The false claims of the Bradley Curve are so blatant, you shouldn’t need any help to tear its nonsense to shreds. However, I was sent this video from someone today who asked for help to understand it.
It is so sad that so many in safety are conned by propaganda and false claims.
So, let’s just look at this video.
Before we start, we should always ask, in whose interests is this presentation? Who does this serve? The video and the Bradley Curve are based on complete false assertions.
It is the natural intuition of all humans to preserve life, to sustain life. This is the foundation of Allostasis and Homeostasis. The idea that humans are intuitively harmful and unsafe is completely false. Yet, this silly curve is founded on this premise. Indeed, we all know that self-harm is a sign of a mental health disorder (https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/self-harm). This is the level of blatant misinformation and falsity that this curve is founded on. It is in denial of all we know from evolution and the idea of survival. It is not the instinct of humans to self-harm.
Hey, but who cares about truth when there are lies to be told!
The video starts with the semiotic of ‘zero accidents’, there is your first red flag at the 10 second mark. Another red flag is when you hear simplistic definitions for ‘safety culture’. And then this classic, we know safety culture best when no-one is there! (33 second mark) Really, could you be so stupid.
Then, false claims about DuPont and DuPont research, all false. Read about DuPont, they are not the great safety saviours but rather then opposite (https://safetyrisk.net/dark-waters-the-true-story-of-dupont-and-zero/). The mythology of DuPont is maintained by myth not evidence.
There is no research to support the Bradley Curve indeed, the research shows the opposite.
The video assumes that safety is demonstrated by injury rates and this too is false. There is no correlation between injury rates and the presence of safety. Indeed, this assumption when applied to parenting makes all parents unsafe. If your child has ever been injured then you clearly are an ineffective parent, instinctively unsafe. Such is the nonsense assumptions of this silly Bradley Curve safety propaganda.
If you care about evidence, safety and truth then, the last place to go is the Bradley Curve.
Dr Rob Long
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Brian says
Hi Rob, full support, we looked at the animation over the weekend and observed exactly what you are saying. I also just finished writing an article on Zero Harm and included the failures of DuPont in the Teflon issues.
Rob Long says
That’s good Brian. Yet Safety continues to repeat the complete rubbish of the Bradley Curve. All founded on a complete lie. Then again, I don’t expect much from an industry that doesn’t study or read anything outside of its small world.