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

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real 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 / Covid-19 / Safety Stole My Freedoms

Safety Stole My Freedoms

September 27, 2020 by Dr Rob Long 5 Comments

Safety Stole My Freedoms

imageThere’s a lot of simplistic stuff in relation to Covid19 about ‘rights’, ‘freedoms’ and ‘personal liberties’ ( Protests have been criminalised under COVID. What is incitement? How is it being used in the pandemic? ) One thing is for sure, when you hear simplistic binary language about rights and wrongs, black and white in safety you can be sure it’s wrong and probably dangerous.

One of the most difficult things for Safety to get a hold of is the challenge of wicked problems, unsolvable problems, uncontrollable problems and dialectic (https://safetyrisk.net/risk-and-safety-as-a-wicked-problem/). The idea that any binary question or idea can be a useful proposition in risk is simply nonsense. The dumb down question that assumes injury is an indicator of safety by asking ‘how many people do you want killed today?’ must be totally rejected.

All thinking about risk and safety needs to start with fallible humans in a random world and imperfect systems for which no binary framework can be applied.

If you haven’t worked out yet that Covid19 is a wicked problem then you will probably think Covid is a Behaviourist problem.

  • Managing COVID-19 as a Super Wicked Problem: Lessons from, and for, the Climate Crisis
  • COVID, the wicked problem too big for medical experts alone to tackle

When we accept that all actions have by-products and trade-offs there can never be a simple black and white binary approach and most often there are no ‘solutions’ and ‘fixes’. Yes, you may have a belief in individual liberty but you don’t have the right to spread the virus and kill me as a by-product of your individualism. So, you can stand up and chant protests all you like but if that leads to my death, I’m equally as right to seek my individual liberty in return.

The foundation of ethics is not just the foundation of professionalism but also the foundation for living in community and Socialitie. You don’t read about any of this in the AIHS BoK indeed, the BoK tells Safety that it has the right to dominate the rights of others if a safety person deems a situation unsafe (p.41). Indeed, this section of the BoK chapter tells safety people they have a ‘duty’ to override the freedoms of others in the name of safety! No, you can’t just do what you like to me just because you deem the situation unsafe!

Of course, this is why the BoK on Ethics is not an Ethic of Risk and why its simplistic deontological message is an unethical message. The AIHS Bok on Ethics is simplistic nonsense and omits dozens of critical complex ethical factors in its framework and in many ways is fundamentally dishonest and unhelpful (https://safetyrisk.net/the-aihs-bok-and-ethics-check-your-gut/ ).

The question of freedoms and liberties can only stand in dialectic with responsibilities and accountabilities. Without a social ethic, there is no ethic. Furthermore, governance and leadership are situated in this dialectical ethic and its challenging movement. Safety needs to embrace a very different body of knowledge in ethics and learning if it ever wants to be professional.

  • 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)

  • The Nonsense of ‘Safety Awareness’ - October 1, 2023
  • When You Don’t Know, Just Make S4*t Up - September 30, 2023
  • Zero is Founded on Deceit and Lies - September 29, 2023
  • Have You Had a Drink of SafeTea? - September 27, 2023
  • The Blessings of Fallibility - September 27, 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: Covid-19, Ethics, Robert Long, Wicked Problems Tagged With: behaviorism, coronavirus

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rob Long says

    September 28, 2020 at 7:42 AM

    Bob, dialectic is not focused on consistency but the dynamics between competing forces in Discourse in discourse. It focuses on the movement between dichotomies and the often unsolvable propositions of binary judgements. In your post you describe this in the idea of ‘a conversation should be had’. In binary propositions such as ‘how many people do you want killed today?’ there is no conversation and no seeking of open dialogue. Zero doesn’t need to talk to anyone.

    Reply
  2. Bob says

    September 28, 2020 at 7:13 AM

    Inconsistency is somewhat of a stumbling block for effective dialectic.

    The example raised in my post simply focused on a real world example.

    Reply
  3. Rob Long says

    September 28, 2020 at 5:47 AM

    The blog is about dialectic and wicked problems???

    Reply
  4. Bob says

    September 27, 2020 at 7:30 PM

    “Yes, you may have a belief in individual liberty but you don’t have the right to spread the virus and kill me as a by-product of your individualism.”

    With respect, isn’t that a somewhat ‘binary’ dichotomy?

    Of course, if people aren’t careful, or they exhibit a willful disregard for their fellow citizens, there’s a chance of infection leading to varying degrees of illness, even fatality, quite dependent on numerous variables, and proportionate control measures are most certainly appropriate to minimize the likelihood of exposure to possible infection.

    I personally don’t think mass public protest will achieve much to change minds at government level, but what the recent heavy-handed reaction by the state to the mere expression of a desire to protest against lockdown proved is that there is a double standard at play. Anyone with a sense of fairness should realize that however correct it may be to be concerned about limiting public gatherings, this concern must be consistently expressed if it’s to be taken more seriously.

    I simply feel that there’s a conversation to be had about how effective sweeping, restrictive, lockdown measures actually are, as opposed to measures which are more proportionately tailored to areas of higher risk, so I won’t be misrepresented as an anti-lockdown loon. Is it not precisely this kind of excessive, draconian, and disproportionately and inconsistently applied controls against which this site serves to raise reasonable arguments.

    Nobody was charged with incitement for earlier protests regarding other social issues, which are also valid issues of concern, but once there was an expression of intent to protest against something falling more squarely in the lap of local authorities, there appears to have been a more forceful response. It’s almost as if local authorities were a little offended once the disagreement was a bit closer to home, leading to a more vindictive reaction.

    It’s been documented on record that the very same authorities publicly expressed unanimous support for protests against one issue, with only kind words of support to be offered, but once there was an expression of intent to protest against something more directly under the local authorities’ control, there was open contempt and derision. The hammer came down. Doors were kicked in. People were arrested.

    It appears a little consistency in response, and a little more even-handed respect for citizens, regardless of the issue about which they were expressing concerns, would have helped the authorities retain some degree credibility, and may have resulted in more widespread compliance by citizens for the right reasons.

    I’m not arguing that there should have been arrests or charges for the earlier protests against the other valid issues. Quite the opposite.

    Reply
  5. Mark Perrett says

    September 27, 2020 at 6:43 PM

    This makes me think of binary, black and white approaches to ethics. Taking such an approach is also likely to be wrong given the subjectivity of ethics.

    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 7,509 other subscribers.

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Recent Comments

  • Rob Long on The Blessings of Fallibility
  • Simon Cassin on The Blessings of Fallibility
  • Rob Long on Validating, Endorsing and Supporting Zero
  • Rob Long on The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • Rob Long on The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • Matthew Thorne on Validating, Endorsing and Supporting Zero
  • rosa a carrillo on The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • Matthew Thorne on The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • Rob Long on Hopkins-Dekker on Reason and Other Laughs
  • Matt Thorne on Myth Making and Why it Matters to Safety
  • Rob Long on What’s Funny About Safety?
  • Rob Long on Perfection is Safety Child’s Play
  • Rosa Carrillo on Hopkins-Dekker on Reason and Other Laughs
  • Brent Charlton on Perfection is Safety Child’s Play
  • Anonymous on What’s Funny About Safety?
  • Rob Long on Zero Hour part 6 Knowing Yourself
  • Rob Long on Safety Cops and Safety’s Adoration of Power
  • Rob Long on Book Launch – “Zero, The Great Safety Delusion” – Free Download
  • Rob long on Don’t Be Dumb Like Me, the Typical Safety Keynote
  • Anonymous on Don’t Be Dumb Like Me, the Typical Safety Keynote

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

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

CLLR Newsletter July 2023

Playing With Mental Health in Safety is Dangerous

STOP ‘BREAKING’ PEOPLE! The notion of Psychological Safety

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

  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • The Nonsense of ‘Safety Awareness’
  • When You Don’t Know, Just Make S4*t Up
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • BIGGEST COLLECTION of WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS, CHECKISTS, REGISTERS, TEMPLATES and APPS
  • Free Risk Assessment Template in Excel Format
  • Workplace Safety Poems
  • The Critical Outcome is to Improve Safety

Recent Posts

  • The Nonsense of ‘Safety Awareness’
  • When You Don’t Know, Just Make S4*t Up
  • The Critical Outcome is to Improve Safety
  • Zero is Founded on Deceit and Lies
  • Have You Had a Drink of SafeTea?
  • The Blessings of Fallibility
  • Safety as Zero, The Perfect Event
  • Validating, Endorsing and Supporting Zero
  • The Global ‘Zero Event’, This is Safety
  • If You Can’t Manage Fallibility, You’ll Never Tackle Psychosocial Health
  • Embodiment, Myth and Psychosocial Risk
  • Embodied Enactivity in Safety
  • The Meaning of Myth in Risk
  • Myth Making and Why it Matters to Safety
  • Icebreakers and Games that Safety Trainers Play
  • The Power of Safety Myths
  • What Do You Mean By Performance?
  • Hopkins-Dekker on Reason and Other Laughs
  • Perfection is Safety Child’s Play
  • Podcast – Dr Rob Long With John Morlan and The Risk Matrix
  • What’s Funny About Safety?
  • Zero Hour part 6 Knowing Yourself
  • Free Videos, Podcasts and Books on Zero
  • Don’t Be Dumb Like Me, the Typical Safety Keynote
  • If You’re Happy in Safety, Clap Your Hands
  • Safety Cops and Safety’s Adoration of Power
  • Zero Hour Part 5 – Surfacing the Unconscious
  • Zero Hour Part 4 – Zero and the Unconscious
  • Auditing the 7 Golden Rules of Zero, A Miserable Fail
  • 7 Golden Rules that are NOT Golden
  • The Non-Golden Rules for Leadership in Zero
  • Seven ‘Golden’ Rules for Zero and Yet No Ethic
  • Why Zero Vision Can Never Tackle Mental Health
  • Is this Your Safety?
  • SPoR Workshops Canberra 18-21 September
  • The Dominance of Zero as the ‘Common Denominator’ of Safety
  • Zero Hour Episode 3
  • Goal Setting and Zero
  • Zero as a Worldview
  • If Psychosocial Health Matters, Stop Hot Desking
  • Book Launch – “Zero, The Great Safety Delusion” – Free Download
  • Breach of Faith and Psycho-Social Risk
  • Zero Harm is Never Zero Harm
  • Why Would You Want to be a Safety “Geek’ or Hero?
  • The Mental Illness of Identifying as Safety
  • Zero Hour – Zero as a place holder
  • Zero Hour – Zero as a Philosophy
  • CARING ABOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
  • Care is NOT a Factor and Yes, Your Model Matters
  • Care Ethics and the Ethics of Care, in Risk

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

History and Hindsight in Safety

Dumbs for Safety

How I Feel About Risk

Military Metaphors in Safety

A Better Language for Risk and Safety

Why Personify Safety?

The Certainty of Uncertainty

The Psychic Effect of Safety

Ten Risk and Safety Program Essentials

Study Social Psychology of Risk Online in 2018

Starting Points, Worldviews and Risk

The Art of the Open Question

Clarity Enabled

Humanising Workers Compensation (Sydney Workshop)

The Measurement Mindset in Safety???

Safety and Risk Culture Cloud

The Curse of Cognitivism

Fear of Being-in-the-World

The Different Levels of Wrongness!

How to use signs, symbols and text effectively in communicating about risk

Why Resilience Cannot be Engineered

The Safetyization of Normal Life

Anchoring, Framing and Priming Risk

Psychology and safety

Emotions are not the Adversary

You Have No Idea What Goes on in the ‘Real World of Safety’

What is SPoR?

SPoR Quarterly Newsletter September 2021

Safety and the Spin of Disruption

What is Critical Listening when Dealing with Risk?

Paperwork and Usability in Tackling Risk

Risk as a ‘Leap of Faith’

The Conundrum in Discerning Risk

How Groupthink Works

Acknowledge Trade-offs to Make Better Inquiries

Why Would You Talk That Way?

The Domino Delusion in Safety

The Binary Barnacle

Safety Cries Wolf!

How do we mourn?

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 7,509 other subscribers.

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?


WHAT IS PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY