I Have the Power, I’m a Safety Hero I try to avoid attending safety conferences as much as I can as I find them depressing and lacking vision. Each time I am compelled to go I am never surprised by the kind of delusional stuff believed by the industry. The worst is the myth of […]
Social Psychology of Risk
Evidence, Proof and Paperwork in Safety
Evidence, Proof and Paperwork in Safety I was with a client yesterday and all the nonsense safety mythology surfaced the moment I suggested that they not record certain acts and activities. The anxiety hit the roof, ‘but Rob how can we ‘prove’ we undertook the activity and how can we prove its effectiveness?’ Great question […]
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The Safety Charade as Tokenism in Safety
The Safety Charade as Tokenism in Safety We learn today that Boeing have been proud participants in the Safety Charade (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/the-great-safety-charade/). The Safety Charade is when you spruik the propaganda of safety, usually zero harm, and then go about your business with real belief running underneath in culture. BP is also another classic example (https://safetyrisk.net/the-bradbury-effect-bp-syndrome-and-trifr-stats/). […]
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Shock and Fear in Safety
Shock and Fear in Safety There is a naïve belief in the safety industry that shocking people and the dynamics of fear are effective. We see this in the many ‘horror’ photos and clips in the sector as well as the countless injured people who are trotted out with the message ‘don’t be like me’. […]
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Culture About Much More Than Structure
Culture About Much More Than Structure One’s assumptions about what defines culture limits or expands culture itself. One thing is for sure, culture is about much more than organizational structures and systems. Indeed, culture is such a wicked problem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problem) that defining culture structurally or systemically creates far more problems than it solves. Organisational structures […]
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Surfacing – Making the Unconscious Conscious
Surfacing – Making the Unconscious Conscious The elephant in the room in Safety is The Wayward Mind (Claxton ) and by ‘mind’ I don’t mean brain. The notion of ‘mind’ refers to the whole person: body, brain and environment. Humans are only persons-minds in social relation, this is what the noted educationalist Robinson talks about […]
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Perth Workshops–Due Diligence and Social Amplification of Risk
Perth Workshops–Due Diligence and Social Amplification of Risk Workshop One: Dr Long and Greg Smith present their highly acclaimed Two Day Due Diligence Workshop on 22 and 23 July. You can read about the program and register here: https://cllr.com.au/product/due-diligence-workshop-unit-13/ Workshop Two: Dr Long presents The Social Amplification of Risk Workshop on 25 and 26 July. […]
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Safety People Don’t ‘Save Lives’
Safety People Don’t ‘Save Lives’ The naivety and delusions of the safety industry know no bounds as is evident by this language that surfaces at safety conferences about how safety ‘saves lives’. An example is below. Such language should not be part of safety discourse and certainly endorses the many articles on this blog site […]
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No Soft Skills in Safety
No Soft Skills in Safety When we think about the power of language to shape and influence the human unconscious, we know that words matter. This is why we need to be careful with the use of the word ‘safety’. Unfortunately, many people now associate scepticism, cynicism and negativity with the word ‘safety’. The recent […]
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Trinket Safety
Trinket Safety There’s nothing quite like the safety market when selling snake oil. Amazing to see engineers selling neuroscience and behaviourists selling eugenics. Remarkable how easy it is to sell the silver bullet to an undiscerning audience. The marketing of so called perfect solutions to the challenges of fallibility are at best entertaining and at […]
