The Safety World-view and the Worldview of Safety

Does Safety have a view of the world? Of course, it is evident in all it says and does, designs and worships. It is no different than culture. It is nonsense to propose that safety has no culture! Its characteristics can be observed in the many semiotics, myths, models, beliefs, rituals, memes and practices exhibited in literature, associations, regulators and associated groups.

One’s world-view is observed in how one orients to the world. Is the world controllable, linear, ordered, objective, observable, predictable, rational, ordered and measurable? Or could the world be ambiguous, chaotic, volatile, unpredictable, wicked, non-rational, disordered and incomprehensible?

Certainly, if one observes the many models adored by Safety such as Reason’s swiss-cheese, Heinrich’s dominoes, Bradley’s curve, Bird’s Pyramid or Bow-Tie, we can see a world-view of controls, predictability and belief in a linear reality. However, if one steps outside of the Western-infused worldview common to Safety, to any culture of the 5 billion non-Westerners in the world, this is NOT the worldview.

The world-view of Safety is a quest to put a structure over what is observed. See Figure 1. Giving Order to Disorder.

Figure 1. Giving Order to Disorder

In the face of chaos, the Safety world finds a structure and pattern of being, just block the holes in the swiss-cheese and all will be well. The trouble is, Reason’s swiss-cheese is a concoction, a semiotic myth that safety loves but is not real. Indeed, Reason’s swiss-cheese is a denial of reality, the world simply doesn’t work that way. But Safety loves James Reason, because his worldview confirms the safety worldview. The reality is, the concoctions of Reason are un-reasonable (https://safetyrisk.net/why-reason-is-un-reasonable/ ). Such is the power of Confirmation Bias and Cognitive Dissonance in Safety.

In other worldviews that accept disorder, wickedity, a-rationality, ambiguity and volatility, such an imposition of order on dis-order doesn’t make sense. Indeed, in non-Western worldviews where metaphysics is merged with living/being, such a rationalist view doesn’t make sense. Indeed, in Eastern worldviews (https://www.theschooloflife.com/article/six-ideas-from-eastern-philosophy/ ) the idea of replacing god with Rationalism, simply doesn’t make sense. Yet, in Safety it is clear that Rationalism is one of its guiding philosophies. The language of error is associated with wrong thinking and re-training becomes the optional response because ‘safety is a choice you make’.

In Eastern philosophies (https://credoreference.libguides.com/c.php?g=139729&p=915384) such a construct of Rationalism is not how the world is viewed. Indeed, projecting a Western worldview onto a culture governed by Eastern politics, values and philosophy, just brings a clash of worlds where power then becomes the rationale for Safety. It becomes a case of: ‘you have the wrong worldview, believe as I do’. We see evidence of this cultural arrogance where various safety groups think Safety has the right to over-ride others (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-gives-me-the-right-to-over-ride-your-rite/). When one’s duty is first to safety not persons (Deontology) then it becomes quite easy to demonise and harm persons in the name of safety. We see this evidenced in the ideology of zero harm (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/ ) and Behaviourism (https://safetyrisk.net/why-safety-is-attracted-to-behaviourism/) that dominate the Safety worldview.

If, however, you would like to explore a different worldview than the Safety worldview, you can register for the free Philosophy and Risk workshops to be held May: https://safetyrisk.net/philosophy-for-risk-and-safety-free-workshops/

You can register here: admin@spor.com.au

Registrations close 7 April.

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Prof. Robert Long

Expert in Social Psychology, Principal & Trainer at Human Dymensions

Latest posts by Prof. Robert Long (see all)

• What Can Weick Offer Safety - April 12, 2026
• All Injuries are Preventable and Other Silly Safety Sayings - April 10, 2026
• Social Psychology of Risk – Body of Knowledge - April 10, 2026
• Free Workshops June – Weick and HROing - April 10, 2026
• What Are Moral Hazards? - April 8, 2026

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.