It’s a fascination how zero poses huge problems for mathematicians but causes no problems for safety (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRRolKTlF6Q). It’s fascinating how zero can mean many things for linguists (In football zero is ‘Nil’, in a telephone number its Oh, in decimals its ‘naught’ … [Read more...] about The Problem With Zero
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Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
'Tis the season to be decorating the workplace with safety slogans so I thought I should republish this classic: Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple One of the most annoying things about social media, especially Linkedin (as its intention is to be professional), is the constant … [Read more...] about Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
New Year Safety Trade-Offs and By-Products
New Year Safety Trade-Offs and By-Products Hassan Vally introduces us to the concept of ‘microlives’ (http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e8223) which attempts to measure the life value of directions taken in life. For example: every hour of TV on the couch adds up to 15 minutes off your life … [Read more...] about New Year Safety Trade-Offs and By-Products
SIA has a Bet ‘Each Way’ on Zero
SIA has a Bet ‘Each Way’ on Zero Following in the wake of the Vision Zero spectacle at the XXI World Congress on Safety and Health at Work 2017 the SIA decided to release a statement on Zero on 20 September 2017. The Statement is nothing short of simple spin-doctoring to ‘have a bet each way’ on … [Read more...] about SIA has a Bet ‘Each Way’ on Zero
Safety is the Wrong Anchor
Safety is the Wrong Anchor We are all shaped by starting points, what Jung called Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions (SDICs). SDIC is sometimes known as the 'butterfly effect'. This is the idea central to Chaos Theory that a simple starting point can lead to wickedity. Foundational to SDIC … [Read more...] about Safety is the Wrong Anchor
The Covid-19 Lesson
I wonder what you have learned during Covid-19? Many people are talking about what they have ‘learned’ under Covid and that’s great. It’s good to hear people talk about appreciation of others, realisations about isolation, struggles with sameness, boredom and challenges in resilience. It’s … [Read more...] about The Covid-19 Lesson
Zero as Morally Wicked
Ravetz in the foreword to Independent Thinking in an Uncertain World, A Mind of One’s Own talks about ‘post-normal science’, ‘box-ticking culture’ and the ‘poverty of normal science’. He sets the scene for a conversation about the limits of the myth of objectivity and tackling some of the … [Read more...] about Zero as Morally Wicked
Tackling the Reality of Harm
‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life’. Genesis 3:17 How Safety defines hurt or harm is a huge issue for the industry. The monster of injury statistics now defined as safety has created a circus of linguistic … [Read more...] about Tackling the Reality of Harm
The Tension of Opposites and Binaries in Risk
The Tension of Opposites and Binaries in Risk We are all familiar with the symbol of the Ying/Yang - the meshing of black and white into each other signifying the merging of the two. We observe in the Ying/Yang that the white appears in the centre of the black and the black appears in the centre of … [Read more...] about The Tension of Opposites and Binaries in Risk
Do we really need “One More” safety brand?
Do we really need “One More” safety brand? I have just been reading an article by Kevin Jones of a “new model” of safety that the consulting firm Ernst & Young are about to launch onto the safety world. The value of this new approach, which they have termed “Plus One”, is that it apparently … [Read more...] about Do we really need “One More” safety brand?