The legacy of the work of James Reason does not drive much sense-able thinking in safety. Perhaps the worst of all of what was injected into the safety world by Reason was the semiotic of the swiss-cheese. Whilst this model (yes, models matter) projects a logical linear understanding of risk and … [Read more...] about Why Reason is Un-Reasonable
James Reason
Ditch the Swiss-Cheese if You Want to Understand Causality
The swiss-cheese metaphor and semiotic is NOT a scientific or logical model of representative connection to reality. The swiss-cheese is a concoction of James Reason to try and explain his linear worldview of accidents and prevention. We saw this recently with Cooper’s identical model … [Read more...] about Ditch the Swiss-Cheese if You Want to Understand Causality
Faith in Reason, and Unreasoned Faith as Safety Myth
Comments like this say so much about the nature of Safety: ‘What tripe! A polemic that is a rant but fails on so many levels. James Reasons work is classic. It has stood the test of time, is practical and useful. The criteria for assessing anything in safety is its impact on injury reduction. Judge … [Read more...] about Faith in Reason, and Unreasoned Faith as Safety Myth
What is Violated in Violence?
What is Violated in Violence? Safety adores the language of ‘violation’, most commonly found in the discourse of James Reason. Just have a read of this article for a few minutes and you will see a problem. First of these 12 ‘principles’ states ‘human error is not a moral issue’, really? Then the … [Read more...] about What is Violated in Violence?
A Critique of Pure Reason
A Critique of Pure Reason - (With Apologies to Immanuel Kant) There is not a week goes by without someone suggesting I should read James Reason or that I haven’t read James Reason. I am also advised that I don’t read James Reason properly because somehow all worldviews must be in agreement, … [Read more...] about A Critique of Pure Reason