• 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
    • Psychosocial Safety
    • Resiliencing
    • 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 / Max Geyer / Perfectionism in Leadership Discourse Part 2

Perfectionism in Leadership Discourse Part 2

April 7, 2015 by Max Geyer 6 Comments

Perfectionism in Leadership Discourse Part 2

Read Part 1 HERE

In this two Part series of articles we are looking at absolutist leadership language and the likelihood that only a “perfect organisation”, could actually deliver perfection. We then look and what that means in terms of the meaning and impact of the message, used by leaders, when they establish absolutist goals such as zero harm.

In Part 1 (see here) we established that we cannot have a Zero Incident workplace even if we have perfect people.

In Part 2 will look in turn at the other four components of the Perfect Organisation (based on the Nertney Wheel): “Totally Reliable and Useable Systems”; “Totally Reliable Equipment”; the “Perfect Work Environment” and “Zero Harm Production”.

Let’s first look at the Totally Reliable and Useable Systems component. Arguably a Perfect Organisation would be able to significantly reduce organisational bureaucracy and either eliminate or reduce the number of systems in place needed to regulate their operations and people.

If we did have the perfect organisation with perfect people we could assume we would have Zero Incidents. The question then needs to be raised; why would we need “Safety Systems”? If there was an incident in a workplace, involving an injury or illness to a perfect person, we would have to assume that it was the system and not the person which was the cause of the person to suffer the injury or illness; after all, by definition a perfect person couldn’t make a mistake and create an incident.

That being the case further questions should then be asked: If it is the system which caused the injury, does it mean that by increasing the number of systems we are actually making the workplace less safe? Why would we then not remove the systems so as to make the workplace safer? If it was not the safety system which caused the injury, then we have to conclude that the person was not perfect. If people are not perfect, does it not follow that they will eventually have incidents which means that we cannot have a perfect workplace or Zero Harm?

Hopkins (2005, p. 4) cites a study by Eisner and Leger looking at safety management in a number of South African mines. They examined mines which used the 5 Star International Safety Rating System (ISRS) to establish safety management systems and measure the performance of those safety management systems. The study correlated the achieved ratings of the mines with their respective fatality and reportable injury rates. The conclusion drawn was that the 5 Star companies, i.e. those which had achieved perfect scores of 5 Stars, were no better at managing safety than those which had inferior ratings.

And so it would seem that Zero Incidents is actually not achievable with or without perfect people or with or without safety systems in place.

Senge (2006, p. 129) said ‘Organisations learn only through individuals who learn’ and ‘Over the long run, superior performance depends on superior learning’ (Senge 1996, p. 288). If Ellis is correct in that perfectionists ‘resist short term change’ (2002, pp. 227-228) it follows that organisations populated with Perfect People would be slow to learn, would fail to improve their processes and innovate. Lee, et al, (2011, p. 413) found:

… that those high in perfectionism took longer to complete tasks, experienced more checking and safety behaviour whilst carrying out tasks, and had greater trouble actually completing tasks compared to those low in perfectionism.

From this we can conclude that the perfect organisation would have poor productivity, have added complexity related to decision making and solving problems, all of which would lead to increasing the likelihood of approaching and meeting a breaking point and a heightened risk of failure.

In order for an organisation to improve, it must learn and it must understand that learning and innovation go hand in hand, and that ‘…the process of innovation is a process of failure’ (Senge 1999 p.65). The process of innovation is linked to the process of experimentation. Peters and Waterman (1996, p. 39) claim that ‘if we experiment successfully, by definition, we will make many mistakes’. However, given that a Zero Harm organisation cannot allow failures, it is difficult to see how that organisation would be able to innovate, learn and improve, which would inevitably lead to it experiencing increased difficulty competing in its marketplace. Kim (cited in Robbins et al. 1998, p. 545) claims that learning is ‘a fundamental requirement’ for the sustained existence of organisations. Revans (cited in Robbins et al. 1998, p. 545) postulates that if an organisation does not learn at the same or greater rate than the environment that sustains it, it will lose touch with that environment and it will die.

Given that our Perfect Organisation, populated by perfectionists, would be slow to learn and innovate, eventually organisational performance would fall behind that which was “acceptable”; pressure to compete in the market place would increase, pressure on employees to perform would increase, leading to an increased risk of mistakes, incidents, productivity losses and potentially the failure of the organisation – Not Zero.

Now let us examine the third component: Totally Reliable Equipment. The up-side of having “totally reliable” equipment would be that inspection and maintenance costs would be limited to the fallibility of the material used to produce the equipment. From an engineering sense, wear rates, fatigue rates and the lead time to planned failure, would be known; very accurate replacement and overhaul schedules could be established. Unscheduled breakdowns and unscheduled production interruptions would be eliminated. Quality variances, related to wear rates, could be eliminated by designing in automatic wear rate adjustments between overhauls where appropriate.

However, we cannot divorce ourselves from the fact that equipment (vehicles, plant, machines, tools etc.) is designed, manufactured and used by people. To have “totally reliable” equipment the design and manufacturing processes would have to be conducted by perfect people, presumably from other perfectionist organisations, with the resultant personality difficulties mentioned earlier.

Reason (cited in Hopkins 2008, p. 15) talks about ‘latent conditions’ related to poor design, gaps in supervision, undetected manufacturing defects etc., which become in-built in designs, systems and procedures because of the decisions made by legislators, designers, manufacturers and managers. These latent conditions lie-in-wait for local circumstances to occur and eventually lead to situations where failures or errors occur. In ‘Human Factors in Design’ (1976, p. I-1 – I-2) Nertney advises that successful design must take into account the natural variability of the physical specifications of the people who operate and work with the equipment. With regard to the variability of human behaviour he further cautions that:

The situation is even worse with regard to human behavior (sic) in that there is a very large variability from person to person and from time to time for a given individual. (Nertney, 1976, pp. I-1 – I-2)

From this we can infer that if we are not able to employ perfect, ‘cloned’ people with identical physical and mental specifications in the respective designing, manufacturing and operating processes, there will be natural variances either designed into, or manufactured into, the equipment by the people involved in those processes; or if not, at least in the way the equipment is used or maintained. If this is the case, logic would dictate that, as a result of this inbuilt variance and latent conditions, it must be only a matter of time before a mistake is made, equipment will fail and a loss is incurred – again not Zero Harm.

The fourth component of the Perfect Organisation’s model, the Perfect Environment, relates to the natural and built environment within which the organisation exists and the people work. The perfect environment would mean that the work environment was established such that either nothing changes or where people, equipment and the appropriate procedures adapt or are adapted seamlessly to account for changes.

While this scenario would be Utopia, we have already seen that if people are involved in designing and or building the “built environment” the natural variances of those involved would also build in latent conditions, which would ultimately make the environment unstable and failures would occur.

Added to this is the total uncontrollability of the natural environment and the natural change of seasons. Unplanned events naturally occur and freak storms, floods, bush fires etc., will develop. Given the difficulties that perfectionists have with change (Ellis 2002, pp. 227-228) it is not likely that all workers would respond quickly enough to manage this variability, thus increasing the likelihood that incidents will occur. Some of those incidents will not be controlled and harm of some type will result.

The fifth component of the Perfect Organisation’s model and the focus of the other four components is Zero Harm Production. The final area left to address is related to zero product or service defects; essentially quality management. From a quality perspective all failures to meet specifications, and all rejections and returns from customers is waste.

The production of any goods and the delivery of many services requires the gathering and consumption of resources, commencing at the primary industry level, with the fundamental ingredients from the earth; its natural resources. It could be argued that the use of any natural resource, which is taken from the natural environment, causes harm to the environment.

A search of extremist environmental group web sites graphically demonstrates this discourse (Scribol, 2014). Indeed the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT, 2014) claims that the very existence of humans on Earth harms the planet. They advocate the gradual extermination of all human life to eliminate that harm. Certainly any waste of natural resources, would be considered by many to be unnecessary harm to the environment.

The Perfect Organisation could accept nothing except zero waste and zero defects, in fact TOTAL quality control. Quality experts argue that aiming at absolute quality control may not be in the best interest of an organisation. They claim that, when costs related to prevention of faults, i.e. inspection, design review and testing, increase the cost of quality to the point that economic returns become negative, it is not practical to insist on zero defects (Kerzner 1998, p. 1061). Indeed at this stage Juran insists on ‘…easing tolerances, reducing inspection controls, and rooting out perfectionists’ (cited in Périgord 1990, p. 89. (emphasis added)). Here, unless the organisation was willing to accept defects, it would be plotting its own demise by insisting on zero defects.

It would appear that none of the accepted areas: Zero Harm Production, Perfect People, Totally Reliable Equipment, Totally Reliable and Useable Systems, and a Perfect Work Environment, which would make up the operations of a Perfect Organisation, have the ability to exist, let alone the capacity to sustain perfectionism.

Further we can see that even if a Perfect Organisation was able to suddenly come into existence, because of the very nature of its belief in and practice of perfectionism, it would not be sustainable; it would die.

The calculated absurdity of the logic presented in this paper reflects the absurdity of the notion of Zero Harm, where it appears that even perfectionism cannot deliver Zero Harm.

When leaders espouse a language of absolutism, their discourse primes an outcome of failure. When leaders espouse a language of absolutism, they establish what Moskowitz and Grant term an ‘avoidance goal,’ which, they explain, is negative in its priming and not inspirational in its application (Moskowitz & Grant, 2009). Where a goal, even one “intended” to be inspirational, cannot be met, those who hear the words, instinctively know that failure is inevitable.

Athletic coaches do not set unachievable goals for their charges; they understand that motivation from achievement is more powerful than constant demonstration of failure from un-achievement.

When leaders set realistic and achievable goals and talk in terms that preclude absolutes they set a scene for increased credibility and buy-in from their followers.

When perfectionism is the language of leadership, failure is the only possible outcome.

Author: Max Geyer

E-mail: max@viamaxconsulting.com

Web: www.viamaxconsulting.com

Bibliography

 

American Psychiatric Association, 2013, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, (5th Edition), American Psychiatric Association, Arlington, VA.

American Psychological Association (APA): perfect (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged, viewed March 28, 2014, from Dictionary.com website <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perfect>

American Psychological Association (APA): perfection (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged, viewed March 28, 2014, from Dictionary.com website <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perfection>

American Psychological Association (APA): perfectionism (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged, viewed March 28, 2014, from Dictionary.com website <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perfectionism>

Ellis, A., 2002 ‘The Role Of Irrational Beliefs In Perfectionism’, in Flett, G.L., & Hewitt, P.L., (eds). Perfectionism: Theory, Research, and Treatment. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association., viewed 28 March 2014, <http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy2.acu.edu.au/sp-3.12.0b/ovidweb.cgi>

Festinger, L., 1957, Definition of Cognitive Dissonance, Wikipedia, viewed 29th November 2014, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance>

Flett, G.L., & Hewitt, P.L., 2002 ‘Perfectionism and Maladjustment: An Overview of Theoretical, Definitional, and Treatment Issues’, in Flett, G.L., & Hewitt, P.L., (eds). Perfectionism: Theory, Research, and Treatment. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, viewed 28 March 2014, <http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy2.acu.edu.au/sp-3.12.0b/ovidweb.cgi>

Hopkins, A., 2000 Lessons From Longford: The Esso Gas Plant Explosion, 9th edn, CCH Australia Limited, Sydney.

Hopkins, A., 2005 Safety, Culture and Risk: the organisational causes of disasters. CCH Australia Limited, Sydney.

Kerzner, H., 1998, Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 6th edn, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York.

Knowles, J., 1998 ‘Safety Management Systems, Friends or Foes?’, in Qld Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference Proceedings, viewed 28 March 2014, <http://www.qrc.org.au/conference/_dbase_upl/1998_spk003_Knowles.pdf>

Lee, M., Roberts-Collins, C., Coughtrey, A., Phillips, L., & Shafran, R. 2011 Behavioural Expressions, Imagery and Perfectionism. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 39, pp 413-425, University of Reading, UK., viewed 29 March 2014, <http://journals.cambridge.org.ezproxy2.acu.edu.au/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=8296051&jid=BCP&volumeId=39&issueId=04&aid=8296049&bodyId=&membershipNumber=&societyETOCSession=>

Long, R., (2012) For the Love of Zero: Human Fallibility and Risk, Scotoma Press, Kambah ACT, Australia.

Long, R., & Long, J., 2012, Risk Makes Sense: Human Judgement and Risk, Scotoma Press, Kambah ACT, Australia.

Moskowitz, G., and Grant, H., (eds.) (2009) The Psychology of Goals, The Guilford Press, New York, NY, USA.

Nertney, R. J and Bullock, M. J., 1976 Human Factors in Design. US Department of Energy, Systems Safety Development Centre: EG&G. Idaho Falls, viewed 27 March 2014, <http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015034428105;view=1up;seq=5>

Périgord, M., 1990 Achieving Total Quality Management: A Program for Action, (English translation) Productivity Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Peters, T. J., & Waterman, R. H., 1996 ‘Beyond the Rational Model’, in How Organisations Learn, (ed) K. Starkey, International Thomson Business Press, London, UK.

Robbins, S.P., Millet, B., Cacioppe, R. & Waters-Marsh, T. (1998), Organisational Behaviour: Leading and Managing in Australia and New Zealand, 2nd edn, Prentice Hall, Sydney.

Roedell, W. C., 1984 Vulnerabilities of highly gifted children, Roeper Review, 6:3, 127-130. viewed 27th April 2014, <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02783198409552782>

Seligman, L., & Reichenberg, L. W. 2013, Selecting Effective Treatments : A Comprehensive, Systematic Guide to Treating Mental Disorders (4th Edition). John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, Somerset, NJ, USA: ProQuest ebrary. viewed 5th March 2015.

Senge, P. M., 1996 ‘Leaders New Work: Building learning organisations’, in How Organisations Learn, (ed) K. Starkey, International Thomson Business Press, London, UK.

Senge, P. M., 1999 ‘The Practice of Innovation’, in Leader to Leader, (eds) F. Hesselbein & P. Cohen, Jossey-Bass Inc., San Francisco.

Senge, P. M., 2006 The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, viewed 28th March 2014, <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=5jCLbnlmEuYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=individuals&f=false>

Scribol, 2014 Scribol News & Politics, viewed 27th April 2014, <http://scribol.com/news-and-politics/top-4-environmental-extremist-groups>

VHEMT, 2014 Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, viewed 27th April 2014, <http://www.vhemt.org/>

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Max
Max Geyer

Max Geyer

Director at VIAMAX Consulting
Max Geyer

Latest posts by Max Geyer (see all)

  • The Unconscious and the Soap Dispenser - May 21, 2023
  • ‘Can’t Means Won’t Try’ – The Challenge of Being Challenged - March 20, 2023
  • WHS Legislation is NOT about Safety it’s about Culture - May 11, 2018
  • Due Diligence Is Not Just Ticking Boxes! - December 18, 2016
  • Corks on the quills of an Echidna = Safe–Really? - April 15, 2016
Max Geyer
Max is currently completing a Graduate Certificate in the Social Psychology of Risk; has a Graduate Certificate of Management (HR Management); Diplomas of Business – Auditing (OH&S, Environment & Quality); a Certificate in Coaching Skills; a Certificate in Emotional Intelligence Assessment & Coaching; a Certificate IV in Workplace Training & Assessment and a Certificate in Return to Work Coordination. With over 35 years experience at operational and management levels in industry, including the Pastoral Industry, General Industry, Mining Industry and Consulting; Max delights in bringing that experience and knowledge to his interactions with Viamax clients in order to help make a positive difference to their lives.

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: Max Geyer, Safety Leadership, Simplistic Safety, Zero Harm Tagged With: discourse, Zero Harm

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 7,523 other subscribers

Recent Comments

  • Rob Long on It is NOT My Responsibility to Keep You Safe
  • Chris. on It is NOT My Responsibility to Keep You Safe
  • Pierre Joubert on Zero Doesn’t Work, Road Fatalities Increase
  • James on We are all equal
  • Rob Long on We are all equal
  • James Parkinson on We are all equal
  • Brent Charlton on What Does Safety Achieve?
  • Admin on We are all equal
  • James Parkinson on We are all equal
  • Rob Long on What Does Safety Achieve?
  • Brent Charlton on We are all equal
  • Brent Charlton on We are all equal
  • Brent Charlton on We are all equal
  • Brent Charlton on What Does Safety Achieve?
  • Simon Cassin on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Simon Cassin on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Rob Long on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Rob Long on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Rob Long on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • Rob Long on You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

It is NOT My Responsibility to Keep You Safe

The KISS of Death in Safety

Is Your Safety World Too Small?

You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time

When Safety (Zero) is Abusive

Hands Up the Best Safety Fraud!

Communicating Professionally in Risk

How NOT to be Professional in Safety

How NOT to do Anything About Culture in Building and Construction

Celebrating 60 Years of Lifeline

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

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
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • SPoR - Positive, Constructive, Practical, Rational, Visual, Verbal, Social, Relational, Person-Centric, Respectful, Ethical and Real
  • Ratio Delusions and Heinrich’s Hoax
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • What Is Safety?
  • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS, CHECKISTS, REGISTERS, TEMPLATES and APPS
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat

Recent Posts

  • SPoR – Positive, Constructive, Practical, Rational, Visual, Verbal, Social, Relational, Person-Centric, Respectful, Ethical and Real
  • What’s Your Agenda in Safety?
  • What is a Safety Reset?
  • The Myth of Neuroscience Safety
  • When Safety Delights in ‘I Told You So’!
  • Beware the Cult of Denial
  • My Story is Better than Yours
  • Understanding Safety as a Cultural Reproductive Process
  • The Unconscious and the Soap Dispenser
  • Thinking Outside the Safety Bubble
  • Understanding Language Influencing, A Video
  • Safetie
  • You are NOT the Sum of Safety
  • Update on SPoR in India, Brazil and Europe
  • It is NOT My Responsibility to Keep You Safe
  • Safety at the Margins
  • Research Basics for Safety
  • We Need Communities and They Need Us
  • Researching Within The Safety Echo Chamber
  • Confirmation Bias, Risk and Being Offensive
  • Lemmings for Lemmings in Leadership and Risk
  • Expertise by Regurgitation and Re-Badging
  • Zero Doesn’t Work, Road Fatalities Increase
  • Can There Be Other Valid Worldviews Than Safety?
  • Evaluating Value by the Value of What You Don’t Know
  • Reality vs Theory, The Binary Divide
  • No Paradigm Shift with BBS
  • The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Is Your Safety World Too Small?
  • What Does Safety Achieve?
  • In Praise of Balance in Risk and the Threat of Extremism
  • We are all equal
  • You Can Fool Someone Some of the Time but, You Can Fool Safety All of the Time
  • What in the (Risk & Safety) World is Imagination?
  • iCue Engagement Process
  • SPoR, Metanoia and a Podcast on Change with Nippin Anand
  • For the Monarchists of Safety
  • The Sully Effect
  • All Things Must Pass in Risk
  • Scapegoating and Safety
  • Understanding Habit, Habituation and Change
  • Don’t Mention the War
  • Safety in Design for Who by Who?
  • Beyond ‘What We Do Around Here’
  • Asking the Wrong Questions
  • When Safety (Zero) is Abusive
  • Mandala as a Method for Tackling an Ethic of Risk (a Video)
  • Safety Cosmetics
  • Visualising the EHS Role
  • Towards Dumb

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

The Challenge of the Consciousness Taboo

Why Metaphors Matter in Risk

Why is fallibility so challenging in the workplace?

Sergeant Safety

A Culture of Care (and sackings…)

Dialogue Do’s and Don’ts

Safety as Avoidance

Safety, Ethics, SPoR and How to Foster the Abuse of Power

Defining Safety

Who is Responsible?

The Deficit Focus and Safety Balance

The Social Psychology of Distance-Safety

Hoodwinked by Heinrich

The 5 Ways We Identify Hazards

Psychosocial Safety, I think it is about a 7?

Out of your (Unconscious) Mind

Nothing is Learned Through Brutalism

Why Safety Controls Don’t Always Work

In Praise of In-Between Thinking in Risk and Safety

Safety as a Patriarchal Activity

I DON’T KNOW

Human Dymensions Newsletter September 2016

Unthinkable

Why Safety Doesn’t See Things

The Curse of Cognitivism

What Does Your Risk and Safety Icon Say?

Ethics, Morality and an Ethic of Risk

Evidence, Proof and Paperwork in Safety

The Shaping of SPoR Intelligence, Skills and Competence in Risk

There’s a Hole in Your Investigation.

The Psychology of Blaming in Safety

Toward Zero, A Failed Goal

An Social Ecology of Resilience

Vision Can’t Come from Safety Compliance

Ten Secrets to Risk and Safety Motivation and Ownership

Resilience and Safety

The Brain as Computer Myth

Safety Entitlement and Compulsory Safety Mis-Education

Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk

Keep Your Head In the Game

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 7,523 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

x
x