‘Whenever Safety is used as an adjective whatever follows is moronic’ - Dr Rob Long In his book “Drift Into Failure”, the attention Sidney Dekker gives to the importance of language is critical as he states: ‘What we need is a language that can help us get to a more functional account … whose … [Read more...] about Doing Away With Health and Safety–Language and People
Psychological Health and Safety
Psychological health and safety is arguably the number one emerging issue for organisations. What are you doing to understand and support your people?
Understanding Safety as an Archetype
We all accept the idea of archetypes in our language and speech everyday. We often talk about how Love won through and how the Market behaves. We talk about the condition of the Economy and how ‘Hope springs eternal’ (Pope 1734). We talk about what Society does and we personify Evil and Good. This … [Read more...] about Understanding Safety as an Archetype
Risk Homeostasis Theory–Why Safety Initiatives Go Wrong
My favourite quote is in relation to racing drivers on normal roads and why they have more crashes and get more fines: “At their level of skill, driving like an average driver may be intolerably boring. Imagine being a master of Beethoven and all you are allowed to play is “Twinkle, twinkle, little … [Read more...] about Risk Homeostasis Theory–Why Safety Initiatives Go Wrong
Dumb Down Safety on Full Show in Fake HSE UK Poster
Nothing surprises me in the world of dumb down safety like a cheap poster of misinformation, disinformation, sexism and condescension. This poster was passed to me this week doing the rounds on Linkedin. I got off ‘Dumbedin’ years ago. The poster is a mock up of the official HSE UK poster … [Read more...] about Dumb Down Safety on Full Show in Fake HSE UK Poster
Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety The article is a bit longer than usual and if you would prefer to download a copy for future reference then you can DOWNLOAD HERE: Understanding-the-Social-psychology-of-Risk-and-Safety.docx In response to a number of emails I have … [Read more...] about Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
Psychological Core Stability for Wellbeing in Workers Comp
Psychological Core Stability for Wellbeing in Workers Comp Recently I’ve been reading Scott Barry Kaufman’s book, Transcend - the new science of self actualisation. This book explains the evolution and utility of humanistic psychology, drawing heavily on the writings and teachings of Abraham … [Read more...] about Psychological Core Stability for Wellbeing in Workers Comp
You Don’t Fess Up Without Trust
You Don’t Fess Up Without Trust We saw a classic example of how Safety doesn’t work this week in the Australian election campaign (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10753031/Australia-Election-2022-Extraordinary-moment-worker-covers-sign-Scott-Morrison.html ). The Prime Minister of … [Read more...] about You Don’t Fess Up Without Trust
Being Emotional and Being Safe
Being Emotional and Being Safe Studying the nature of human emotions is neither simple, binary or black and white. It doesn’t matter whether one is talking about learning (https://safetyrisk.net/what-theory-of-learning-is-embedded-in-your-investigation-methodology/ ) or strategy … [Read more...] about Being Emotional and Being Safe
Sucking on the Same Old Safety Bottle
Sucking on the Same Old Safety Bottle I see posts about culture in safety and about ‘safety culture’ often articulated by voices with no expertise in the social sciences, Poetics or culture. Strange this industry that seeks views on culture through the narrow band of engineering, mechanistic … [Read more...] about Sucking on the Same Old Safety Bottle
Education in Safety
Education in Safety I am on several discussion lists across a number of disciplines and one such list in Education surfaced this week about what readings were considered essential for First Year Education students. The group is populated mostly by experienced teachers and a few academics. The … [Read more...] about Education in Safety