Many have read the term “embracing risk” on this blog or seen the “leap of faith” cover on the series of books by Dr Rob Long (see them here) and completely misconstrued the meaning – thinking it implies being fatalistic, reckless or foolhardy. Not so, as Dr Long explains: Risk as a ‘Leap of … [Read more...] about Risk as a ‘Leap of Faith’
Risk Aversion
Say Something that Makes Sense
This is definitely one for Safety People who like to think! Say Something that Makes Sense When Francis Fukuyama was asked what he thought was the most dangerous idea in the world he responded, ‘transhumanism’. Transhumanism is the quest to liberate humans from their biological constraints (eg. … [Read more...] about Say Something that Makes Sense
How many do you want harmed today?
How many do you want harmed today? It seems not a week goes by on Linkedin without the perpetual Safety demonstration of nonsense talk, nonsense language, life denying, fallibility denying and the immortality delusional semiotics of zero. As usual it starts with the silly binary question ‘How many … [Read more...] about How many do you want harmed today?
What is Your Risk iCue?
What is Your Risk iCue? When we think of the concept of intelligence we often think of a person’s IQ. The idea of an Intelligence Quotient is not reliable and only tests certain selected forms of literacy constrained by cultural biases. For example: the early settlers in Australia deemed that the … [Read more...] about What is Your Risk iCue?
Stop the Train I Want to Get Off
Stop the Train I Want to Get Off I accepted a job this week to research amongst other things; suicide, near miss and other events in rail (good luck Dumb Ways to Die). I am working with a provider who has all the National data on the subject. As with any research project one must start with … [Read more...] about Stop the Train I Want to Get Off
Acceptable Risk as a Decision Making Process
Acceptable Risk as a Decision Making Process By Dr Rob Long We should all know that the assessment of risk is a subjective process, determined by hundreds of social and psychological factors. The idea that risk assessment is a rational process via assessment of frequency, consequence and severity … [Read more...] about Acceptable Risk as a Decision Making Process
Safety as Avoidance
Safety as Avoidance The language of ‘error’ is unhelpful when it comes to understanding human judgment and decision making. One can assemble pyramids of ‘unsafe acts’ and ‘unsafe conditions’, fault trees of ‘active and latent failures’, maps of ‘violations’, ‘slips’ and ‘missed barriers’, sets of … [Read more...] about Safety as Avoidance
The Fallible Factor and What to Do About It
One of my favourites from the archives: The Fallible Factor and What to Do About It Being fallible doesn’t mean one is inevitably stupid, lazy, greedy or weak, there are as many advantages to being human and fallible as there are limitations. No one should want humans to be robotic - this would … [Read more...] about The Fallible Factor and What to Do About It
This Toaster is Hot
This Toaster is Hot Warning, please stop and “Take Five”! Guest Post by Rob Sams – inspired by this “Hot Toaster” page Before you read any further, I feel compelled to warn you that reading this article may be harmful for your health, it may even cause an injury. I have no idea how or why, … [Read more...] about This Toaster is Hot
Safety Surveys, Bias and Predictability
Safety Surveys, Bias and Predictability Rob’s new Book: “Following-Leading in Risk” is a MUST READ if you think you already know about Leadership. CHECK IT OUT This week Safe Work Australia released a report on Attitudes Towards Risk Taking and Rule Breaking in Australian Workplaces . The report … [Read more...] about Safety Surveys, Bias and Predictability