Making Language in Safety Meaningful Kakutani (The Death of Truth) helps us understand the power of confusion and doubt with the strategy of ‘fake news’ in the common era (https://www.amazon.com/Death-Truth-Notes-Falsehood-Trump/dp/0525574824 ). This was captured splendidly in the documentary Merchants of Doubt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqiCLuOtXts&pbjreload=10). Merchants of Doubt should be compulsory viewing for all safety people. One doesn’t […]
language
Until Nothing Changes in Safety
Until Nothing Changes in Safety The industry of safety becomes more and more fixed in its current trajectory through its linguistic practices, semiotic meanings and social reproduction. What does this mean? Humans are the sum of their social relationships and the language that is used to communicate identity. Safety articulates itself through a discourse of […]
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A Better Language for Risk and Safety
A Better Language for Risk and Safety Dekker (Safety Differently, 2015, p. vi-xi) calls for a new language in risk and safety and he is so right. We know that language is the bedrock of all culture and that the way we speak shapes the way we organize. Weick (The Social Psychology of Organising, 1979, […]
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In the World of Safety, Political Correctness Endangers Lives
In the World of Safety, Political Correctness Endangers Lives By Phil LaDuke – First published HERE on his blog https://philladuke.wordpress.com/ When I was a kid I worked with a man who was mentally retarded. He wasn’t “special”. He wasn’t “mentally challenged”. He wasn’t “alternatively gifted”. He wasn’t “a little slow”. He was retarded. The word […]
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Speaking a New Language in Safety
Speaking a New Language in Safety Dekker wisely recommends that Safety needs a new language (and discourse) for understanding and acting safety (Drift into Failure, pp. 15, 49, 53, 58, 123). He rightly asserts that the language (and grammar) of reductionist (seeking simple binary answers) thinking doesn’t serve the needs of safety very well, driving […]
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How Risky is Your Safety Spin?
How Risky is Your Safety Spin? Rob Long has agreed to publically release another awesome video which is part of the package you receive with his new book: Risky Conversations, The Law, Social Psychology and Risk “What you say in health and safety, regardless of whether or not it is just an aspiration, you will […]
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Say Something that Makes Sense
This is definitely one for Safety People who like to think! Say Something that Makes Sense When Francis Fukuyama was asked what he thought was the most dangerous idea in the world he responded, ‘transhumanism’. Transhumanism is the quest to liberate humans from their biological constraints (eg. mortality and fallibility). Transhumanism is projected as an […]
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Safety Doesn’t Need Military Language
Safety Doesn’t Need Military Language One of my favourite books on learning is by Donald N. Michael ‘Learning to Plan and Planning to Learn’. Michaels is one of the great education philosophers up there with the likes of Parker J. Palmer, Buber, Ellul, Claxton, Robinson, Maclaren, Illich and Friere. Michaels is the best in articulating […]
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Silences in Safety
With the subtlety sledgehammer, Dr Rob Long knocks the unattainable, meaningless ideas and slogans like “Zero Harm” and “Safety First” right on the noggin! Read more of his articles here “Cultures that strategically know their silences are more sophisticated than cultures that fill the airwaves with meaningless noise.” Silences in Safety Sian Beilock wrote a […]
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The Zero Hero is Here to Save The Day!
Dr Rob Long’s recent article Forecasting Safety resulted in some great debate both here and on other forums. In this article Gabrielle discusses the language of zero and how it may have the exact opposite affect to what was maybe well intended. The people who take the time to read and have the courage to […]
