Whenever we tackle a phenomenon so apparently large and complex as a human organisation, we inevitably run into boundary problems. - Karl Weick The Social Psychology of Organising. (p.27) One of the rude shocks in being forced back on Linkedin is just how much is binary it is. It seems every post … [Read more...] about Safety Beyond the Binaries
HOP
The Myth of Shifting Blame from Individuals to Systems
One of the myths of the so called S2 group is the shifting of blame from individuals to systems. What we see in this group, is an obsession with blame in silly slogans like ‘blame fixes nothing’. Then somehow by magic, things are fixed by shifting blame from individuals to systems. This is what this … [Read more...] about The Myth of Shifting Blame from Individuals to Systems
Work as Imagined is Good, Learning from Normal Work is Myth
One of the many myths created by the HOP, NV, RE, S2 and SD group is the binary opposition of ‘work as imaged vs work as done’. Unfortunately, just another simplistic slogan among many for this group. However, what does this slogan mean? Indeed, why is it that something imagined is somehow wrong? … [Read more...] about Work as Imagined is Good, Learning from Normal Work is Myth
The Meaning of Blame, Thinking Beyond the Spin and Slogans
Slogans make cults, not moral character - Barry Spud One of the profound issues to do with the issue of blame is its complexity. Anyone speaking about blame as some simplistic black and white thing has little idea what they are talking about. But hey, ‘blame fixes nothing’. In order to … [Read more...] about The Meaning of Blame, Thinking Beyond the Spin and Slogans
Grenfell Uncovered, But Don’t Blame Anyone
If you get a chance to watch Grenfell Uncovered do so. The documentary tells the story of neglect, corruption, greed, incompetence, negligence and intentional unethical conduct by executives (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37024060/) that led to the deaths of 72 people. The fire started by an … [Read more...] about Grenfell Uncovered, But Don’t Blame Anyone
Semiotic Matters and Semiotic Influence in Safety
Evidence shows that we can be influenced profoundly by the smallest of things and all of this happens unconsciously (Colourful price tags at Australian chemists may trick shoppers into buying full-price items) People in marketing and advertising know this yet, not Safety. The images, graphics and … [Read more...] about Semiotic Matters and Semiotic Influence in Safety
If You Want to Know About Mental Health, Don’t Ask Safety
I see with no surprise, Safety suggesting a re-think on mental health. Yet again, this confirms the simple reality that Safety loves to talk to itself about what it doesn’t know. If you want to know about Ethics, Culture or Anthropology, ask a safety engineer. Didn’t you know, if you need a source … [Read more...] about If You Want to Know About Mental Health, Don’t Ask Safety
Better Questions in Safety Require a Better Disposition to Persons
So much of what parades around safety focuses on Technique, what Ellul calls ‘the quest for efficiency’. The word is italicised to accentuate the difference between being technical and Ellul’s meaning. Everyone in safety ought to read his book The Technological Society (1964). Ellul was an amazing … [Read more...] about Better Questions in Safety Require a Better Disposition to Persons
New Rhetoric but Same Old Dynamics in HOP
We know that the 5 affirmations of HOP are not ‘truths’ as asserted by Conklin. Indeed, this echoes similar claims by Heinrich 90 years ago of ‘self-evident truths’ in safety. Whenever you read assertions like this in safety you know that what follows is NOT science but marketing. Just because … [Read more...] about New Rhetoric but Same Old Dynamics in HOP
Declaring What is By What Isn’t, HOP as Traditional Safety
One of the things Safety does best is declaring what is, by what isn’t and, when it comes to Safety, it seems believing one’s own lies is par for the course. I see this in HOP when reading Conklin’s book The 5 Principles of Human Organisational Performance. Of course, as in all traditional … [Read more...] about Declaring What is By What Isn’t, HOP as Traditional Safety