Safety Myopia

Safety Myopia

Sometimes you scratch your head and wonder how people can have such a profound lack of perspective. Then again, when one immerses oneself in the cult of zero any perspective outside of numerics disappears. Cultic thinking cannot look outside of itself, it holds to a myopic worldview that loses touch with the real world and can only seen its own agenda.

We saw this on display this week when the British Safety Council celebrated the construction of a warship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth. When the next strike attack occurs in the Middle East, I wonder how many lives it will save? But hey, no matter, the automation on this ship saves lives. Then to state that this is has ‘the biggest impact on health and safety in the past 40 years’ is simply astounding.

What this tweet demonstrates is safety myopia in full view.

When the global call of safety is zero then this tweet puts zero vision on full display. When the zero Kool Aid is the drink of global safety then it will continue to congratulate the building of warships as a safety initiative? When every safety association like the SIA is a signatory to the global cult of zero, then myopic safety will be the outcome.

When the missiles fly into the war zone and the Harriers straif over head, I am sure all the civilians below will be delighted that the construction of this warship saves lives in the journey toward zero.

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Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

• The Seduction of Slogans in Safety - January 19, 2021
• Measurement Anxiety in Safety - January 15, 2021
• Are You a Safety Clown? - January 13, 2021
• The Quantitative and Qualitative Divide in Safety - January 11, 2021
• Balance in Risk and Safety - January 10, 2021

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.