• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Safety Risk .net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE RESOURCES
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • FREE DOWNLOADS
    • TOP 50
    • FREE RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS
    • Find a Safety Consultant
    • Free Safety Program Documents
    • Psychology Of Safety
    • Safety Ideas That Work
    • HEALTH and SAFETY MANUALS
    • FREE SAFE WORK METHOD STATEMENT RESOURCES
    • Whats New In Safety
    • FUN SAFETY STUFF
    • Health and Safety Training
    • SAFETY COURSES
    • Safety Training Needs Analysis and Matrix
    • Top 20 Safety Books
    • This Toaster Is Hot
    • Free Covid-19 Toolbox Talks
    • Download Page – Please Be Patient With Larger Files…….
    • SAFETY IMAGES, Photos, Unsafe Pictures and Funny Fails
    • How to Calculate TRIFR, LTIFR and Other Health and Safety Indicators
    • Download Safety Moments from Human Resources Secretariat
  • PSYCHOLOGY OF SAFETY & RISK
    • Safety Psychology Terminology
    • Some Basics on Social Psychology & Risk
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk – Prof Karl E. Weick
    • The Psychology of Leadership in Risk
    • Conducting a Psychology and Culture Safety Walk
    • The Psychology of Conversion – 20 Tips to get Started
    • Understanding The Social Psychology of Risk And Safety
    • Psychology and safety
    • The Psychology of Safety
    • Hot Toaster
    • TALKING RISK VIDEOS
    • WHAT IS SAFETY
    • THE HOT TOASTER
    • THE ZERO HARM DEBATE
    • SEMIOTICS
    • LEADERSHIP
  • Covid-19
    • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
    • Covid-19 Returning to Work Inductions, Transitioning, Safety Start Up and Re Entry Plans
    • Covid-19 Work from Home Safety Checklists and Risk Assessments
    • The Hierarchy of Control and Covid-19
    • Why Safety Loves Covid-19
    • Covid-19, Cricket and Lessons in Safety
    • The Covid-19 Lesson
    • Safety has this Covid-19 thing sorted
    • The Heart of Wisdom at Covid Time
    • How’s the Hot Desking Going Covid?
    • The Semiotics of COVID-19 and the Social Amplification of Risk
    • Working From Home Health and Safety Tips – Covid-19
    • Covid-19 and the Hierarchy of Control
  • Dr Rob Long Posts
    • Learning Styles Matter
    • There is no HIERARCHY of Controls
    • Scaffolding, Readiness and ZPD in Learning
    • What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?
    • Presentation Tips for Safety People
    • Dialogue Do’s and Don’ts
    • It’s Only a Symbol
    • Ten Cautions About Safety Checklists
    • Zero is Unethical
    • First Report on Zero Survey
    • There is No Objectivity, Deal With it!
  • Quotes & Slogans
    • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
    • When Slogans Don’t Work
    • 77 OF THE MOST CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
    • 500 BEST and WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2021
    • 167 CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
    • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) Health and Safety Slogans and Quotes for the Workplace
    • Safety Acronyms
    • You know Where You Can Stick Your Safety Slogans
    • Sayings, Slogans, Aphorisms and the Discourse of Simple
    • Spanish Safety Slogans – Consignas de seguridad
    • Safety Slogans List
    • Road Safety Slogans
    • How to write your own safety slogans
    • Why Are Safety Slogans Important
    • Safety Slogans Don’t Save Lives
    • 40 Free Safety Slogans For the Workplace
    • Safety Slogans for Work
You are here: Home / Robert Long / The Domino Delusion in Safety

The Domino Delusion in Safety

December 19, 2018 by Dr Rob Long 21 Comments

The Domino Delusion in Safety

Domino theory was popular political mythology of the 1950s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_theory ). The theory was used by President Eisenhower in 1954 to explain the threat of communism and how Nation states would fall if not defended. Domino theory is built on the symbology of a chain reaction, a cumulative affect that invokes the image of dominoes falling without restraint. The symbology became known as ‘the domino effect’ and has been popularized using videos displaying the uncontrolled fall of millions of dominoes triggered by one action ((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0jeohWnmAQ).

But is the domino effect real? Do events occur in a rational sequenced linear way in human life or are things much more messy and unpredictable? Is ‘domino theory’ an imposed construct used to interpret and attributed to events, even though there is no evidence of sequence or ‘chain’ causality? Why is domino theory so attractive?

‘Domino theory’ provided a wonderfully simplistic metaphor and symbol to explain justification for US intervention in Vietnam. If anyone doubts the power of symbols and metaphors in life just watch Burns and Novick’s The Vietnam War on Netflix. What a disaster that symbol fuelled as a country fell hook, line and sinker into war, seduced by the simplistic linear symbol of the domino. Everyone believed it, but it wasn’t true nor real. The trouble is, the mythology of the domino lead to 58,000 dead Americans and 1.3 million Vietnamese dead, all for nothing. Ah, the unconscious power of symbols/myths (Genosko, G., (2016) Critical Semiotics, Theory. From Information to Effect)

The idea that all these countries (see Figure One. The Domino Effect) would fall to communism didn’t happen. Simplistic binary models of attribution to human living are not real. The disaster of the domino theory and the Vietnam War is out in the open for all to study (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/ande13480). Those who are wise, discerning and can think critically know that any theory that seems too good to be true, is. What a tough lesson to learn.

Figure One. The Domino Effect

clip_image002

It is no coincidence that the notion of domino theory in safety also appeared in the 1950s. Heinrich (yes same one), Petersen and Roos in Industrial Accident Prevention (1959) put forward the theory as a principle in accident causation (pp. 20ff). The trouble is, domino theory is just as unreal in safety as it is in history. Unfortunately, this theory is still taught in safety along with other simplistic behaviourist (triangles/pyramids) non-sense (https://safetyrisk.net/the-curse-of-behaviourism/) and attributed as real. Unfortunately too, this mythology/symbology once in a curriculum is nearly impossible to remove.

All symbols take on religious significance in themselves (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bae3/aee8c51b3ea2ede4bbc306c464e0833bd877.pdf) and are attributed as efficacious despite the fact that all the evidence proves to the contrary. So, if you were trained in linear causation in safety you will undertake incident investigations, finding the attributions you want to confirm. The trouble is they are not real.

Look up any safety curriculum anywhere and you will find this mythical linear/binary symbology used to justify the most absurd nonsense masked as safety thinking. Nearly every incident investigation package on the market is based upon the domino/swiss cheese delusion of linear causation. All these are wonderful examples of Fundamental Attribution Error (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error) and Confirmation Bias (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias).

This is the challenge of Real Risk (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/real-risk/), attributing value to risk where there is none and falling for symbols in risk that create a false consciousness about risk (https://safetyrisk.net/false-consciousness-and-perception-in-risk-and-safety/).

If you want to invoke any change in safety in your organization, start with the symbols/myths and language that creates such delusions as the domino delusion. Getting rid of any of pyramids, zeros, matrices, dominoes or bow-ties will be hard enough, but if you can shift a symbol/myth and replace it with a better more humanizing symbol, the rest will follow. Symbols/myths are the litmus test of power.

The next SEEK Investigations Workshop is on 6,7 March in Canberra. You can register for SEEK here: https://cllr.com.au/product/seek-the-social-psyvhology-of-event-investigations-unit-2/

  • Bio
  • Latest Posts
  • More about Rob
Dr Rob Long

Dr Rob Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions
Dr Rob Long

Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)

  • Culture Silences in Safety – Holism - May 23, 2022
  • Culture Silences in Safety The Collective Unconscious - May 21, 2022
  • Culture Silences in Safety Artefacts - May 20, 2022
  • Culture Silences in Safety Symbolism - May 19, 2022
  • Culture Silences in Safety Mythology - May 16, 2022
Dr Rob Long
PhD., MEd., MOH., BEd., BTh., Dip T., Dip Min., Cert IV TAA, MRMIA Rob is the founder of Human Dymensions and has extensive experience, qualifications and expertise across a range of sectors including government, education, corporate, industry and community sectors over 30 years. Rob has worked at all levels of the education and training sector including serving on various post graduate executive, post graduate supervision, post graduate course design and implementation programs.

Please share our posts

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Robert Long, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: domino theory

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rob Long says

    December 20, 2018 at 11:56 PM

    John, I don’t understand social science and psych as science.

    Reply
  2. John Culvenor says

    December 20, 2018 at 9:04 PM

    Careful Rob, Psychology is a science as in the S in STEM. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Bernard Corden says

    December 20, 2018 at 7:36 PM

    Whenever there is conflict in the world you can rely on the US to show up six months late and bomb the crap out of neighbouring countries – P J O’Rourke

    Reply
  4. charlestortise says

    December 20, 2018 at 4:18 PM

    Rob, it is possible that Heinrich popularized the theory and then Eisenhower got it from him? Or, was at least aware of it as a result. It is perhaps pervasive because it is simple and as with other scientific notions is taken without reference to the context of the situation, much like many scientific laws are proven when the environment is excluded or at least discounted. As an aside the first domino in the sad and numbing tragedy that was Vietnam could have been that during WWII the Viet Mihn thought the Americans were revolutionary republicans and that Ho Chi Min referenced Thomas Jefferson when declaring independence from the French but for whatever reason the Americans failed to provide support and so the invidious international communists provided the necessary support.
    But back to dominoes in safety. As an analogy it provides a simplistic cause and effect model that allows those investigating the event to trace back culpability and assign blame to the lowest level of acceptable responsibility.

    Reply
  5. Rob Long says

    December 20, 2018 at 11:47 AM

    Perhaps reading Goodman Compulsory Miseducation might be a starter for the industry http://arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/goodman.pdf. This stuff was bread and jam in Education in 1970. More bricks for the fortress wall Billy!

    Reply
  6. Rob Long says

    December 20, 2018 at 11:41 AM

    The deeper in STEM it goes the more religious it becomes. In the end through mis-education the industry has no capability with which to reflect upon itself. In confirmation bias and compliance lust it deems all criticism as the enemy and demonsises dissent. Then there can be no learning.

    Reply
  7. Bernard Corden says

    December 20, 2018 at 11:33 AM

    The following link provides access to an interesting article from former Tory MP Matthew Parris, which appeared in a 2006 edition of The Spectator:

    http://www.spectator.co.uk/2010/06/when-several-things-go-wrong-at-once-we-rarely-consider-that-it-may-be-a-coincidence/

    David Hume was also pretty vocal about the topic and the alleged safety professionals merely dig a deeper and deeper hole.

    It would take a very bold engineer or psychologist who claims that our self-understanding, with the forlorn hope of an existence free of inner and outer conflict, is now greater than that of Montaigne or Shakespeare.

    Reply
  8. Bernard Corden says

    December 20, 2018 at 10:49 AM

    It is quite incredible how entrenched mechanistic thinking is within safety.

    Reply
  9. John Culvenor says

    December 20, 2018 at 8:37 AM

    The mattress one is a good find.

    Reply
  10. Rob Long says

    December 20, 2018 at 7:49 AM

    The lesson for me is that all domino falls are ‘constructed’ and ‘artificial’, they only work when laid out perfectly. If you actually play the game of dominoes its all about randomness, luck and unpredictability.

    Reply
  11. Rob Long says

    December 20, 2018 at 7:47 AM

    Reply
  12. Rob Long says

    December 20, 2018 at 7:45 AM

    Reply
  13. John Culvenor says

    December 20, 2018 at 7:35 AM

    Surely it works at least for dominoes.

    Reply
  14. Rob Long says

    December 20, 2018 at 7:08 AM

    What stands out for me is how the simple symbol of the domino had so much political and persuasive power. Everyone thought in the USA that it simply made sense and any criticism of it made you a Commie sympathiser. This is how symbology works politically and why the love of pyramids, swiss cheese and a host of other delusions in safety space have been infused with religious conviction. OMG, and to question and criticise safety and compliance is to want people killed. For the love of Zero!

    Reply
  15. Rob Long says

    December 20, 2018 at 4:15 AM

    Hi Carsten, don’t know that one either. I think maybe Aristotle started the whole causality thing off didn’t he?

    Reply
  16. Carsten says

    December 19, 2018 at 11:57 PM

    Silly him, not reading a book that would come out the next year… (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quiet_American)

    Reply
  17. Carsten says

    December 19, 2018 at 11:55 PM

    Indeed, silly him, not reading a book published in 1955. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quiet_American)

    Reply
  18. Bernard Corden says

    December 19, 2018 at 11:46 PM

    If only Dwight had bothered reading Graham Greene’s The Quiet American

    Reply
  19. Rob Long says

    December 19, 2018 at 8:09 PM

    I didn’t know that, did Eisenhower take his lead from safety? Ha! That might explain why Vietnam went so bad.

    Reply
  20. Carsten says

    December 19, 2018 at 8:06 PM

    Heinrich used the domino sequence for the first time in 1934.

    Reply
  21. Bernard Corden says

    December 19, 2018 at 3:04 PM

    Do not choose a coward’s explanation that hides behind the cause and the effect – Leonard Cohen – Alexandra Leaving

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Visit Count – Started Jan 2015

  • 24,022,169 Visitors

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,426 other subscribers

NEW! Free Download

How we pay for the high cost of running of this site – try it for free on your site

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Mark Wayne Arboso on 500 BEST and WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2021
  • Roel on Free Workplace Health and Safety Downloads
  • Rob Long on Safety Silences – Video Series
  • BRENT R CHARLTON on Safety Silences – Video Series
  • Rob Long on Sleep Dysfunction, Dreaming and Safety
  • Rob Long on Working Out What Makes Sense in Safety
  • simon cassin on Working Out What Makes Sense in Safety
  • Rob Long on The Safety Trifecta and Nothing Changes
  • Aneta Parker on The Safety Trifecta and Nothing Changes
  • Rob Long on How to Tackle Risk You Can’t See

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Recent Posts

  • Culture Silences in Safety – Holism
  • Culture Silences in Safety The Collective Unconscious
  • Culture Silences in Safety Artefacts
  • Culture Silences in Safety Symbolism
  • Culture Silences in Safety Mythology
  • The Safety Trifecta and Nothing Changes
  • Sleep Dysfunction, Dreaming and Safety
  • Working Out What Makes Sense in Safety
  • How to Tackle Risk You Can’t See
  • Study Reveals an Unexpected Side Effect of Traffic Safety Messages

What is Psychological Safety at Work?

Footer

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,426 other subscribers

AUTHORS

  • Alan Quilley
    • Heinrich–Industrial Accident Prevention
    • The Problem With ZERO Goals and Results
  • Bernard Corden
    • After the goldrush
    • The Internationale
  • Bill Sims
    • Employee Engagement: Chocolate, Vanilla, or Strawberry?
    • Injury Hiding-How do you stop it?
  • Craig Clancy
    • Task Based vs Activity Based Safe Work Method Statements
    • Safety And Tender Submissions
  • Daniel Kirk
    • It’s easy being wise after the event.
    • A Positive Safety Story
  • Dave Whitefield
    • Safety is about…
    • Safety and Compliance
  • Dennis Millard
    • Are You Risk Intelligent?
    • Honey they get me! They get me at work!
  • Drewie
    • Downturn Doin’ Your Head In? Let’s Chat….
    • How was your break?
  • Gabrielle Carlton
    • All Care and No Care!
    • You Are Not Alone!
  • George Robotham
    • How to Give an Unforgettable Safety Presentation
    • How To Write a Safety Report
  • Goran Prvulovic
    • Safety Manager – an Ultimate Scapegoat
    • HSE Performance – Back to Basics
  • James Ellis
    • Psychological Core Stability for Wellbeing in Workers Comp
    • In search of plan B in workers’ recovery
  • James Parkinson
    • To laugh or not to laugh
    • People and Safety
  • John Toomey
    • In it for The Long Haul – Making the most of the FIFO Lifestyle
    • Who is Responsible for This?
  • Karl Cameron
    • Abby Normal Safety
    • The Right Thing
  • Ken Roberts
    • Safety Legislation Is Our Biggest Accident?
    • HSE Trip Down Memory Lane
  • Mark Perrett
    • Psychology of Persuasion: Top 5 influencing skills for getting what you want
  • Mark Taylor
    • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
    • Enculturing Safety
  • Max Geyer
    • WHS Legislation is NOT about Safety it’s about Culture
    • Due Diligence Is Not Just Ticking Boxes!
  • Matt Thorne
    • Safety Culture–Hudson’s Model
    • Culture – Edgar Schein
  • Peter Ribbe
    • Is there “Common Sense” in safety?
    • Who wants to be a safety professional?
  • Phil LaDuke
    • Professional Conferences Are A Sleazy Con
    • Hey Idiots, You’re Worried About the Wrong Things
  • Admin
    • Study Reveals an Unexpected Side Effect of Traffic Safety Messages
    • Humanising Leadership in Risk, Shifting the Focus from Objects to Persons
  • Dr Rob Long
    • Culture Silences in Safety – Holism
    • Culture Silences in Safety The Collective Unconscious
  • Rob Sams
    • The Learning (and unlearning) that Revealed my Vocation
    • I’m just not that into safety anymore
  • Barry Spud
    • Things To Consider When Developing And Designing Your Company SWMS
    • Bad Safety Photos
  • Sheri Suckling
    • How Can I Get the Boss to Listen?
  • Simon Cassin
    • Safety values, ideas, behaviours and clothes
  • Safety Nerd
    • The Block isn’t portraying safety as it should be
    • Toolbox Talk Show–PPE
  • Wynand Serfontein
    • Why The Problem With Learning Is Unlearning
    • I DON’T KNOW
  • Zoe Koskinas
    • Why is fallibility so challenging in the workplace?

Most commented on

The Unconscious and the Soap Dispenser

Forecasting Safety

The Banned Objects Index – A New Development in Safety Culture

Dumbs for Safety

The Real Barriers to Safety

Safety as Faith Healing

Who Said We Don’t Need Systems?

How to use signs, symbols and text effectively in communicating about risk

Why Safety Controls Don’t Always Work

Safety Should NOT Be About Safety

FEATURED POSTS

In Honour of George Robotham and Geoff McDonald

‘False Consciousness’ and Perception in Risk and Safety

SOCD – Safety Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Human Dymensions Newsletter September 2016

Humanising Leadership in Risk, Shifting the Focus from Objects to Persons

I’m 100% Certain About That….

In Praise of In-Between Thinking in Risk and Safety

Shopping for Safety

Ten Risk and Safety Program Essentials

Framing Your World

Safetie

Free Poster–What is Safety

I Have the Power, I’m a Safety Hero

Risky Conversations, The Law, Social Psychology and Risk

Risk as a ‘Leap of Faith’

Understanding How People Make Decisions and Judgments

Work-Life and Risk, Feminine Perspectives

Social Sensemaking–New Book Release

Culture About Much More Than Structure

What You Profess in Safety

More Posts from this Category

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,426 other subscribers

How we pay for the high cost of running of this site – try it for free on your site

 

How To Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer

 

 

How to Make your own Covid-19 Face Mask

 

Covid-19 Returning To Work Safety, Transitioning, Start Up And Re Entry Plans

 

How’s the Hot Desking Going Covid?

imageOne of the benefits of the Covid-19 epidemic is a total rethink about how we live and work (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-28/coronavirus-could-reshape-how-australians-work-forever/12097124 ).

Expertise by Regurgitation and Re-Badging

One of the fascinating things about the Coronavirus pandemic is watching Safety morph into epidemiology expertise. I would like a dollar for every flyer, presentation, podcast, powerpoint, checklist template, toolbox talk and poster set that had jumped into my inbox… Read the rest

The Stress of Stasis

One of the challenging things about the Coronavirus crisis is stasis. For those without work and confined to home, for those in self-isolation, it’s like life is frozen in time. ‘Stay at home’ is the mantra. The trouble is, in… Read the rest

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.