Selling Safety and the Safety of Selling Safety Culture

The clue to marketing safety seems to be stating what something is by what it isn’t. For example, create a document selling company and call it SafetyCulture. SafetyCulture is the name of a company but it has nothing to do with safety culture. And it markets so well, as we see its branding at the Australian Open.

The best way to create confusion about culture is to leave its definition up to Safety. Compliance with regulation, audits and inspections have very little to do with culture or safety. Using a computer platform for a checklist, has very little to do with culture.

One thing for sure. Safety knows very little about culture (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-culture-silences/ )

Marketing is not culture.

The Australian Open is a money-making machine. Prize money alone is $96 million. The event contributes 2.7 Billion to the Victorian economy. The culture of the AO is about: elite sport, winning, tennis stars, competition, money and marketing. Anything that anchors to this event joins the marketing machine so that promotion dollars buy exposure. The real religion in the culture of the AO is money.

One thing you never read about in any safety text on culture is about the rituals, myths, religious beliefs, faith. semiotics and politics of culture. That’s because Safety believes the silly myth ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure’. Unfortunately, it doesn’t know the other meme: ‘what counts can’t be counted’.

And Tennis for many at the Australian Open is a religion. It’s not difficult to demonstrate that sport for Melbournians is a religious process (https://melbournecatholic.org/news/running-the-race-sport-faith-and-chaplaincy). Many people follow teams, players and events ‘religiously’. And one thing the management of Tennis Australia don’t want is bringing in any religious concerns to the AO. The naming of the Margaret Court Arena (https://thewest.com.au/sport/australian-open/australian-open-2020-defiant-margaret-court-wont-back-down-on-religious-views-ng-b881438442z) is not up for negotiation.

The culture of the AO is to make sure that a certain kind of religion is acceptable (money) but another kind of religion (fundamentalism Pentecostalism) is not.

In a similar way the safety industry is anchored to Zero but doesn’t want this to be seen as a religious commitment. Yet, we know that safety=zero (https://safetyrisk.net/how-to-escape-the-safetyzero-cult/) and if you are critical of zero you are deemed anti-safety. This is why the Bradley Curve names anti-zero as ‘heresy’.

So, we have a safety company providing checklists for the AO yet the rising injury rates are now interfering with the value of the game. Please tell me how checklists prevent harm? Please tell me how audits tackle psychosocial health? Imagine experts now saying that the AO is unwatchable! And the commentary says:

‘Whether it’s chronic cramp, early retirements or players simply calling time-outs to weep, rarely has a full set been played at Melbourne Park this week without first aid’

Of course, in Work Health and Safety (WHS), the Health part doesn’t matter. Just declare Health a ‘hazard’ and treat people like objects (https://safetyrisk.net/what-is-psychosocial-safety/). Ah, that’s the Safety way.

The reality is, the tennis circuit is now so jammed packed with events seeking the opportunity of money (the main religion), that its culture is harmful.

As the article states:

‘Add dozens of players entering with niggles and the pre tournament withdrawals of big names like Barbara Krejcikova, Caroline Wozniacki, Karolina Pliskova, Fabio Fognini and 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, and the question must be asked:

When did the Australian Open become a retirement village?’

And more:

‘Nowadays the circuit is so gruelling it leaves players like Thompson, Kokkinakis and Kyrgios prematurely questioning their futures and even picking fights with Todd Woodbridge over scheduling and game show hosting.’

In a psychosocial sense, it seems the AO is not safe.

It seems the wellbeing and cultural wellness of players is low on the list (https://www.puntodebreak.com/en/2025/01/11/nearly-20-players-will-play-injured-at-the-2025-australian-open). There certainly seems to be little interest in the psychological or cultural safety of the event.

But why would that matter when we have a Hierarchy of Controls on an App to make the AO safe?

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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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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.