The Search for Meaning in Safety Models There is a huge chasm between three things: the intent and design (assumed philosophy) of a model, the semiotic diffusion of the model and what humans make of the model. Models and symbols are not neutral nor objective. All models are semiotics and as such seek to explain […]
Bradley Curve
Right and Wrong in Safety
Right and Wrong in Safety Safety is fundamentally a moral and ethical activity. Any desire for a ‘good’ or a virtue, necessitates an ethic. Unfortunately, even in how Safety shapes its own identity it doesn’t know nor consciously articulate an ethic. Even the brand of ‘professional’ demands an ethic. (It ought be remembered too that […]
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Natural Born Learners
Natural Born Learners and 10 Essentials to Human Learning The lack of critical thinking in the safety industry allows nonsense like the Bradley Curve, matrices and pyramids to thrive. All of the assumptions of these models are seriously flawed, none more so than the Bradley Curve . The Bradley Curve assumes that humans have a […]
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Safety’s Garden of Eden Complex
Safety’s Garden of Eden Complex One of the enduring myths of the risk and safety industry is the naive belief in paradise. Paradise is that mythical place where no-ne will be harmed. We see this nonsense yearning for utopia demonstrated in the Bradley Curve and the ideological nonsense of zero harm. The yearning for a […]
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The Trajectory of Zero Vision
The Trajectory of Zero Vision We know that all goals are psychologically laden (Moscowitz and Grant , The Psychology of Goals) that is, when we set goals they often conceal psychological dynamics. Often we don’t know the trade-offs or by-products of goal setting until much later in the strategic thinking process (Raynor. The Strategy Paradox). […]
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Safety Curves and Pyramids
For many years DuPont have perpetuated the myth that they are the “Worlds Safest Company” and a “world-class safety leader”. In the 1940s the company developed the safety philosophy that “all accidents are preventable”. Encouraged by their perception of success, DuPont eventually turned safety consulting, making chemicals and materials on the side. In the 1990s, […]
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The Worm at the Core
The Worm at the Core The history of evolution and biology tell us that humans are born with countless systems of self-preservation. However, the Bradley Curve version of safety tells us we are born with the drive for self annihilation. Apparently our ‘natural instincts’ are to self harm. Strange, this is contradicted by the history […]
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Safety as Avoidance
Safety as Avoidance The language of ‘error’ is unhelpful when it comes to understanding human judgment and decision making. One can assemble pyramids of ‘unsafe acts’ and ‘unsafe conditions’, fault trees of ‘active and latent failures’, maps of ‘violations’, ‘slips’ and ‘missed barriers’, sets of hazard conditions and, classify ‘omissions’, ‘organisational factors’ and ‘system failures’ […]
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Nonsense Curves and Pyramids
Nonsense Curves and Pyramids Safety likes nothing more than curves and pyramids, nothing so exciting as parading out the Bradley Curve or Heinrich’s Pyramid to get the troops excited about failure and loss. The Bradley Curve was created by DuPont in 1995 to try and benchmark notions of culture and performance in relationship to safety. […]
