The ‘Feeling’ and ‘Being’ of Safety
What one thinks and feels about safety is defined by a worldview/ontology (theory of being). Any discussion about safety is therefore a philosophical discussion and a very subjective discussion at that. The idea that safety is a definable quanta is nonsense that lasts as long as the next event. Any denial of entropy is a denial of reality. One thing guaranteed by the fallibility, fragility and finite nature of personhood is that your feeling/being of safety won’t not last long.
Safety is not something that one ‘achieves’ or ‘owns’.
Safety is at best a temporary moment of confidence against the realities of living and being real in the world.
To speak about ‘being’ safe cannot be separated from the notion of ‘feeling’ safe. There is no objective measure of safety. Safety isn’t even about objects but rather the condition of subjects (persons).
Any distinction between ‘feeling’ and ‘being’ safe is delusional. Any talk about ‘guarantees’ for safety in the face of fallibility is nonsensical. Similarly, any talk of zero is pure unmitigated nonsense. The only way to speak of guarantees of safety and zero is to deny the very realities of what it is to be human. How odd this cult that professes perfection and then goes to work each day counting the number of times it never achieves its goal.
The real question for Safety is not whether injury and harm will come but rather, what one does when it is experienced?
One thing is for sure, neither the law or regulation expect zero, neither would anyone in the legal profession suggest that safety is demanded as an absolute. The whole notion of guarantees and zero are contradicted by the idea of ALARP and risk assessment. Any acknowledgment of risk is a denial of zero and any acknowledgement of fallibility is a rejection of zero (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/).
Risk Makes Sense (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/risk-makes-sense/) because we are fallible, finite and fragile. If there is no risk there can be no learning and all desire to eliminate risk is a desire to reject life and learning. What a strange cult that defines safety by a number and then exhausts all of its energy regurgitating belief in its created myths.
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