There is no doubt that the darling of the safety industry is Behaviourism. Just look at the language of traditional safety and so called ‘safety differently’ and it’s all about capacity, people as objects, performance, measurement. Metrics, numerics and outputs. Behaviourism is a 1930s worldview … [Read more...] about Understanding Safety Incentive Schemes, A Question of Balance
behaviourism
Safety Starts with Us
When you don’t get language and discourse, don’t understand linguistics (https://safetyrisk.net/culture-silences-in-safety-linguistics/ ) or semiotics or, culture (https://safetyrisk.net/category/safety-culture-silences/ ), videos like this make sense … [Read more...] about Safety Starts with Us
What is the Human Body for in Safety?
What is the Human Body for in Safety? The body-mind problem (https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/mind-body-problem ) ought to be a concern for anyone interested in how organisations tackle risk. The first thing to note is that whilst Safety is concerned about the body and how it gets … [Read more...] about What is the Human Body for in Safety?
Practice, Repetition, Habit, Routine, Ritual and Decision Making in Risk
Practice, Repetition, Habit, Routine, Ritual and Decision Making in Risk Most decisions made by people are unconscious. The idea that decision making is brain activity between individuals is simply not supported by the evidence (https://neurosciencenews.com/collective-intelligence-19512/ ). We know … [Read more...] about Practice, Repetition, Habit, Routine, Ritual and Decision Making in Risk
Bow-Tie BS
Bow-Tie BS The Bow-Tie has been celebrated for years in risk and safety as if it is a good model for risk analysis. Nothing could be further from reality. I couldn’t think of a worse model for understanding risk, causality or the emergence of events. The BowTie was developed out of the chemistry … [Read more...] about Bow-Tie BS
How Workers Really Make Decisions
How Workers Really Make Decisions Latest video by Dr Rob Long as a follow up to his previous article: How Do Workers Make Decisions? Video Transcript (video below this): I’m asked many, many times this question: “how do workers make decisions?” And, I decided I'll answer that with a brief video. … [Read more...] about How Workers Really Make Decisions
Right Then Children, Sit Up Straight and Take Some Safety
Right Then Children, Sit Up Straight and Take Some Safety I had a friend send a documented toolbox talk this week that was delivered to a site team in a tier 1 civil construction company and it was embarrassing. Why do teams of grown adults put up with such childish, kindergarten, patronizing … [Read more...] about Right Then Children, Sit Up Straight and Take Some Safety
Brain-Centredness and Occular-Centredness in Risk
Brain-Centredness and Occular-Centredness in Risk Such a small amount of what we ‘see’ is processed through the eyes and brain indeed, this amounts to less than 5% of all ways in which we sense the world and make decisions. The idea that humans make decisions like a computer is completely … [Read more...] about Brain-Centredness and Occular-Centredness in Risk
Goals and Vision in Safety
Goals and Vision in Safety Safety is the industry of lower order goals (see Figure 1. Goal States). Safety functions under the false slogan ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure’. It chooses to ignore a much better aphorism and that is: ‘you can’t count what counts’. We have known for a long … [Read more...] about Goals and Vision in Safety
There’s a man goin’ around taking names
There’s a man goin’ around taking names Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him? Anthony Burgess Most global corporate behemoths, especially American transnationals with militaristic command and control organisational structures are advocates of behaviourism. … [Read more...] about There’s a man goin’ around taking names
