• 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
  • 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 / Is Risk and Safety Perfectionism a Disorder?

Is Risk and Safety Perfectionism a Disorder?

July 21, 2013 by Dr Rob Long 13 Comments

Is Risk and Safety Perfectionism a Disorder?

A VERY thought provoking article from Dr Rob Long from www.humandymensions.com

The quest for absolute certainty and claims for absolute control by advocates of the perfection of zero is the foundation of the absurd claim that ‘all accidents are preventable’. The denial of fallibility and human finiteness has no place in a human approach to learning and living with risk. The elevation of hindsight bias as some form of intelligence for determining risk is simply nonsense. Only perfect people achieve zero, only perfect people achieve infinity. Zero and infinity are one and the same.

People have always been suckers for those who tell us they can know the future. Plenty of fortune tellers still exist, exploiting the vulnerability of those that wish to know and control the future. If one can predict the future then one must be either superhuman or god. The quest for absolute predictability is an absurd quest that denies the free will of humans, the randomness of events and the realities of uncertainty. Nothing blows apart the delusion of perfection and infinity ascribed to humans more than randomness and luck.

Taleb (“The Black Swan” – see his video below – very enlightening, technology, efficiency and complexity is extremely fragile! Random events can hurt you more than predictable events etc etc) describes the condition that claims predictability as a ‘disorder’, a kind of risk and a safety psychological state. He says: ‘The mental block about the future has not yet been investigated and labelled by psychologists, but it appears to resemble autism … Autistic people cannot put themselves in the shoes of others, cannot view the world from their standpoint. They see others as inanimate objects, like machines, moved by explicit rules. They cannot perform such simple mental operations as ‘he knows that I know that I know,’ and it is this inability that impedes their social skills.’ People with autism struggle to manage uncertainty and yet have remarkable intelligence when it comes to mathematical and technical subjects. It reads like Taleb would put the love of zero ideology on the DSMIV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV Edition)

The ideology of zero must take a trajectory of zero tolerance, any philosophy of absolutes and perfection must not accept the mistakes of humans. Zero tolerance is a simplistic concept imposed upon the complexity of what it means to be human. As sure as zero tolerance is enacted as a policy, people will suffer from its enforcement, usually metered out devoid of compassion, understanding and appreciation of complexity. Zero tolerance may sound great in tabloid news but things don’t operate that way in the realities and maturity of the court. However, tabloid thinking likes zero tolerance, especially when it is delivered to ‘other’ people. Zero tolerance is never good for us, we prefer understanding, tolerance and forgiveness when we make mistakes. The amputation of hands for stealing or appendages for adultery demonstrate the brutality of zero tolerance. Have we learnt so little from history?

I was browsing the net the other day and came across an organization that proudly promoted themselves as ‘zero risk’. How on earth can this make sense? How can one live without risk? How can one learn without risk? How can the aversion of risk lead to healthy social outcomes? The fear of risk and punishment for imperfection can only drive a toxic culture not a mature culture.

  • 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)

  • An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video - January 31, 2023
  • The KISS of Death in Safety - January 31, 2023
  • SPoR, Metanoia and a Podcast on Change with Nippin Anand - January 31, 2023
  • Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health - January 31, 2023
  • The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’ - January 31, 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, Robert Long, Social Psychology of Risk, Zero Harm Tagged With: risk aversion, safety perfectionism, Zero Harm, zero tolerance

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 7,498 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

  • 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)
  • 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?

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
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS, CHECKISTS, REGISTERS, TEMPLATES and APPS
  • NATIONAL SAFETY DAY/WEEK IN INDIA 2023
  • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
  • The KISS of Death in Safety

Recent Posts

  • An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • 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
  • 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

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

There is no ‘Satellite Insightfulness’

What Are the Benefits Of Social Psychology of Risk?

Free Online Introduction to the Social Psychology of Risk

What Can Halloween tell us About Safety?

The Language of Priorities

How Do Workers Make Decisions?

Could Understanding Grey Be The Silver Bullet

Study Social Psychology of Risk Online in 2018

Y is Being and Doing

Banning Head Protection is Safer

What is the Mind of Safety?

We can Value Safety but Safety is not a Value

SEEK is not a Method

The Religion of Safety

Right Then Children, Sit Up Straight and Take Some Safety

Why is Myth so Scary to Safety?

Knowing When to Break the Rules

‘Man Up’ Safety

‘Can’t Means Won’t Try’ – The Challenge of Being Challenged

The Convenience of Complacency

Coping With Paradox and Ambiguity in Safety

Why Safety Isn’t a Choice You Make

Psychometric Testing and Safety

Free Books – 66 Downloads for Tackling Risk

The ‘Noise’ of Safety, Silence and Practicing of Mindfulness

Abby Normal Safety

‘False Consciousness’ and Perception in Risk and Safety

Hind-sight, Risk Savvy and the Unexpected

Risk as a ‘Leap of Faith’

Safety and Non-Neuroscience

SEEK Investigations Workshop

New Video Explains Cognitive Dissonance and Safety

Europe – International Workshop Social Psychology of Risk Introduction

OMG – Big Words and Safety

I Just Don’t Know

The Mystery and Paradox of Being an Individual in a Social World

Safety as a Knowledge Culture

The Benefits of SPOR

I’ve got a feeling this isn’t right, but…..

Its All In The Sign

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 7,498 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?