Risk and Safety Rituals Rituals are the foundation of cultural belonging and identity. You can’t really understand or influence culture without a good grasp of rituals and artefacts. The idea that behaviours (‘what we do around here’) define culture is one of the grand delusions of simplistic … [Read more...] about Risk and Safety Rituals
Simplistic Safety
Snap, Crackle, Pop. That’s the Sound we Love to Hear
Snap, Crackle, Pop. That’s the Sound we Love to Hear Rice Krispies were first released by Kellogg in 1928, and introduced in Australia as Rice Bubbles. The breakfast cereal is made of ‘crisped’ rice (toasted rice). The marketing that accompanied the launch of Rice Bubbles was associated with the … [Read more...] about Snap, Crackle, Pop. That’s the Sound we Love to Hear
Nonsense Curves and Pyramids
Nonsense Curves and Pyramids Safety likes nothing more than curves and pyramids, nothing so exciting as parading out the Bradley Curve or Heinrich’s Pyramid to get the troops excited about failure and loss. The Bradley Curve was created by DuPont in 1995 to try and benchmark notions of culture and … [Read more...] about Nonsense Curves and Pyramids
When You Don’t Know About Safety Hire a Marketing Agency
When You Don’t Know About Safety Hire a Marketing Agency It seems to be the trend that when you don’t know about safety you engage a marketing agency. This is certainly the case with Melbourne Metro (Dumb Ways to Die) and with Worksafe ACT (Hazardman). The real problem with agencies that don’t know … [Read more...] about When You Don’t Know About Safety Hire a Marketing Agency
I Wasn’t Thinking Mr Spock
I Wasn’t Thinking Mr Spock “We make thousands of decisions everyday in automatic mode without a mistake. Yet we don’t reflect and celebrate this wonderful mode of human decision making at work rather, we put the blow torch on the one moment when it doesn’t work and something goes wrong” So much of … [Read more...] about I Wasn’t Thinking Mr Spock
Spud Head Safety Diagnostics
Spud Head Safety Diagnostics What is a Spud Head? FIND OUT HERE I was at a conference last week where people were presented with supposed diagnostics that could determine in someone was a risk taker. The general idea was to run people through the diagnostic tool, and weed out the risk takers. Or, … [Read more...] about Spud Head Safety Diagnostics
Hyper-Safety and the Fear of Safety
I had pictures sent to me today of a supposed ‘new innovation’ in safety. You couldn’t make this up: taped exclusion zones around doors so that opening doors don’t harm people. This is like the sign on doors that state: ‘beware of opening door’. This pic is a good example of … [Read more...] about Hyper-Safety and the Fear of Safety
Be Alert, Safety Needs More Lerts
I recently read a claim by a Safety Consultant that they could eliminate injuries and improve safety culture by stopping humans from making errors - WT? Reminds me of the saying “The floggings will continue until morale improves”. Ask any elite athlete what happens when they ignore their “muscle … [Read more...] about Be Alert, Safety Needs More Lerts
Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk Not to be confused with the Gemba Safety Walk! Safety walks, observations and conversations are foundational to managing safety in organisations. Site walks, office walks or whatever you want to call them are a critical strategy in ‘management by … [Read more...] about Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
Safety Futurism
We would love to hear about recent, classic examples of “futuristic safety discourse” you have come across – please share them in the comments below – latest I saw was: “The brain science of optimal safety using the Zero Incident Process (ZIP)” – thanks, Dave Safety Futurism Article by Dr Rob Long … [Read more...] about Safety Futurism