Safety in Design as if Humans Matter

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.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2017-01/perspectives_on_sid_presentation.pdf

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.sydneywater.com.au/web/groups/publicwebcontent/documents/document/zgrf/mtux/~edisp/dd_151250.pdf

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.

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Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

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• Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety - June 10, 2022

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.