Just found this hidden gem by Wade Needham here on LinkedIn How to Handle Safety System Paradoxes As you get promoted it's easier to take control, to control more of your world they said, well, ‘they’ were wrong. The easy answer to a complex or wicked problem is almost always wrong, if not … [Read more...] about How to Handle Safety System Paradoxes
Safety Systems
Anthropocentric Safety
“the floggings shall continue until morale improves” It is simply delusional to think or espouse that people can be controlled or enforced into total compliance. A mechanical approach to safety, consumed by zero harm, absolutes and statistics is simply alienating, non-inspiring and de-motivational. … [Read more...] about Anthropocentric Safety
I can’t believe that nobody was seriously injured
I can't believe that nobody was seriously injured Veteran Safety Crusader, Barry Spud, is very angry, in fact, he is outraged. Returning to work as Zero Harm Plus Controller at ACME, after taking 3 months long service leave with a 3 month extension for compassionate stress leave, he was looking … [Read more...] about I can’t believe that nobody was seriously injured
Paper tigers
Paper tigers Interesting post by John Green on the Safety Differently Blog. As the late great George Robotham said in Bureaucracy and Paperwork in OHS : “I believe bureaucracy and paperwork is strangling innovation and progress in OHS. Overly complex systems are being used and people give up … [Read more...] about Paper tigers
Who Said We Don’t Need Systems?
What a strange sense of logic to fixate on the absence of something (injury) as a demonstration of the presence of something else (safety). Such a proposition misunderstands the dynamic of risk and being human. Who Said We Don’t Need Systems? I find it interesting that when some people read what … [Read more...] about Who Said We Don’t Need Systems?
Quick Guide to Auditing OHS Systems
Quick Guide to Auditing OHS Systems George’s Safety Reflections – by the late George Robotham There is some confusion in practice between the terms inspection and audit, I distinguish between the two by saying you inspect things and you audit systems. Organisations that are … [Read more...] about Quick Guide to Auditing OHS Systems
Making Objects Safe or People Safe
Making Objects Safe or People Safe I often ask people in risk and safety training as my first question, ‘When you walk on site, what are you looking for?’ It was no different this week and I got the usual answer ‘hazards!’ A number of people in the group had many years as inspectors, … [Read more...] about Making Objects Safe or People Safe
Gaining AS4801 Accreditation
How to Gain AS4801 Accreditation Some of the most common queries on this site are about gaining AS4801 accreditation or why you need to have AS4801 accreditation in the first place. Probably because, it seems that, even some of the organisations providing AS4801 accreditation find it hard to … [Read more...] about Gaining AS4801 Accreditation
25 Ways to stuff up a Safety Management System
Today is probably the most important national occasion in Australia and NZ. ANZAC Day – 25 April – marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The day our combined forces landed on the beaches at Gallipoli in 1915 … [Read more...] about 25 Ways to stuff up a Safety Management System
New ISO 45001-OHS Management System
New ISO 45001-OHS Management System Cip Corva had a discussion with me a few months ago about this concept and has now started a discussion on a LinkedIn Forum. See it here: SAFETY – Philosophy and Theory. To quote Kurt Lewin (1936) "There is nothing so practical as a good theory" A powerful yet, … [Read more...] about New ISO 45001-OHS Management System