• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Health and Safety and 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
      • BIGGEST COLLECTION of 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 / Robert Long / Safety as a Patriarchal Activity

Safety as a Patriarchal Activity

November 3, 2018 by Dr Rob Long 2 Comments

Safety as a Patriarchal Activity

One of the concerns of the Social Psychology of Risk (SPoR) is with Patriarchy. Patriarchy is about more than just men exorcising power. It is about the organizing of power according to masculinist discourse. Discourse is about the way power is embedded in language and the trajectory of such language. Patriarchy and matriarchy are not about being male or female. Females can be patriarchal and males can be matriarchal regardless of branding or spin. One can use gender for power to manipulate and dominate others of any sex. The issue of power is how it is enacted and what it does to others. If power is used to objectify others as ‘i-it’ (Buber), then it is dehumanizing power.

I saw a great interview this week on One Plus One with Clementine Ford which was so balanced and sensible and wondered what she would think of the culture of safety? (https://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/one-plus-one/2018-10-25/one-plus-one:-clementine-ford/10428044 ) What can one make of an industry that prides itself and makes its global language the intolerance and anti-fallibility of zero harm ideology? (http://visionzero.global/) How could one be a feminist and speak/advocate the discourse of zero. Zero is patriarchal discourse.

Feminism is about: equality, reflectiveness, community, acceptance, tolerance, respect, equality, sociality, conversation and mutuality and how discourse privileges masculinist power. I have written about feminism in risk before (https://safetyrisk.net/can-there-be-a-feminist-safety/). We also produced a video about a feminist perspective on risk (https://vimeo.com/237511120).

The discipline of the Social Psychology of Risk (SPoR) has its roots in the Semiotics and Feminism, this is mapped in Figure One. The Emergence of The Social Psychology of Risk. SPoR is concerned with fundamental issues of: equality, power, culture, human dignity, social ecology, community, humanizing society, objectivisation and vulnerability in the way people tackle risk.

One of the symbols of patriarchy in safety is the myth of the ‘brothers keeper’. The idea of being my brother’s keeper comes from the Old Testament story about Cain and Abel. The myth of Cain and Abel is about power, jealousy, corruption, manipulation, lying and distrust and results in God asking Cain where his brother was, knowing that Cain had killed him (Genesis 4: 1-18). In the story Cain is seduced by rage to kill his brother by objectifying him. The objectifying of others is the germination of extinguishment. In the story to ‘keep’ means to watch over. The idea of ‘watching over’ comes from process of shepherdering and infers the restraint of animals.

There is a hidden patriarchy embedded in the notion of ‘watching over’ others. Cain’s smartarse response to God’s question ‘am I my brother’s keeper’ was really Cain’s excuse for his patriarchy. Interestingly, was God watching over Abel?

The expression ‘my brother’s keeper’ has now been adopted by a host of organisations that profess to ‘watch over’ others. The infamous ‘Bra Boys’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bra_Boys) tatoo the words ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ across their chests as an excuse to justify violence, corruption and power. You can buy My Brother’s Keeper clothing at https://mbksoldiers.com/ and unfortunately the expression has come to symbolize masculinst power (http://www.espn.com.au/espn/magazine/archives/news/story?page=magazine-20080421-article38 ).

The idea of being ‘my brother’s keeper’ is fostered in patriarchal safety (http://www.espn.com.au/espn/magazine/archives/news/story?page=magazine-20080421-article38; https://incident-prevention.com/ip-articles/are-you-your-brother-s-keeper; https://www.ishn.com/blogs/16-thought-leadership/post/95925-be-your-brothers-keeper—how; https://www.glstc.org/wp-content/uploads/September-29-2010-Safety-Standdown.pdf) and often infers a patriarchal sense of superiority over others. After all, everyone is stupid except Safety. ‘Accidents happen because people lack common sense’. After all ‘safety is a choice you make’. This is the discourse of patriarchy. Everyone is incompetent in safety except me!

The nuances of this discourse are most important. If one ‘cares’ and ‘helps’ then ‘keeping’ another is not the appropriate language. The language of patriarchy is often used in safety to rough ride others, and delights in power OVER others. Safety should be about ‘helping’ not ‘keeping’.

When one adopts a disposition of ‘helping’ one doesn’t need to be another’s ‘keeper’. Your safety is not my responsibility if it means overriding your freedom and will. It is my responsibility to discuss, converse, help, motivate, listen and question but I won’t do up your boot laces for you (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/shoelaces-and-getting-some-perspective-in-safety/).

Unfortunately, patriarchal safety has become addicted to bureaucratic systems that mean it doesn’t have to converse, help, listen or motivate. Patriarchal safety just has to police the system and wield all power necessary to get compliance. Compliance enjoys the justification of working OVER people not WITH people. Compliance is about blind obedience rather than questioning, reflecting, learning and discovery.

The opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy but humanizing. Matriarchy has its own dynamics of dominance. Humanising is about mutuality, relationship and focusing on the higher-order goals of trust, care and helping, not the lower –order goals of counting, metrics and objects. Lower-order goals are patriarchal goals (https://safetyrisk.net/understanding-safety-goals/). The only way to shift from patriarchy to humanizing is to focus on higher-order goals and to put lower-order goals in their rightful place.

Figure One. The Emergence of The Social Psychology of Risk.

clip_image002

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Rob
Dr Rob Long

Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions
Dr Rob Long

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

  • There is no Fast and Slow Thinking, Nor Quick Learning - November 28, 2023
  • Fragility, Resilience and AntiFragility in Risk - November 28, 2023
  • Why Zero Cannot Understand the Basics of Safety – ALARP and Due Diligence - November 26, 2023
  • No Room for Ethics in a Zero ‘Mindset’ - November 26, 2023
  • Zero Harm and the Fear of Failure - November 25, 2023
Dr Rob Long
PhD., MEd., MOH., BEd., BTh., Dip T., Dip Min., Cert IV TAA, MRMIA Rob is the founder of Human Dymensions and has extensive experience, qualifications and expertise across a range of sectors including government, education, corporate, industry and community sectors over 30 years. Rob has worked at all levels of the education and training sector including serving on various post graduate executive, post graduate supervision, post graduate course design and implementation programs.

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: Robert Long, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: SPoR

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rob long says

    November 3, 2018 at 10:59 PM

    Bernard, thanks for the link an interesting read.

    The taboo subject in safety discourse is the discussion of power. Regardless of sex, the gendered discourse is the same. Sometimes it’s the envy of power too that drives much safety discourse. This is evidenced in the iconography of power and the love of objects in the industry. All deified in the ideology of zero, that absolute that justifies the power to lord it over others in the name of good.

    The territory mongering, fortress building and factionalising in the politics of safety driven by this love of zero intolerance and the ideology of compliance. This is the global mantra for the fallibility deniers.

    Such is safety – Pater familias

    Reply
  2. Bernard corden says

    November 3, 2018 at 12:04 PM

    Dear Rob,

    Discussions with several colleagues, CFMEU representatives and a review of several presentations at conferences suggest that females allocated to senior roles such as site senior executives in the mining sector are merely seduced by identity with adversarial legislation and masculinist methods and values, which exacerbates conflict. This aligns with the reflections of Margaret Mead…..I do not believe in using women in combat because females are too fierce.

    There is also a fabulous review from Amanda Stoker covering a book by Giles Auty entitled ” The Snowflake Chronicles – Post Modernist Australia, How to Create an Unholy Mess” in this week’s edition of The Spectator Australia:

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/10/long-march-short-book/

    Amanda Stoker replaced George Brandis in the Senate and was a participating member of the federal parliamentary inquiry into industrial deaths in Australia:

    https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/IndustrialdeathsinAus/Report

    This blog sends me into so many different rabbit warrens and respectfully debates ideas with thought provoking topics rather than incalculably narcissistic Twitter bait and shallow click democracy.

    Reply

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them belowCancel 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 7,521 other subscribers.

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Recent Comments

  • Rob Long on Semiotic Methods to Help Tackle Risk
  • BRENT R CHARLTON on Semiotic Methods to Help Tackle Risk
  • Rob Long on Semiotic Methods to Help Tackle Risk
  • Jason Martell on Semiotic Methods to Help Tackle Risk
  • Rob Long on Critical Sources of Harm Ignored by Safety=Zero
  • simon p cassin on Critical Sources of Harm Ignored by Safety=Zero
  • Matt Thorne on Book Launch – SPoR and Semiotics, Methods to Tackle Risk
  • Rob Long on A Book to Help Get You Started on Cultural Improvement in Risk
  • Matt Thorne on Book Launch – SPoR and Semiotics, Methods to Tackle Risk
  • Peter Saaman on Book Launch – SPoR and Semiotics, Methods to Tackle Risk
  • Rob Long on Book Launch – SPoR and Semiotics, Methods to Tackle Risk
  • Brian on Having Meetings Without ‘Meeting’
  • Shannon Barter on Embracing Risk–Video
  • Brent Charlton on Wo-Men in Safety
  • Robert Long on Wo-Men in Safety
  • Need to Stay employed on Embracing Risk–Video
  • Anonymous on How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
  • Anonymous on How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
  • Anonymous on Deconstructing iCam, Useful or Useless
  • Anonymous on Deconstructing iCam, Useful or Useless

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

Don’t be Obsessed with Safety

A Guide to Psychosocial Safety Skills

Mindfulness is NOT Brain-fullness and other Psychosocial Myths

Have You Had a Drink of SafeTea?

If You Can’t Manage Fallibility, You’ll Never Tackle Psychosocial Health

Embodiment, Myth and Psychosocial Risk

7 Golden Rules that are NOT Golden

Why Zero Vision Can Never Tackle Mental Health

If Psychosocial Health Matters, Stop Hot Desking

Effective Strategies in Mental Health at Work

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Footer

Top Posts & Pages. Sad that most are so dumb but this is what safety luves

  • Christmas Safety Messages, Toolbox Talks, Safety Moments and Slogans
  • There is no Fast and Slow Thinking, Nor Quick Learning
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • Fragility, Resilience and AntiFragility in Risk
  • Why Zero Cannot Understand the Basics of Safety – ALARP and Due Diligence
  • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
  • The Sponsors of Zero Are
  • BIGGEST COLLECTION of WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Free Risk Assessment Template in Excel Format

Recent Posts

  • There is no Fast and Slow Thinking, Nor Quick Learning
  • Fragility, Resilience and AntiFragility in Risk
  • The Sponsors of Zero Are
  • Why Zero Cannot Understand the Basics of Safety – ALARP and Due Diligence
  • No Room for Ethics in a Zero ‘Mindset’
  • Zero Harm and the Fear of Failure
  • Semiotic Methods to Help Tackle Risk
  • Top 10 Simple Things You Can Do To Dramatically Improve Safety
  • SPoR and Semiotics, A Conversation – Free Download
  • The Traffic in Zero Only Goes One Way
  • Critical Sources of Harm Ignored by Safety=Zero
  • Zero and a Culture of Denial
  • Shaping Change to Zero
  • A Book to Help Get You Started on Cultural Improvement in Risk
  • Risk Intelligence and What to Do About It – A Video
  • Feel Good Safety and Un-Ethical Ego-Centrism
  • Book Launch – SPoR and Semiotics, Methods to Tackle Risk
  • When Zero Doesn’t Work, Don’t Change Anything
  • Having Meetings Without ‘Meeting’
  • Leaders in Safety are NOT Gurus
  • Method and Message Congruence in Risk
  • Guilt and Shame, The By-Products of Safety-Zero
  • Update on Zero Survey, Just believe!
  • Zero is NOT the Only Acceptable Number
  • Don’t be Obsessed with Safety
  • Zero Ideology as Maximum Offense, Zero Benefit
  • Embracing Risk–Video
  • Hey CEO? Does Zero Apply to You?
  • OHS Voices from the Resistance – Rosa Carrillo
  • A Guide to Psychosocial Safety Skills
  • A Guide to Tokenism in Ethics in Safety
  • The Questions You Ask in Safety are Showing?
  • Introduction to SPoR, SEEK and Culture
  • What is Safety? Video
  • Understanding Motivation is Essential to Understanding Risk
  • Semiotic and Poetic Literacy for Safety
  • Speak Up, but Don’t Tackle the Cause
  • KISS Safety in a VUCA World
  • OHS Voices From the Resistance – Book review
  • Wo-Men in Safety
  • SPoR Podcasts Back Up and Running
  • What is Semiotics? – Video
  • Finding Balance in SPoR
  • Zero as Extremist Ideology
  • Understanding Cults and Safety/Zero
  • Dot to Dot Safety for Non-Professionals
  • Two New Videos from Novellus
  • Mindfulness is NOT Brain-fullness and other Psychosocial Myths
  • The Safety Belief System
  • The Nonsense of ‘Safety Awareness’

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

The Fear of Power and the Power of Fear

SPoR – Positive, Constructive, Practical, Rational, Visual, Verbal, Social, Relational, Person-Centric, Respectful, Ethical and Real

Study at The Centre for Leadership and Learning in Risk

What is SPoR?

Amping it Up in Safety

Inspirational Safety Ideas

When ‘Hearts and Minds’ are not ‘Hearts and Minds’

Report on SPoR Convention 2018

Calculators, Matrices and Mumbo Jumbo Risk Assessment

Triarchic Thinking and Risk

Selective and Slow Harm is not Zero Harm

Safety as Avoidance

When Art Speaks to Harm

Update on SPoR in India, Brazil and Europe

International Workshops – Belgium

WARNING: Not Your Typical Safety Nonsense

Mandala as a Method for Tackling an Ethic of Risk (a Video)

The Allure of Submission

Social Psychology of Risk Two Day Workshop

Dr Long in Vienna 26-30 June, Last Chance for Registration

Safety Should NOT Be About Safety

Semiotics and Safety

Don’t Let Evidence Get in the Way of Safety

It’s the –ism That Matters

The Bias of Method Design in Risk

EGO is not a dirty word

Human Factors Factors

Humanising Workplace Health and Safety Management

Natural Born Learners

The Mystery of the Emotions

Wisdom, Discernment and an Ethic of Safety

Incrementalism, Catastrophism and All That’s In-between

Transdisciplinarity and Worldviews in Risk

I’m Not Playing Any More

The Binary Barnacle

Rhythms, Musicophilia and Safety

Suggested Safety Reading for 2018

Visualising Risk

Auditing the 7 Golden Rules of Zero, A Miserable Fail

Safe Work Australia Continues to Perpetuate Safety Mythology

More Posts from this Category

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

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 7,521 other subscribers.

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?


WHAT IS PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY