Safety Philosophy as a Reality Distortion Field

When you read safety texts, so called ‘gurus’, safety curriculum and propaganda, one is confronted by the idea that the purpose of living is safety. Such a worldview/paradigm is a philosophy, a way of seeing the world.

The purpose and meaning of living and being in the world is not safety. How can it be when the final outcome of living is death?

The ideology of zero (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/) has been the global safety mantra since 2017. Zero vision ideology is founded on the denial of fallibility (https://safetyrisk.net/fallibility-denial-as-a-safety-psychosis/) and as such confirms a philosophy of ‘no harm’ as a foundation for being, living and working.

Moreso, the obsession of Safety with safety is a mental health disorder (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-as-a-mental-health-disorder-obsession/) similarly, the ideology of perfectionism (https://safetyrisk.net/perfectionism-in-safety-and-the-denial-of-humanity/).

This is why a moral philosophy of personhood is foundational to an ethic of risk (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/the-ethics-of-risk/). Yet, you won’t find such a discussion in safety.

Any philosophy that proposes perfectionism for fallible humans is a recipe for brutalism.

If Safety wants to develop ethical methods for tackling risk it must start with an understanding of fallibility (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/) and the nature of resilience (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/everyday-social-resilience-being-in-risk/).

It is only from the foundation of fallibility that we can develop ethical methods to tackle the wicked problem of risk.

This is why zero is NOT a noble goal (https://safetyrisk.net/zero-is-not-a-noble-goal/) despite what some academics (without expertise in ethics) might like to promote.

You might not understand the beauty of fallibility, human error (https://safetyrisk.net/the-beauty-of-human-error/ ) or being human but the way forward is not to wish it away.

This is why the philosophers like Kierkegaard, Ellul, Buber, Ricoeur and Merleau-Ponty are foundational to SPoR.

There is no great merit in life-denial or virtue in making safety a goal of being. If you make safety the goal of being then you will never know the richness of living. This is why Risk Makes Sense (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/risk-makes-sense/).

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Prof. Robert Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions

Latest posts by Prof. Robert Long (see all)

• Weick’s Expectations of the Unexpected - May 13, 2026
• The Non-Revolution in Safety - May 12, 2026
• Suspending Your Agenda to Begin Learning in Risk - May 11, 2026
• The De-Ethicization of the Object in Safety - May 9, 2026
• Weick’s Organising as ‘Consensually Validated Grammar’ - May 9, 2026

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.