Safety in Design as if Humans Matter
I always find it interesting when the discipline of objects attends to something. It’s how we get ‘human factors’ that is about systems, ‘resilience engineering’ that is not about human resilience and Behavior-Based Safety that is not about behaviours or safety but brutalism. Then we get zero harm that is not about preventing harm but metrics, PR campaigns like ‘dumb ways to die’ and ‘Pickled’ that are all about blaming people for being ‘dumb’ (https://safetyrisk.net/the-medium-is-the-message/) and ‘speak up’ campaigns that drive suppression of conversations and under-reporting.
So, when it comes to safety-in-design is it really about how people think and make decisions around objects, nup. I can’t find any research in the safety in design genre that includes the Social Psychology of Risk or any discussion on what influences and motivates human decision making around objects. The discipline of objects still focused on objects. Guess what, more engineering, more causal attribution and still no discussion of how human decision making is influenced by a host of non-materialist, unconscious and social influences. Still about hazards and controls. Here are some examples:
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safe-design
https://www.constructors.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Safety-in-Design-August-2014.pdf
https://www.webfm.net/2019/05/safety-in-design-guide/
https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/safe-design-safety-basics
So, if you are interested in what influences affect people in contexts maybe start with understanding social influences see Figure 1. Mapping Social Influence Strategies.
Figure 1. Mapping Social Influence Strategies.
Here we see in semiotic representation all the ways in which humans are influenced socially regardless of the object that is before them. Indeed, many of the objects that we come in contact with influence the way we socially organize and therefore the way decisions are made about them. None of this is discussed in any safety in design literature.
Dr Rob Long
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Admin says
Comment from Linkedin:
“Lets keep it simple and save lives shall we”
Rob Long says
Yep, that’s Safety. Dumb down, black n white, head in sand simplistic safety. What world do these people live in?
Admin says
This one lives in the BBS world (Safety heaven in fact) – we should reward people for not dying.
Rob Long says
Yep, anyone with half an education knows of the complexities of this world and the wicked problems we face. Maybe they should join Kenneth Copeland and just blow Covid19 away: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsGbk820O_Y&pbjreload=101 easy! and BTW, don’t forget to pass in those dollars.
Admin says
oh dear – he is possessed! He should be at the next World Safety Conference
Rob Long says
He’s closer to safety heaven than he knows. I think the diet for safety heaven is fruit cake.
Wynand says
It is scary how many discussions there are about culture and safety culture, with most of them appearing to my inexperienced layman’s eyes to be anything but culture. Behaviourism, “what we do around here” and even Zero Harm seems to be touted as means to “improve” culture. Why do I say this here, in this topic? Because it is the same oversimplification of a complex issue. How nice would a work culture be where humans actually matter? (I think some of us remember times when that was true…)