part of this group for a while, but never posted. I’ve seen plenty of criticism of specific safety campaigns and workplaces not doing safety well. What I haven’t seen are many examples of things that are working well and could be shared with the safety community for inspiration. I’m not talking about articles or links to websites, concepts from consultants or things unrelated to safety. I’d love to see what my fellow safety professionals are up to, in your workplace, in real time. Inspire me…”

This is a summary of some of the many responses:

  • Challenging the status quo. Being curious about why they do it the way they do it and eliciting their understanding of the risk rather than telling them. Getting groups to understand each other’s perspective.
  • One of the messages I’m sharing with my clients is the term conversation, the importance of having a conversation with workers and managers about risk and the ways that we control risk. avoiding telling people and do more asking. Unfortunately we still need to satisfy inspectors evaluators etc. so many of the traditional things still need to be done, but if we can make the workers understand the whys better then hopefully we open up their minds to alternatives.
  • For myself, I started with Rob Long back when I was a HSE Manager, for a long time I had been working with great people but always struggled with what behavioural safety was, but knew that system based safety wasn’t the whole answer. So this group is very handy for learning a different perspective. I would like to be a bridge between traditional and process safety and help organisations work towards being high reliability organisations – if that is even possible.
  • I definitely feel where you’re coming from; however, don’t be disheartened, the group is just trying to figure out a better way forward while being confronted by fairly entrenched views in the industry. As long as we continue to treat each other as people and not objects we will get there!
  • I too am looking into technology to see how that can be used going forward. I think the industry is currently going through a bit of a shift. “Systems/ Paperwork” that was put in place to meet legislative requirements has now become outdated and bigger than Ben Hur and not what was intended.
  • the evidence of the safety industry is there to see…….. and the evidence for dumb down in the industry is everywhere. If people in the group are up for learning and challenge, happy to move forward but not here. Social media is not a media for learning.
  • interesting post you have made. I have been reading Rob Long and others on SPoR for3 years before starting studying with them this year. My reading material has changed entirely. My perspective on art and music has changed since i started associating with this mob of wonderful people. But in turn i have questions for you. How do you greet people in your workplace? Have you tried “Unconditional Positive Regard”? What traditional safety models are you questioning the validity of? My inspiration comes from within me, because this is my “Grand Adventure”
  • Unfortunately safety is not a profession and there is much lack of thinking in the sector to even listen to the positives and examples of the strategies etc
  • I have been moving away fro using checklists during inspections to engaging with others asking questions and being more focused to my surrounds. I have also been more focused on engaging with and listening to others rather than jumping to solutions.
  • The beauty of this is that there is no distinct strategy, method, formula, technique or things that you “do” – it’s all about critical thinking, unlearning, conversation, empathy and moving out of workspace mode and into headspace and group space considerations. The thing that works best for me is not talking about “safety” any more
  • Rather than trying to emulate the unique situations of others and shifting paradigms overnight perhaps we should start by interrogating the trajectories and by-products of what WE are currently doing in our own backyard?
  • There is no ‘plug and play’ in SPoR, because risk is a wicked problem. So, the critique of the SPoR tradition draws us to a different way of tackling risk.
  • Hard for some to end the crusade for the silver bullet – we know that because we have all been there
  • I know some things that have worked at one company failed spectacularly at another. Diverse learnings, diverse problems, diverse solutions
  • I welcome your post and I think you are spot on. I would love to see examples of inspiration to draw from instead of putting organisations down. Perhaps Rob and others from this group would like to share what they are doing in industry that is working well – as you say you are flat out.
  • What is inspiration? Where does it come from? Is it lasting?
  • Sometimes I am motivated by ideas of what I can stop doing – plenty of clues on this forum about that. You have to do that anyway – to make way for better ideas (unlearning).
  • This also leads to some of the assumptions in your question, especially about ‘safety’. I find no inspiration at all in the industry of safety, none. It is one of the most toxic philosophically empty disciplines I have ever encountered.

Like to add your thoughts or ideas???? (there are plenty of Positive Safety Stories and Ideas on this blog)

Cognitive Dissonance

This is an extract from the book Following-Leading In Risk by Dr Rob Long (Download a free copy here) which provides a very good summary of the concept of Cognitive Dissonance.

More detailed information and discussion on the impacts of cognitive dissonance in the workplace here: https://safetyrisk.net/impacts-of-cognitive-dissonance-in-the-workplace/ 

Cognitive Dissonance

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: Creativity, Positive Safety Stuff, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: cognitive dissonance

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

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

Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)

No Good Reason to Follow Reason

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Not Simply One other ‘Hazard’ - Personal Safety News on Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • 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)

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
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • Proving Safety
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • NATIONAL SAFETY DAY/WEEK IN INDIA 2023
  • Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • Safety Acronyms
  • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat

Recent Posts

  • 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?
  • Zero, The Seeking of Infinity
  • Safety Leadership Essentials
  • What Can Indiana Jones Tell Us About Culture
  • Safety as a Worldview
  • The Loathing of Limits

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

Look With Your Heart and Not With Your Eyes

Defining Safety

Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that…

Essential Preparation for a Safety Job

None so Blind as Those That Don’t Want to See – Due Diligence

20 Cognitive Biases That Affect Risk Decision Making

Biases and Perceptions in Safety

The Paradox of Positivism for Safety

The Curse of Cognitivism

No Soft Skills in Safety

What Can Halloween tell us About Safety?

THE INFLUENCE OF VISUAL STIMULI ON THE UNCONSCIOUS

Free Poster–What is Safety

By What Method?

iCue Diagnostic, What is Your Risk iCue?

Safe Work Australia Continues to Perpetuate Safety Mythology

Censorship and Taboos in Safety

Social Psychology of Risk in Canada

Anchoring, Framing and Priming Risk

Investigations and Truth Telling

The Psychology of Conversion – 20 Tips to get Started

Zero Discourse as Gobbledygook

What Are the Benefits Of Social Psychology of Risk?

Why is Safety an Easy Target?

Symbols Matter

Say Something that Makes Sense

The Bias of Method Design in Risk

How to use signs, symbols and text effectively in communicating about risk

Knowledge and Curriculum for Risk and Safety People

Culture About Much More Than Structure

The Seduction to Simplify Safety

Investigations and Heuristics

Something Different To Safety

Confirmity in Conformity

The Sacred Bra Tree

The Trajectory of Zero Vision

Study The Psychology of Risk

Shopping for Safety

The Seduction of Measurement in Risk and Safety

Subjecting and Objecting About Risk

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