• 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 Safety Charade as Tokenism in Safety

May 8, 2019 by Dr Rob Long Leave a Comment

The Safety Charade as Tokenism in Safety

imageWe learn today that Boeing have been proud participants in the Safety Charade (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/the-great-safety-charade/). The Safety Charade is when you spruik the propaganda of safety, usually zero harm, and then go about your business with real belief running underneath in culture. BP is also another classic example (https://safetyrisk.net/the-bradbury-effect-bp-syndrome-and-trifr-stats/).

It is now clear that Boeing knew the 737 Max 8 was riddled with problems and did nothing about it. (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-06/boeing-knew-737-problems-before-lion-air-ethiopia-crashes/11084326). No better example of the Safety Charade, zero harm indeed.

Of course the safety motto for Boeing is ‘Go for Zero One Day at a Time’ (https://www.boeing.com/principles/employee-safety.page). Zero is the language and ideology for companies that have a binary behaviourist philosophy of safety and don’t know what else to say. When you identify safety with a number you must pursue the nonsense of zero.

We all know TRIFR etc is absolutely meaningless (https://safetyrisk.net/challenge-the-great-trifr-and-lti-delusion/ ). But, good olde dumb down Safety keeps banging on with the delusional ideology, safety as LTI and nothing changes.

Zero is of course the global mantra signed on to by the SIA and it certainly ain’t no ‘by line’ (https://safetyrisk.net/sia-has-a-bet-each-way-on-zero/ ). Zero is not a number. Zero is an ideology that drives thinking in denial of fallibility (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/) resulting in brutalism. Safety simply doesn’t know what to do with fallibility and it looks pretty stupid when things go wrong and the scrip is zero.

So perhaps Boeing might change their zero ideology after killing hundreds of people? ah, not likely (https://www.boeing.com.au/resources/en-au/pdf/EHS-Policy.pdf). Look at the Boeing EHS policy spruiking zero harm whilst covering up their safety charade and now paying the price for safety tokenism. EHS policy looks pretty shallow when one looks at the intentional deception and delusion in the face of hundreds of dead bodies on the ground and plane crashes.

If you think that safety is about numerics and objects then the language of zero is all you have. Yep, just plaster zero harm everywhere, put out the checklists and then chase the golden dollar until found out! And just like BP, the price for tokenism is calculated in the tens of billions of dollars (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/13/boeing-lost-26point6-billion-of-market-value-since-sundays-crash.html) and still there will be no lessons learned. As long as the delusional discourse is zero remains and the industry denies fallibility, nothing will change.

  • 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)

  • 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
  • The Seduction of Slogans in Safety - January 19, 2021
  • Measurement Anxiety in Safety - January 15, 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, Zero Harm Tagged With: boeing, one day at a time, tokenism

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

  • 21,303,985 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

  • 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
  • Rob Long on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Bernard Corden on Sin-Eaters for Safety
  • Bernard Corden on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Audrey Silver on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Rob Long on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook
  • Andrew Floyd on Zero Vision Creates Mindless Gobbledygook

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Featured Downloads

  • hazard-database.xls (4004 downloads)
  • Active Living at Work (13752 downloads)
  • Preventing Heat Exhaustion (14760 downloads)
  • National-Emergency-Risk-Assessment-Guidelines.pdf (1187 downloads)
  • 2016AmericasSafestCompanies.pdf (1306 downloads)
  • Blowin'-in-the-wind-03092019 (415 downloads)
  • CLLR-SPoR-Unit1.pdf (445 downloads)
  • ATMs and ATM Cards (1345 downloads)
  • SEEK-Brisbane-91011-Nov-2016-2.pdf (350 downloads)
  • Supervising Children Around Water (7200 downloads)
  • Safety-Backronym-Poster.pdf (357 downloads)
  • Linz Workshop-17_18-Jan.pdf (539 downloads)
  • Risk-Unplugged-Peter-Ribbe.pdf (1115 downloads)
  • Falls-Risk-Assessment-Tool.pdf (1879 downloads)
  • Risk-Homeostasis-Target-Risk-3.pdf (1879 downloads)

Recent Posts

  • 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
  • Balance in Risk and Safety
  • It’s Always About Paperwork

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
    • You Can’t Believe in Zero and Learning at The Same Time
    • Poisoning the Professional Waterhole
  • 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

A Picture Tells a Thousand Lies in Safety

I’m just not that into safety anymore

Safety and Non-Neuroscience

Adversarialism and the Politicisation of Safety

Hoarding as a Psychosis Against Uncertainty

Psychology and safety

The Lexicon of Safety Gibberish

Workshop – Introduction to the Social Psychology of Risk

A Great Comparison of Risk and Safety Schools of Thought

Social Psychology of Risk in Canada

Critical Thinking and Questioning in Safety

So, You Want Culture Change

I Don’t Serve Systems

Study Social Psychology of Risk Online in 2018

Work-Life and Risk, Feminine Perspectives

Understanding Just Culture

The Dance of Death and Randomness

Blind Faith in Safety

The Trajectory of Zero Vision

Safety as Ritual Performance

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.