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
Simplistic Safety
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
Deconstructing Safety and Humans
For some reason people in the safety business seem to love reducing things to the most simple (and sometimes simplistic) understanding of things. It seems like the very idea of human complexity and uncertainty is something to fear. Maybe it’s the fact that the safety sector is dominated by safety … [Read more...] about Deconstructing Safety and Humans
Perfectionism in Safety and the Denial of Humanity
Perfectionism in Safety and the Denial of Humanity Article by Dr Rob Long in response to Safety Under Construction What a bizarre claim that someone can guarantee no accidents, no mistakes, no harm and that ‘100% zero harm is the irrefutable future coming towards the construction industry like a … [Read more...] about Perfectionism in Safety and the Denial of Humanity
‘False Consciousness’ and Perception in Risk and Safety
Very thought provoking article by Dr Rob Long from Human Dymensions. To quote from the article: The idea that setting absolutist and perfectionist goals followed by punitive measures to achieve those goals, is a bankrupt model for motivation of risk and safety ownership. The model ignores hidden … [Read more...] about ‘False Consciousness’ and Perception in Risk and Safety
The Seduction of Measurement in Risk and Safety
The Seduction of Measurement in Risk and Safety Rather than measure what we value, we tend to value what we can measure Many safety mottos and mantras for organisations are sent to me and I recently saw one for a mantra and motto of ‘safety beyond measure’. The strange thing about the … [Read more...] about The Seduction of Measurement in Risk and Safety
Simple or Simplistic Risk and Safety
‘Argument progresses in three stages: superficial simplicity, confused complexity and profound simplicity. Mindful organisations and leaders are prepared to struggle through confused complexity to find profound simplicity. Mindless organisations tend to settle for the first superficial simplicity … [Read more...] about Simple or Simplistic Risk and Safety
Top 10 Simple Things You Can Do To Dramatically Improve Safety
Top 10 Simple Things You Can Do To Dramatically Improve Safety (you will probably not find many of these in text books or regulations) The most common feedback I get on this blog is something like: “all this theory is great but what can I do to apply it”. I know Safety loves simplicity and plug … [Read more...] about Top 10 Simple Things You Can Do To Dramatically Improve Safety
KISS Safety in a VUCA World
One of the conundrums of the safety industry is its addiction to simple, black and white thinking. We see this evidenced in the delusion of Zero (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/). Poor old Safety, noisy about the word ‘professional’ and resistant to any … [Read more...] about KISS Safety in a VUCA World