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

Safety Risk .net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

Discover More on this Site

  • 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) 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 WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2020
    • 167 CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
    • COVID-19 (Coronavirus) 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

The Paradox of Positivism for Safety

June 11, 2018 by Dr Rob Long Leave a Comment

The Paradox of Positivism for Safety

imageMost people in safety would be unaware that the common philosophy driving the safety worldview is known as Positivism. You can get some background on positivism here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism. Positivism privileges information interpreted through reason and logic and is the most common worldview in the Discipline of General Science. Positivism is based on Empiricism which means it only accepts knowledge from sensory experience. Positivism like many philosophies was constructed in opposition to another philosophy. In this case Positivism was constructed by Auguste Comte (1798–1857) in opposition to metaphysics, non-materialist philosophies and philosophy itself. Positivism anchors to the scientific method and rejects non-material theory.

Positivism seeks to free itself from value-laden thinking in the quest for objectivism. Of course, this is a contradiction because the quest to divorce oneself from values is a value.

The positivist focus is on objects and the rejection of non-materialist understandings of the world. If something is not ‘observable’ then positivism must reject it, including psychology. There are a range of positivisms that have emerged since Comte but most share this foundation in objectivism, metrics, numerics and observable evidence.

The Frankfurt School which was founded by Fromm and Habermas later rejected the assumptions of positivism and founded the philosophy of Critical Theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School ). Since the development of Critical Theory a host of post-modern philosophies have emerged that critique the positivist assertion of logical realism and objectivity. Postmodernist and poststructuralist philosophies are two emerging philosophies from Critical Theory. The Social Psychology of Risk has evolved from these traditions.

When one looks at the WHS curriculum and the dominant focus on objects (at least 75% of all WHS curriculum) and Science, one understands some very strange contradictions in the safety-positivist worldview. In many ways this is a worldview that doesn’t have the philosophical equipment to even understand itself.

Strangely, without a focus on non-materialist thinking Safety finds itself with no thinking equipment to critique its own non-materialist discourse. Indeed, the positivist rejection of philosophy itself makes Safety more exposed to metaphysical trade-offs as it seeks numerical absolutes. Safety is now more immersed in metaphysics than one could imagine. In the search for zero that magical number, Safety now drifts into religious language and metaphors of super-heroes and faith/belief (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-for-true-believers/; https://safetyrisk.net/safety-as-faith-healing/; https://safetyrisk.net/no-evidence-for-the-religion-of-zero/). Because Safety is not equipped with philosophical thinking including An Ethic of Safety, it now accidentally falls into a religious worldview in its quest for secular absolutes. This is evident in the recent AASP (https://safety.assp.org/education/general-sessions/) and XXI World Congress on Safety 2017 (https://www.safety2017singapore.com/) conferences.

Philosophically speaking Safety has nowhere to go. Without a philosophical understanding of itself Safety cannot go any further than zero, which is why the new mantra must become ‘beyond zero’ or anything more or less than zero. This of course sets up Safety for delusion about fallibility (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/ ), vulnerability and suffering (all metaphysical challenges).

By building a fortress around positivism anchored to zero Safety can now only peddle confusion about its own metaphysical contradictions. Dekker experienced this at a conference recently (http://www.safetydifferently.com/oil-and-gas-safety-in-a-post-truth-world/) where he encountered faith-like denial of facts which he attributed to post-truth thinking. What this demonstrated was that in the grand search for positivist ‘facts’ the Safety worldview now rejects the presentation of those facts. Unfortunately, Safety is now anchored to a philosophical worldview that makes compromise and collaboration with other worldviews virtually impossible.

  • 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)

  • Intuition and Safety - January 24, 2021
  • The Linguistics of Zero - January 24, 2021
  • You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time - January 21, 2021
  • Poisoning the Professional Waterhole - January 21, 2021
  • Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook - January 20, 2021
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)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Robert Long, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: objectivity, positivism

Reader Interactions

Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

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

Visit Count – Started Jan 2015

  • 21,323,852 Visitors

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join over 30,000 other discerning safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Bernard Corden on Intuition and Safety
  • Rob Long on You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
  • Bernard Corden on You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
  • Jason Robertson on Are You a Safety Clown?
  • Rob Long on You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
  • Rob Long on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Michael Dale on You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
  • Wynand on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Wynand on Poisoning the Professional Waterhole
  • Rob Long on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Featured Downloads

  • What_it_means_to_be_an_OHS_professional (7595 downloads)
  • Real-Risk-Free-Copy.pdf (5543 downloads)
  • Plant Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Form (584 downloads)
  • "School of Ethics Map" has no version set!
  • Safety-Backronym-Poster.pdf (360 downloads)
  • hazard-database.xls (4012 downloads)
  • Supervisor-Induction-Checklist.docx (346 downloads)
  • Hazard-Reporting-sheet.xlsx (4689 downloads)
  • SEEK-Brisbane-91011-Nov-2016-2.pdf (351 downloads)
  • Effective-Safety-Management-Systems.docx (4992 downloads)
  • Training-and-Development-Needs-of-OHS-Personnel-23.docx (2543 downloads)
  • CLLR-SPoR-Unit1.pdf (446 downloads)
  • How To Make Your Own Cloth Face Mask (187185 downloads)
  • Active Living at Work (13772 downloads)
  • Hazardous Substances Risk Assessment Form (342 downloads)

Recent Posts

  • Intuition and Safety
  • The Linguistics of Zero
  • You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
  • Poisoning the Professional Waterhole
  • Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • The Seduction of Slogans in Safety
  • Certificate, Diploma and Masters Studies in SPoR
  • Measurement Anxiety in Safety
  • Are You a Safety Clown?
  • The Quantitative and Qualitative Divide in Safety

Footer

AUTHORS

  • Alan Quilley
    • Heinrich–Industrial Accident Prevention
    • The Problem With ZERO Goals and Results
  • Bernard Corden
    • AHH$ Covid$afe Chri$tma$ New$letter
    • Paradise by the dashboard light
  • 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
    • In search of plan B in workers’ recovery
    • What and how should we measure to support recovery from injury?
  • James Parkinson
    • To laugh or not to laugh
    • People and Safety
  • John Toomey
    • Who is Responsible for This?
    • Who Are Your People?
  • 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
    • It was the SIA until someone wanted to swing from the Chandelier
    • Common Sense is Remarkably Uncommon
  • Peter Ribbe
    • Is there “Common Sense” in safety?
    • Who wants to be a safety professional?
  • Phil LaDuke
    • Hey Idiots, You’re Worried About the Wrong Things
    • Misleading Indicators
  • Admin
    • Certificate, Diploma and Masters Studies in SPoR
    • Merry Covid Xmas–2020
  • Dr Rob Long
    • Intuition and Safety
    • The Linguistics of Zero
  • Rob Sams
    • I’m just not that into safety anymore
    • Social ‘Resiliencing’
  • Barry Spud
    • Barry Spud’s Hazard Control Tips
    • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
  • Sheri Suckling
    • How Can I Get the Boss to Listen?
  • 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?

FEATURED POSTS

Measurement in Safety, You’ve Got it All Wrong

The Safety Spoilsport

The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk

The 5 Ways We Identify Hazards

King of the World – Why is Sociopathy and Psychopathy so prevalent ‘at the top’?

Desensitization, Statistics and the Psychic Numbing of Numerics

New Year Safety Trade-Offs and By-Products

Toward Zero, A Failed Goal

The De-Ethicization of the Object in Safety

Natural Born Learners

Independent Thinking in an Uncertain World, A Mind of One’s Own

Safety Superstitions

Dumb Ways to Die Doesn’t Work

Safety Giveaways–Free Stuff!

Right Then Children, Sit Up Straight and Take Some Safety

There’s a Hole in Your Investigation.

Centre for Leadership and Learning in Risk (CLLR)–Study Calendar

In Honour of George Robotham and Geoff McDonald

The Tyranny of Absolutes

Starting Points, Worldviews and Risk

More Posts from this Category

Paperwork

https://vimeo.com/162034157?loop=0

Due Diligence

https://vimeo.com/162493843?loop=0

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