The beginning of understanding ethico-political accountability, responsibility and useability is understanding the nature of power. So often, those who are not sensitised to the nature of power only discover what it means when it affects them. The key to the perception of harm is an … [Read more...] about Being Sensitised to Power in Safety
Archetypes
Rasmussen Refuse
One of the fascinating things about Safety is how it uses Archetype language and personification as if objects have a life of their own. We observe this in how Rasmussen writes about Systems. Yet, how strange when others describe Safety as an Archetype with a life of its own, they are condemned as … [Read more...] about Rasmussen Refuse
Organisations are Social Institutions
Organisations are Social Institutions I saw a meme the other day from the safety sphere that stated: ‘We, all of us, are just one new executive away from having to start again at the very beginning’. Of course, this is utter nonsense. The idea that ‘we’ (the organized) are shaped by the shifting of … [Read more...] about Organisations are Social Institutions
The Safety and ‘New View’ Debate
The Safety and ‘New View’ Debate How Many Angels Can Dance on a Pinhead? Introduction Let me first acknowledge that I do not find any ranking of safety such as S1 or S2 helpful, so I try to avoid such language and will do my best to avoid it in this paper. Indeed, ranking language in safety is … [Read more...] about The Safety and ‘New View’ Debate
Culture Silences in Safety The Collective Unconscious
Culture Silences in Safety The Collective Unconscious An essential in understanding culture is understanding shared consciousness and shared unconsciousness. The work of Jung charted the frontier in understanding the Collective Unconscious (https://www.are.na/block/1493356 ). What Jung discovered … [Read more...] about Culture Silences in Safety The Collective Unconscious
Safety Silences – Video Series
Safety Silences - Video Series We get asked so often about various topics and ideas that are never discussed in traditional safety (including ‘safety differently’) so, we decided to start a video series called ‘Safety Silences’. The purpose of this video series is to discuss topics that seem to be … [Read more...] about Safety Silences – Video Series
Listening to the Symbols of Christmas
Listening to the Symbols of Christmas A good way to discern what someone is talking about is to listen to their language, words spoken and unspoken. If someone is talking about ‘learning’ or ‘culture’ and doesn’t speak about embodiment, the unconscious, mystery, wisdom, symbolism, mythology, … [Read more...] about Listening to the Symbols of Christmas
Safety Culture Surveys
Safety Culture Surveys If you do a search for ‘safety culture survey’ on Google it gets 2,720,000,000 results, a sure sign of an industry that thinks it knows what culture is and how to change it. Of course, the institutionalisation of the charisma … [Read more...] about Safety Culture Surveys
The Best Options in Safety Are Not Always Efficient
The Best Options in Safety Are Not Always Efficient One of the great French Philosophers was Jacques Ellul (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul ; https://ellul.org/) a person well before his time. Ellul developed the idea that the quest for efficient outcome leaves damaging by-products and … [Read more...] about The Best Options in Safety Are Not Always Efficient
Culture, Toxicity and Safety
Culture, Toxicity and Safety There are several reasons why Safety in its current state will never deal effectively with mental health: · The mis-definition of culture and, · The brutalism of zero The only way to drive for zero is to: · Suppress reporting (learning) · Focus on petty risk · … [Read more...] about Culture, Toxicity and Safety