Wisdom, Discernment and an Ethic of Safety I receive emails every week from safety people who thank me for being ‘provocative’ and helping them learn. However, being provocative is not something I set out to do. I don’t sit down and think, ‘now how can I present some contrary view’. Indeed, when … [Read more...] about Wisdom, Discernment and an Ethic of Safety
ethics
Don’t mention the ‘V’ Word
Any review of the discourse in orthodox safety reveals the omission of many words, language and discourse that are critical for an holistic understanding of safety. Just trawl through conference proceedings for the SIA or blogs or podcasts or books on safety and try and find discussion on … [Read more...] about Don’t mention the ‘V’ Word
Who Leads the Way in Safety?
Who Leads the Way in Safety? One’s ethos is a vocational methodology, one’s driving meaning and purpose in being. It is from one’s ethos that we develop a method or ethic. An ethic is essentially the systematic construct of what one believes about life, being and personhood. For example: If one … [Read more...] about Who Leads the Way in Safety?
Fluffy Ethics and Safety
There is nothing quite like a good façade to make sure nothing changes. Trot out some spin, drop a few definitions and Bob’s your uncle. The best way to test fluffy ethics is to investigate the rigor in topics of interest and discussions of ontology, worldview, paradigms and methodology. A sure … [Read more...] about Fluffy Ethics and Safety
Ten Ways to Improve Safety
Whenever the question arises about improving the safety industry it is amazing to see what is invisibly declared off limits. Lets have safety improvement as long as no sacred rites or safety lores are questioned. Lets tinker about the edges, change the brand of cosmetics and fixate on stasis. So as … [Read more...] about Ten Ways to Improve Safety
Safety Racism
It seems that the moment one invokes the word ‘safety’ all ethical considerations become unimportant. We see evidence of this with comments that Islanders are less safe, and less intelligent for safety! . How do people get away with this??? Of course safety is the industry of eugenics! … [Read more...] about Safety Racism
Zero as Morally Wicked
Ravetz in the foreword to Independent Thinking in an Uncertain World, A Mind of One’s Own talks about ‘post-normal science’, ‘box-ticking culture’ and the ‘poverty of normal science’. He sets the scene for a conversation about the limits of the myth of objectivity and tackling some of the … [Read more...] about Zero as Morally Wicked
Paralysis by Precaution
Paralysis by Precaution Munthe (2011) investigates the cost of precaution in his book The Price of Precaution and the Ethics of Risk. The Precautionary Principle (PP) is sometimes called ‘prudent avoidance’ and is premised on the idea that inaction in times of doubt and uncertainty is the best … [Read more...] about Paralysis by Precaution
Zero, A Framework for Psychological Bullying
Zero, A Framework for Psychological Bullying There can never be an Ethic of Risk as long as the safety industry is wedded to the ideology and discourse of zero. How can one be moral to another person when one denies fallibility in goal setting? Of course zero is not a SMART goal anyway! (See … [Read more...] about Zero, A Framework for Psychological Bullying
A Question of Ethics
A Question of Ethics An ethic is a moral system. When one declares an ethical position, one is making a statement about how a moral position is systematized. The fact that Safety pays little attention to ethics, doesn’t study ethics in its curriculum and confuses moral and ethical definition is an … [Read more...] about A Question of Ethics
