We see this in how people make things sacred and profane (https://safetyrisk.net/the-sacred-and-profane-rituals-and-semiotics-a-lesson-for-safety/). We will see much of this in Australia on 25 April, ANZAC Day. You can research why humans make things sacred and profane here (https://monoskop.org/images/b/b1/Eliade_Mircea_The_Sacred_and_The_profane_1963.pdf ).
One can’t separate the creation of the sacred and profane from semiotics, myth and ritual associated with those things. We see this done in safety all the time with objects like Heinrich’s Pyramid, The Swiss-Cheese, Bradley Curve and the coloured risk matrix. Just criticise one of these sacred objects and find out how much has been invested in these myths by the response of people who will attack you. Indeed, critique James Reason or any other ideologue in safety and you will soon find out who has been deified and who is profane.
We read recently in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/22/bra-gum-tree-australia-menindee-canberra) that Australians create sacred trees by putting objects in them. This is done often to remember (memorials) someone/something or the suffering of others. If one drives from Canberra to the coast one can’t help but notice the hundreds of teddy bears that adorn the route (https://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/curious-canberra/2016-10-03/why-are-there-bears-tied-to-trees-along-the-kings-highway/7873042).
There are many of these ordinary things made sacred such as the sacred bra tree I have written about previously (https://safetyrisk.net/the-sacred-bra-tree/). For those who have died from breast cancer I am sure this is a fitting tribute.
The Guardian story asks the question why so much is made of these memorial objects but the answer goes to the heart of the cultural experience of the sacred, profane and the mystery of death. Without a knowledge of mythology, semiotics and poetics one is likely to remain confused. Matters of culture go beyond the search for rational and propositional answers. The more one applies the engineering worldview to culture the more likely one is to propose not to talk about it (Busch). The engineering paradigm cannot understand a cultural paradigm because it takes the wrong instrument to its analysis. One can’t understand anthropology through the analysis of physics.
Then there’s the myth of Simpson and the Donkey (https://safetyrisk.net/myth-making-and-why-it-matters-to-safety/). Again, a good example of how something completely un-true is made mythically real and true, despite so much evidence to the contrary. And so, we will see this myth immortalised on ANZAC Day and given meaning through its symbols and associated rituals.
This is why the study of myths, semiotics and ritual is central to the study of SPoR. Without a study of semiotics, one would struggle to see how myths work. Last time I offered a free program on Semiotics we only got 6 participants. Yet, down the road if we run a costly seminar on zero harm or the myths of S2, hundreds roll up seeking the myth of certainty. And we all know the myth of numerics and the semiotics of populism demonstrate truth.
The creation of myths and rituals in safety (https://safetyrisk.net/creating-myths-and-rituals-in-safety/) gives people meaning but has little to do with tackling risk. Most often Safety’s mythical beliefs have no substantial evidence to support them, they certainly have nothing to do with science. Yet, out come the safety engineers to defend what they don’t know and rationalise the use of myths and symbolic rituals to suit their own mythical assumptions. But nothing changes. Nothing is learned. Hundred have been entertained and confuse entertainment with learning.
In the end once something has been made myth, it can be defended by belief regardless of evidence to the contrary. The most obvious mythology in safety is the ideology of zero made sacred. Many get sacked for criticizing this sacred myth even though we all know that humans are fallible (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/; https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/). And we get hundreds indeed, thousands to a Zero Event in Sydney (https://safetyrisk.net/the-global-zero-event-this-is-safety/) sponsored by regulators (https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/news/safework-media-releases/world-safety-congress-to-collaborate-on-managing-future-workplace-risks) and safety associations pronouncing a future of change when we know that zero is all about stasis and non-learning (https://safetyrisk.net/the-stress-of-stasis/ ).
We know that zero took centre stage at the 23rd Zero Event in Sydney (https://www.issa.int/news/vision-zero-takes-centre-stage-world-congress) which washed away any credibility of the regulators, sponsors (https://safetyrisk.net/the-sponsors-of-zero-are/) and associations who supported this myth. And still, we have academics defending this unethical myth as a moral goal (https://safetyrisk.net/zero-is-an-immoral-goal/). This is what engineers and safety science does, with no knowledge of semiotics, ethics, myth, ritual or moral philosophy, declare a myth as ‘moral’.
Yet, we know that everything about zero is immoral and anti-ethical (https://safetyrisk.net/video-and-podcast-on-zero-as-an-immoral-goal/).
So, if you want to know if Safety has sacralised something, simply offer any criticism of its myths and you will quickly be deemed ‘anti-safety’.
If you want to understand the power of myth in safety then perhaps you will find this podcast as helpful (https://youtu.be/NFO4gzgZwrk?si=1oIkDilwE3U6vBu2).
If you want to understand more of SPoR it’s not too late to register for the convention in Canberra 13-17 May (https://spor.com.au/canberra-convention/).
Dr Rob Long
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