It’s Zero or Nothing for Global Safety

It’s Zero or Nothing for Global Safety

The grand delusion of the safety industry is zero. This is the most divisive, dumb, unbelievable and ignorant development in the history of any industry. As long as this ideology, dogma and doctrine remain at its centre, the industry will never become professional.

There is no doctrine this industry could have chosen that could be more fragmented, idiotic and delusional than this ideology. This is the ideology that ends up with the global safety industry preaching ‘spiritual healing’ as some kind of Pentecostal response to an apocalypse (https://safetyrisk.net/the-spirit-of-zero/ ) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VIRXEuniWA ) as if somehow this makes sense!

Just imagine, believe in zero and your amputated leg will restore, your burned face will go away, your infected lungs will be made whole and even your ageism will vanish. I kid you not. Just watch this global safety industry nonsense below and ask yourself, does this industry have a mental health condition?

Ah yes, just watch the transformation, believe in zero and you will go from this:

to this:

and what’s more. This happens in a ‘blink of an eye’ (not my language, but the safety industry). Oh yes, believe zero and miracles will happen. Little did I know safety has merged with Hillsong (https://safetyrisk.net/no-evidence-for-the-religion-of-zero/). Such faith healing (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-as-faith-healing/ ) is the only way to join.

Please watch this video and tell me safety is professional.

Of course, if you want to research a little on the history of zero, you might find out that it all started as a mathematical place holder and that in reality zero is both nothing and infinity. Yet, this silly industry has made it something and nothing (https://aeon.co/videos/a-history-of-nothing-how-zero-went-from-nil-to-something). But hold on to your hats, the most important thing to safety is that you ‘believe the impossible’.

Sound religious to you? You bet it is and will be on full display when the global safety circus comes to Sydney next year (https://www.safety2023sydney.com/ ). with all the agnostic associations like the AIHS singing the praises of zero, that they don’t believe in. Yes, roll up roll up, read all the news about how zero is saving the world (https://visionzero.global/news ). How strange that 90% of the industry doesn’t believe in this cultic stuff (https://safetyrisk.net/first-report-on-zero-survey/ ) demonstrating a tyranny of a few over the many. Yes, join your safety association and believe in zero.

Zero is the ultimate ideology for exclusion. You can’t join the AIHS and criticize zero or safety orthodoxy. You either believe zero or you cannot come in. Zero is absolute, you cannot have half zero or half believe in zero. Of course, half zero is zero and twice zero is zero.

And of course, if something goes wrong in a zero organization it’s because you didn’t have enough ‘faith’ in zero. Zero cannot tolerate unbelief in zero, because such belief accommodates fallibility (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/ ) and the inevitability of harm. (How many injuries do you want today?) No, safety is the only industry that believes in infallibility of humans, well done!

Such is the lunacy of this ideology.

Ah, and then the associations wonder why safety people don’t join the cult! You can’t believe in learning and zero (https://safetyrisk.net/you-cant-believe-in-zero-and-learning-at-the-same-time/). You cannot be ethical and believe in zero!

Of course, it is possible to tackle risk professionally without zero. Indeed, safety will improve if you get rid of it. You will even find out that safety ‘works’ best when you get rid of it (https://safetyrisk.net/moving-away-from-zero-so-that-safety-improves/ ). And when you get rid of it, you put much better practical, ethical and realistic thinking and enactivity (https://safetyrisk.net/what-does-spor-do/ ) in its place.

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Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

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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.