I had a call from a mate this week, the board of his company have been mesmerised by a presentation of the latest advances in safety. So I asked to see a copy of this presentation expecting some astounding research and scintillating stuff taking safety into the future. So what did I see? Bradley … [Read more...] about Advancing Backwards in Safety
1% safer
Could Understanding Grey Be The Silver Bullet
Could understanding Grey, be the ‘silver bullet’? Since I started writing on Safetyrisk.net in November 2013, I’ve received lots of great feedback thoughts, questions and even criticisms about my posts which I appreciate. A key theme of the feedback that I receive is that some of the concepts … [Read more...] about Could Understanding Grey Be The Silver Bullet
Top 10 Things About Safety and Risk That Only a Handful of People Know
Top 10 Things About Safety and Risk That Only a Handful of People Know Republished by request Here are 10 and a bit things about safety that I plucked from some recent blog posts, that singularly or collectively only a handful of people may know. Or, if they knew them, perhaps did not know … [Read more...] about Top 10 Things About Safety and Risk That Only a Handful of People Know
Programming for Safety, the Performance Myth
Programming for Safety, the Performance Myth The language of ‘performance’ in safety has over time, been decoupled from its real meaning. How humans ‘perform’ has been commandeered by behaviourism and scientism in safety by the meaningless pursuit of measurement. We see this typically in the … [Read more...] about Programming for Safety, the Performance Myth
Ends and Means in Safety
Ends and Means in Safety As long as what I do gets a safety outcome, it doesn’t matter what I do to get it. This is the declared philosophy of safety ‘ends justifies the means’ ideology. As long as the outcome is zero the means to get it doesn’t matter. Wrong! The ends never justify the … [Read more...] about Ends and Means in Safety
The Fallacy of Marginal Gains and Nudges
The Fallacy of Marginal Gains and Nudges One of the characteristics of safety marketing is the continual clutching at straws to motivate and move people towards safety. We see this in the endless campaigns for: pickles, Mums for Safety, Hazardman, meerkats, sexy sofie etc.. It seems anything is … [Read more...] about The Fallacy of Marginal Gains and Nudges
It’s Always a Number
It’s Always a Number I was on a conference today and the first question set to the panel was about a number. I didn’t respond to the question but rather asked the conference, why is safety so good at asking dumb questions? It doesn’t matter whether its injury rates, percentages, zero or TRIFR etc, … [Read more...] about It’s Always a Number
Safety in Numbers
Safety in Numbers With all the talk about safety and zero we would have to wonder how ZERO will ever be achieved. Recently there was a job that had about 30 first aid cases. (These ranged from a minor scratch to a sprained wrist.) What the company decided was that there had not been enough hazards … [Read more...] about Safety in Numbers
The next OHS magic bullet to hit us in 2016?
The next OHS magic bullet to hit us in 2016? Great question just posted by Wayne Harris on Workplace health and Safety Leadership Linkedin page: We had them all over the last 30 years or so, BBS, Lean BBS, Zero Harm, Transformational Safety, Safe Start, Zero Risk, Transitional OHS, etc. Sometimes … [Read more...] about The next OHS magic bullet to hit us in 2016?
Is There Safety In Numbers?
Is There Safety In Numbers? There seems obsession to measure health and safety at present and this often done through the use of so called lag or lead indicators. The majority of these include a number based system for monitoring ongoing performance. A few examples of these are included in the … [Read more...] about Is There Safety In Numbers?