The notion of the perfect human sits at the foundation of the zero delusion. We see this evidenced in all aspects of the global safety discourse on zero vision (http://visionzero.global/ ). The denial of human fallibility is the foundation of this delusion (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/). This delusion is the foundation of the zero cult.
The quest for perfection is a religious construction that seeks the myth of the god-image. The idea of the god-human is captured in many civilizations, myths and symbols and is certainly nothing new. The Egyptian, Greek and Roman gods though flawed, were all constructed on the anthropomorphic god-image. The quest for heroes and language of heroics in the safety industry (https://www.energex.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/343919/Safety-heroes-safety-tips-poster.pdf) is testimony to this fixation with the god-image. The only way to reach perfection is to construct an anthropology of the human-as-god. Christ is the embodiment of the god-image for Christianity.
Unfortunately, when real people don’t perform to the construct of the god-image what results? The by-products of the god-image in safety has constructed a nightmare that is now endorsed globally by the industry (http://visionzero.global/). Just believe! It’s just a leap of faith! (http://visionzero.global/videos) The NSCA and AIHS are signed up to this non-vision! There can be no ‘vision’ for safety in the psychosis of fallibility denial. Just watch this video and tell me how every ‘accident’, ‘disease’ and ‘harm’ (http://visionzero.global/videos) can be eliminated/prevented??? On what planet is safety???
One of the ‘beauties’ of aging is the normalisation of being human, fallible and vulnerable. For persons, the very things we suffer are also the method by which we live, learn, love, hare, help and commune. I am 65 years of age and every trip to the doctor is a reminder of the realities of the human body and the realities of entropy. Any denial of the deterioration of the body simply leads to a psychosis and delusion. The fear of harm and suffering, the fear of risk and learning and the fear of fear, is at the heart of the safety industries fixation on the god-image. Safety simply doesn’t know what to do with harm. It has no questions to ask other than the dumb down binary nonsense of ‘how many people do you want injured today?’ Real professionals know that this is not just a dumb question but the foundation for delusion and the psychosis of the god-image.
Why is it that in such a short space that this safety industry has created this impossibility of accepting harm? Why has harm become a sin in the safety cult? In what world is all harm preventable (http://visionzero.global/)? Oh, and don’t forget ‘the seven golden rules’ of zero vision (http://visionzero.global/resources). So, when harm persists, are the rules no longer ‘golden’? When your fellow human doesn’t turn out to be god, what happens to the god-image delusion?
In the real world of living, parenting, adventure, learning, being and risk we accept harm and understand harm as one and the same as being human, fallible and mortal? Not so in the cult of Safety.
Dr Rob Long
Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)
- Quantifying the Unquantifiable - December 13, 2019
- Safety as a Knowledge Culture - December 3, 2019
- Compassion, Helping and Wisdom in Risk and Safety - December 1, 2019
- The Futility of the Centralised Safety Management System? - December 1, 2019
- So, You Want Culture Change - November 30, 2019
If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people – Tony Benn
Any organisation endorsing the Boland whitewash or the asinine shibboleth of zero harm has no integrity.
A faith is something you will die for but a doctrine you are prepared to kill for, there is a world of difference – Tony Benn
Bernard, only Safety could be so deluded to think that the Boland fiasco resembles any sense of vision for the industry. Just more of the same, looking for new topics to include in the fairy tale genre of police the regulation. And when the circus of industrial manslaughter invokes no change or improvement, what next? I know, they will chose another ex-regulator or engineer to do a review and maintain the god of stasis.