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

SafetyRisk.net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • Home
    • About
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact
  • FREE
    • Slogans
      • Researchers Reveal the Top 10 Most Effective Safety Slogans Of All Time
      • When Slogans Don’t Work
      • CLASSIC, FAMOUS and INFAMOUS SAFETY QUOTES
      • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
      • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
      • COVID-19 (Coronavirus, Omicron) 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 2023
      • 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
    • FREE SAFETY eBOOKS
    • Free Hotel and Resort Risk Management Checklist
    • 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
  • Social Psychology Of Risk
    • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
    • 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
  • Dr Long Posts
    • ALL 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!
  • THEMES
    • Risk Myths
    • Safety Myths
    • Safety Culture Silences
    • Safety Culture
    • Psychological Health and Safety
    • Zero Harm
    • Due Diligence
  • Free Learning
    • Introduction to SPoR – Free
    • FREE RISK and SAFETY EBOOKS
    • FREE ebook – Guidance for the beginning OHS professional
    • Free EBook – Effective Safety Management Systems
    • Free EBook – Lessons I Have Learnt
  • Psychosocial Safety
    • What is Psychosocial Safety
    • Psychological Safety
      • What is Psychological Health and Safety at Work?
      • Managing psychosocial hazards at work
      • Psychological Safety – has it become the next Maslow’s hammer?
      • What is Psychosocial Safety
      • Psychological Safety Slogans and Quotes
      • What is Psychological Safety?
      • Understanding Psychological Terminology
      • Psycho-Social and Socio-Psychological, What’s the Difference?
      • Build a Psychologically Safe Workplace by Taking Risks and Analysing Failures
      • It’s not weird – it’s a psychological safety initiative!
You are here: Home / Compliance / The Safety Control Delusion

The Safety Control Delusion

February 22, 2019 by Dr Rob Long 9 Comments

The Safety Control Delusion

imageOne of the profound realizations of parenting is that you cannot control your own children. One of the stark realizations of marriage is that you cannot control your partner. Yet, here is Safety pushing all this delusional nonsense about ‘controlling’ others.

There is a massive contradiction in the rhetoric of Safety. The mythology of ‘safety is a choice you make’ is in direct contradiction to the idea that people can be controlled. This yearning and wishing for control, even to the eugenics practiced by certain companies and preached by organisations in their quest for zero is a denial of the fundamental reality of human autonomy.

As much as we might wish humans were behaviourist rats in a cage, such a model of humanity is delusional. Half the time we don’t even know ourselves why we do things that are irrational and impulsively illogical. Sometimes an unconscious urge seems to take hold and we later reflect and wonder, ‘where did that come from?’ Safety needs to sit down sometime and have a good hard look at itself and wonder where all this is going.

I see with interest this growing interest in Safety with neurophysiology and suroepsychology. Maybe this is the grand hope to control those dysfunctional computers on top of those mis-behaving bodies. Of course, Safety doesn’t stop and interrogate the anthropological assumptions of this ‘science’ or what it proposes for human identity. Critical thinking is in direct opposition to compliance thinking.

And now we see an attraction to the delusion of the prediction of human behaviour: https://sianationalconference.com.au/session/conceptual-model-for-predicting-worker-safety-behaviour-in-construction-projects-a-neural-network-approach/

Are we about to see the insurance and gambling industries go out of business? Not likely. Both those industries know much more than Safety about fallibility, mortality, vulnerability and risk.

Why is someone not standing up and questioning the ontology of this silly language of ‘prediction’ and showing its trajectory? I will tell you why. Safety would rather believe the delusion of control than the reality of autonomy. Like the delusions of zero in denial of fallibility, Safety marches deeper into dream world than real world. Next step in the trajectory of safety is transhumanism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism). I wrote about this in my book on fallibility (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/).

One of the real life realizations about parenting and marriage is that if someone goes with you, it’s not because of your control but because of a dozen other factors beyond your control.

The attribution of control of others redefines the nature of policing. Who on earth wants to police their partner or children? If you seek to, what does that say about you?

Why would we need policing if people can be controlled? Why is it that our gaols are full of the same people who exit and re-enter if they can be controlled? The whole nonsense language of ‘prediction’ and ‘control’ is based on a behaviourist paradigm that doesn’t match reality. I’m sure the government would love to know how to ‘re-program’ terrorists who aren’t predictable and cannot be controlled. Maybe that’s why government avoids connecting with the safety industry, you simply can’t be a profession and believe any of this prediction and control nonsense.

  • 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)

  • Not Just Another ‘Hazard’ - February 3, 2023
  • Work-Life and Risk, Feminine Perspectives - February 3, 2023
  • How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety - February 2, 2023
  • Free Download – Real Risk – New Book by Dr Robert Long - February 2, 2023
  • ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do - February 1, 2023
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 a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Compliance, Robert Long, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: control, delusion, neurophysiology

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bernard Corden says

    February 23, 2019 at 1:00 PM

    I haven’t even mentioned any of the chthonic politicians or public serpents from the Moonlight State although I would probably exceed the permitted number of prescribed characters.

    Reply
  2. Rob Long says

    February 23, 2019 at 7:58 AM

    if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas

    Reply
  3. Bernard Corden says

    February 23, 2019 at 7:52 AM

    Dear Rob,

    A quick look at the $pon$orS for the UWA BusineSS $chool, the UQ $u$tainable Mineral$ In$titute, Mona$h Univer$ity and CQU corroborates your comments.

    As soon as government funding is slashed the establishments turn to private enterprise for financial support and the regulatory or policy capture process compromises integrity.

    The only notable omissions from the UWABS alumni are Bernie Madoff, Laurie Connell, Abe Saffron, Ray Williams, Rodney Adler, Warren Anderson, Tom Domican, Tony Mokbel and the late Christopher Dale Flannery.

    Money doesn’t talk it swears – Bob Dylan

    Reply
  4. Rob Long says

    February 23, 2019 at 7:15 AM

    Uni is all about money these days, its a business and they use the language of business to describe what they do.

    Reply
  5. Bernard Corden says

    February 22, 2019 at 8:57 PM

    Any chance of this getting through a Cochrane systematic review and meta analysis?

    Reply
  6. Rob Long says

    February 22, 2019 at 12:18 PM

    In Real Risk (now free online https://www.humandymensions.com/product/real-risk/) I tell the story about a group called the Order of the Star of the East who predicted that Jesus Christ would walk on the water between Sydney Heads for his return in 1924 (pp.10, 11 and 12).
    One might like to think that such predictions are the stuff of crack pots but the cult purchased land at Balmoral and built an Amphitheater for 20,000 pounds (about $8mill in 2019) so they could witness this event. The book has all the pics and details about it. My Dad told me about this when I was a little kid in Sydney and we lived nearby, he saw it.
    Isn’t it funny how Safety would rubbish such fanciful religious predictions and yet fall for the delusions of similar omniscience under the guise of science. The language of prediction and fallibility don’t match. Just because you want zero, talk zero, pray to zero and worship zero, doesn’t mean it make sense unless you are in the safety cult.

    Reply
  7. Peter says

    February 22, 2019 at 11:53 AM

    I’ve just read the synopsis of his talk, what a lot of twaddle. My question is “Is he talking about the prediction of robot’s behaviour?” If he was half way right then lets use his model to predict the next set of winning X-Lotto numbers!

    Reply
  8. Rob long says

    February 22, 2019 at 9:52 AM

    Or Jung’s archetypes and the collective unconscious

    Reply
  9. Bernard Corden says

    February 22, 2019 at 9:33 AM

    And in the dismal science of economics Adam Smith’s invisible hand from The Wealth of Nations is described as……….Unobservable market forces enabling the supply and demand of goods in a free market to reach equilibrium.

    Reply

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

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Never miss a post - Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,500 other subscribers

RECOMMENDED READING

viral post – iso 45003 and what it cannot do

Introduction to SPOR – FREE!!

Psychosocial Safety and Mental Health Series

Not Just Another ‘Hazard’

Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?

How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety

ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do

The KISS of Death in Safety

Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health

The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’

The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health

Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)

No Good Reason to Follow Reason

More Posts from this Category

NEW! Free Download

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Not Simply One other ‘Hazard’ - Personal Safety News on Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Rob long on How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Rob Long on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Matt Thorne on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • simon p cassin on Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • Hurak Learning on How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Rob Long on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Paul Gentles on An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Brent Charlton on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Rob Long on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian Edwin Darlington on The KISS of Death in Safety
  • Brian on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Jaise on The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Rob Long on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Linda McKendry on Posture Myths and Holistic Ergonomics
  • Rob long on Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Footer

VIRAL POST – The Risk Matrix Myth

Top Posts & Pages. Sad that most are so dumb but this is what safety luves

  • 500 OF THE BEST AND WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2023
  • Free Safety Moments and Toolbox Talk Examples, Tips and Resources
  • Road Safety Slogans 2023
  • Proving Safety
  • CATCHY and FUNNY SAFETY SLOGANS FOR THE WORKPLACE
  • NATIONAL SAFETY DAY/WEEK IN INDIA 2023
  • Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • Safety Acronyms

Recent Posts

  • Not Just Another ‘Hazard’
  • Work-Life and Risk, Feminine Perspectives
  • Psychosocial Safety, Is it possible to make it culturally normal?
  • How to Be Oriented Towards Psychosocial and Mental Health in Safety
  • Free Download – Real Risk – New Book by Dr Robert Long
  • Proving Safety
  • ISO 45003 and What it Cannot Do
  • Harming People in the Name of Good
  • An Advanced Understanding of Culture – A Video
  • Risk and Safety Maturity
  • The KISS of Death in Safety
  • SPoR, Metanoia and a Podcast on Change with Nippin Anand
  • Behavioural Safety is NOT a Foundation for Tackling Psychosocial and Mental Health
  • The Worst Approach to Psychosocial Problems is an Attitude of ‘Fixing’
  • SPoR Comes to Vienna June 2023
  • The Language of ‘Hazards’ and Psychosocial, Mental Health
  • Welcome to the Nightmare, Safety Creates its Own Minefield (as usual)
  • The Visionary Imagination – Louisa Lawson
  • Heaven ‘n Hell and the Safety Religion
  • Confirmity in Conformity
  • Numerology and Psychic Numbing
  • Thinking of Mortality
  • Safety is the Wrong Anchor
  • Foresight Blindness, Hindsight Bias and Risk
  • Getting the Balance Right in Tackling Risk
  • What is SPoR?
  • How Bias Inhibits Learning in Safety
  • Afraid to Let Go of What Doesn’t Work in Safety
  • When You Don’t Know What to do in Safety, Have Another Blitz!!!
  • Gloves and Glasses Compliance
  • A Case of Desensitisation – What Would You Do?
  • How to Leave the Safety Industry
  • The Mythic Symbology of Safety
  • Dark Waters, The True Story of DuPont and Zero
  • 400,000 Free Downloads
  • Am I stupid? I didn’t think of that…
  • Don’t Look Now Safety, Your Metaphor is Showing
  • Ratio Delusions and Heinrich’s Hoax
  • To Err is Human, You Better Believe It
  • Culture as a Wicked Problem, for Safety
  • Safety Leadership Training
  • Cultural Orientation in Risk
  • The Stanford Experiment and The Social Psychology of Risk
  • Objectivity, Audits and Attribution When Calculating Risk
  • Records of safety activities: evidence of safety or non-compliance?
  • Zero, The Seeking of Infinity
  • Safety Leadership Essentials
  • What Can Indiana Jones Tell Us About Culture
  • Safety as a Worldview
  • The Loathing of Limits

VIRAL POST!!! HOW TO QUIT THE SAFETY INDUSTRY

FEATURED POSTS

Who is the Enemy and What War is Safety Fighting?

The Last Thing is, Don’t Start with Safety

The Psychic Effect of Safety

Risk Culture and Cultural Risk

Complacency and The Wayward Mind

Understanding Goal States, Motivation and SPoR, A Video

Don’t Dare Speak the ‘f’ Word

Selective Safety and Well Being

What or Who Is Safety?

Safety, Ethics, SPoR and How to Foster the Abuse of Power

Understanding Just Culture

I was just trying to Help

Test Your Reaction Times

Free Poster–Risk

Not Much Like Safety…

What Can Safety Learn From Playschool?

Making the World fit the Safety Worldview

Bridging the Disciplines for Better Outcomes

A Great Comparison of Risk and Safety Schools of Thought

Science and Acts of Faith in Safety

Safety Aphorisms and Platitudes

Making Technicians Not Helpers

Desensitisation–the by-product of ill-conceived safety initiatives

Words Can Change Your Brain

Free Online Introduction to the Social Psychology of Risk

Managing Risk Rather Than Striving for Absolute Safety

Sergeant Safety

Could Understanding Grey Be The Silver Bullet

Defining Safety

When Art Speaks to Harm

The Conundrum in Discerning Risk

It’s Always About Paperwork

The Social Politics of Risk Workshop

Talking Risk Video–Anti-Fragility

History and Hindsight in Safety

Is Risk and Safety Perfectionism a Disorder?

Study The Psychology of Risk

Tackling the Reality of Harm

The Challenging Psychology of Ergonomics

A Picture Tells a Thousand Lies in Safety

More Posts from this Category

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address and join other discerning risk and safety people who receive notifications of new posts by email

Join 7,500 other subscribers

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

WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY?

What is Psychological Safety at Work?


WHAT IS PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY