Blind Faith in Safety If you are a child of the 1970s you will know of one of the greatest bands of all time – Blind Faith. One of the first ‘super groups’ comprised of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and Ric Grech. Blind Faith formed in 1968 from the break up of the […]
religion
The Acts of God and Act of Humans
The Acts of God and Act of Humans We are told that injury, harm and suffering were once perceived as ‘acts of god’ but are now conceived as ‘acts of man’ (sic) or ‘acts of humans’. This is the new commonly accepted thesis branded as ‘the scientific view’. The idea that injury, harm and pain […]
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The Religion of Safety
The Religion of Safety The recent World Safety Conference shows just how religious in nature and less secular Safety is becoming. We are seeing the rise of the desperate and fearful Safety Fundamentalists, the zealous worship of the zero harm mantra and the denial of fallibility and suffering. Rob Long saw the evidence early on […]
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No Evidence for the Religion of Zero
No Evidence for the Religion of Zero Vision Zero or Zero Vision? Religious studies demonstrate that in our post-science/post-text world the secular is becoming more religious and the religious is becoming more secular (Ostwalt, 2012, Secular Steeples, Popular Culture and the Religious Imagination Bloomsbury, London also https://aeon.co/amp/ideas/why-religion-is-not-going-away-and-science-will-not-destroy-it). There is no better evidence for this than […]
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Is Harm and Suffering Evil?
Is Harm and Suffering Evil? Is fallibility and mortality wrong? Is harm the enemy of safety? Are all accidents preventable? Are mistakes bad? Is it wrong to be human? Is risk essential to learning? Can people learn without risk? Is ‘trial and error’ a problem? What does it mean to be human? What is personhood? […]
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Safety for True Believers
Safety for True Believers Is the safety industry a religion? You work it out. Religion Safety God ordains salvation Individuals ordain salvation – ‘safety is a choice’ – ‘unsafety is a choice’ https://safetyrisk.net/is-safety-a-choice-you-make/ Aspiration to perfection God is omniscient Aspiration to perfection – Humans are omniscient ‘All accidents are preventable’ Sense of the sacred Sense […]
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Heretical, Unorthodox and Sacrilegious Safety
Heretical, Unorthodox and Sacrilegious Safety I was training with some people the other day and we had been going about 50 minutes when the GM sitting up the front asked ‘Isn’t this heretical stuff’? I replied ‘it would be if safety was a religion’. The next question soon came from an engineer up the back, […]
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If only Jesus was a Safety Guy
If only Jesus was a Safety Guy – an out of control and unnecessary discussion This photo and headline was posted recently on the OSHA Linkedin discussion group (see it here). The original intent was simply to post a humorous UnSafety photo, typical of the thousands of others doing the rounds online and via […]
