I knew what they were looking for. “That’s very interesting, Simon, but it’s not what we’re after. We encourage e play, but the procedure clearly specifies an ICAM for this kind of incident, so can you please rework it in the correct form by close of business?”
Play? The correct form? I’d poured everything into this investigation. I’d immersed myself in the lived experience of those involved, diving in through the iCue method. I’d studied, I’d practiced, and I assembled the deepest understanding I could of what coalesced at that time, on that day. It wasn’t about collecting objective facts—it was about being fully present, engaging with the subjective human complexities rippling through the incident. But what they wanted was different: they wanted me to stand on the shore, just skim the surface, and don’t dare plunge in. Where I saw people, they saw procedure. Where I saw stories, they saw a form.”
I find it difficult to write about traditional Safety. I try to provide the reader with fresh, real-life examples, but I keep returning to the same few every time. This troubled me until it finally clicked. Safety, as it is traditionally applied, is empty. It has Technique, behaviourism and reductionism, much like a swimming pool with just a cup of water in it. There’s just no depth. If you want depth, you have to swim where Safety doesn’t, and fortunately, that opens up a lot of options. In that spirit, I’d like to introduce you to a series of papers on Phenomenology. Over the next five entries, we’ll explore how phenomenology can reshape our understanding of risk, moving beyond static forms and embracing the depth of lived experience.
Phenomenology: Understanding the Study of Phenomena
Phenomenology is the study of our lived experience, examining how phenomena appear to us and shape our understanding of reality. Recognised as one of the most influential philosophical traditions of the 20th century, it was founded by Edmund Husserl, with key proponents including Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Emmanuel Levinas and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. At its core, phenomenology is not focused on explaining why objects exist, but rather on how they appear to us and how we experience them.
A central distinction in phenomenology is its focus on the how of objects rather than the why. It is concerned with the ways in which objects manifest in our perception and how we experience them through different perspectives. The same object can appear in various ways depending on one’s relative position. Additionally, perceptual experience involves the interplay of presence and absence; we experience more than what is immediately presented at a given moment.
What we observe is never given in isolation, but is always situated within a horizon that affects meaning. (Zahavi, 2019, p. 10).
This horizon includes not only the unseen aspects of the object but also the broader context shaped by our expectations and prior experiences. By shifting our attention, objects that were once in the background can become themes in their own right.
Perception is not a passive intake of information; it is an embodied experience. There is no “view from nowhere,” as all perception is grounded in our bodily engagement with the world. A disembodied perceiver would lack spatial orientation toward an object. For example, as we move around an object, new aspects are revealed, allowing us to develop a deeper understanding of it. The body plays a vital role in this process, providing the orientation and movement that shape how objects appear to us.
Time is also essential in phenomenology. As we perceive an object, we retain past perceptions and build on that familiarity, creating an evolving understanding of the object over time. Zahavi (2019) notes that “We encounter the present on the basis of the past, and with plans and expectations for the future” (p. 13), emphasising how time deepens our engagement with phenomena.
By highlighting the role of context, embodiment, and temporality, phenomenology offers a more dynamic and grounded approach to understanding the world. It shifts the focus from abstract explanations of existence to the lived experience of objects as they present themselves in relation to us. This perspective challenges the idea of detached observation and underscores the importance of being fully engaged with the phenomena we encounter.
The limitations of Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) offer a useful contrast to phenomenology’s key principles. SWMS are written expressions of a safe system (method) of work, identifying tasks to be undertaken step-by-step, the risks arising from those tasks, and the measures required to control those risks. These documents represent future expectations based on past experiences—a reflection of work-as-imagined (what we plan to do, based on what we’ve done before). However, SWMS cannot fully account for the new information that emerges through direct engagement with the task.
Objects reveal new aspects of themselves as we engage with them. For instance, a SWMS developed for structural pile driving might include risk considerations for using a pile hammer, reflecting the anticipated risks—work-as-imagined. But when rock is unexpectedly encountered—a latent condition that did not manifest until the task was attended to—new information about the ground conditions is revealed. The task now requires drilling equipment, introducing risks that were not accounted for in the original SWMS. This shift illustrates the transition from work-as-imagined to work-as-experienced.
From a phenomenological perspective, the new phenomena (the ground condition), previously part of the background, now becomes a theme in its own right, disclosing more about itself as workers engage with it. This process aligns with the key phenomenological concept that our understanding deepens through active engagement and bodily interaction. What initially appeared as one condition (ground suitable for pile driving) now reveals itself as something more complex and risky, expanding the horizon of meaning. The reality of the task changes as we attend to the new information that manifests in the present moment, augmenting our understanding.
Phenomenology, as a philosophical tradition, emphasises how objects reveal themselves through our experience, shaped by context, bodily movement, and time. By focusing on how we perceive and engage with the world, it provides valuable insights into the nature of reality as lived and experienced.
Sources
Zahavi, D. (2019). Phenomenology: The basics. Routledge.
Rob Long says
A great start Simon, can’t wait to read the rest.