No Safety in Numbers I was asked to present recently to a group in the USA on the fixation/psychosis of Safety with numbers. I started with the title of this blog making two points: that you are no safer in a crowd/group, dispelling the myth ‘there is always safety in numbers’ and then spoke on the … [Read more...] about No Safety in Numbers
numbers
The Delusion of Numbers and a Number of Delusions
The Delusion of Numbers and a Number of Delusions I have a friend who was recently threatened with the sack for challenging the delusion that injury rates represent something, safety. The attribution of significance to any number is a reflection of the ideology of the speaker not reality. Numbers … [Read more...] about The Delusion of Numbers and a Number of Delusions
It’s Always a Number
It’s Always a Number I was on a conference today and the first question set to the panel was about a number. I didn’t respond to the question but rather asked the conference, why is safety so good at asking dumb questions? It doesn’t matter whether its injury rates, percentages, zero or TRIFR etc, … [Read more...] about It’s Always a Number
People and Safety
When we look at people as people and not as a number, we will start to see them as people that are doing the same, thing we are doing. Supporting a family and making a living. Since we are all human, we should never focus on zero. (David Collins from www.safetyrisk.net once said: “I believe … [Read more...] about People and Safety
Safety in Numbers
Safety in Numbers With all the talk about safety and zero we would have to wonder how ZERO will ever be achieved. Recently there was a job that had about 30 first aid cases. (These ranged from a minor scratch to a sprained wrist.) What the company decided was that there had not been enough hazards … [Read more...] about Safety in Numbers
Is There Safety In Numbers?
Is There Safety In Numbers? There seems obsession to measure health and safety at present and this often done through the use of so called lag or lead indicators. The majority of these include a number based system for monitoring ongoing performance. A few examples of these are included in the … [Read more...] about Is There Safety In Numbers?