A Kiwi friend who is visiting Edinburgh, sent me this pic of the statue of David Hume, located in the Royal Mile. See Figure 1. Statue of David Hume.
Figure 1. Statue of David Hume
You will notice that the right foot of the statue is polished gold. This comes from the constant touching by people of the toes for good luck. See Figure 2. Touching Toes.
Figure 2. Touching Toes
The strange contradiction in all of this is that David Hume (1711–1776), the Enlightenment philosopher (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/), symbolises the ultimate in Empiricism. Hume maintained that, we need to ‘reject every system … however subtle or ingenious, which is not founded on fact and observation’.
Hume was interested in the study of human nature and rejected any notion of superstition or metaphysics without evidence in experience. Hume was most concerned with causation and wished to establish rules as ‘matters of fact’ based on experiential evidence. How strange then to touch his foot hoping that this could cause an outcome!
What Hume discovered was that, most claims to causation were by attribution, not evidence. We see this constantly in risk and safety where claims to something ‘working’ have no supporting evidence eg. ‘zero works’.
Many claims made in safety are simply attributions, for example, there is no evidence for the swiss-cheese theory of causation, it’s all attributed and simply confirmed by a semiotic. This makes Reason’s swiss-cheese a myth. Yet, people believe in it just like rubbing a statue for luck. The same applies for most symbols (myths) used in safety, that carry no supporting evidence (dominoes, pyramids, curves, bow-tie, matrix etc). Yet, people believe them anyway, which makes much of what Safety does, an act of faith.
The superstition of touching and kissing for luck is common (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-13-vw-1592-story.html; https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27237013). And, no amount of rational argument will stop the practice.
The same applies for the myths, rituals, slogans and superstitions of safety.
It is pure superstition to believe that once a checklist is completed that everyone on site will be safe. There is simply nothing scientific or evidential about the use of the coloured matrix indeed, Greg Smith describes this as his ‘go to’ method in a prosecution. It is pure myth to state: ‘all accidents are preventable’ or ‘safety is a choice you make’. There is no connection between injury rates and safety. Heinrich’s pyramid ratio of accident causation is pure concocted nonsense. All of this is attributed and has no foundation in evidence.
But, Safety doesn’t need evidence for what it believes.
At the Safety Science Innovation Lab where zero is believed to be a moral goal (https://safetyrisk.net/zero-is-an-immoral-goal/), there is nothing scientific or evidential for such a belief. At HOP, where slogans are made ‘principles’, there is simply no evidence that ‘blame fixes nothing’ indeed, the opposite is the case. These are just attributions and statements of faith that amount to nothing more than safety beliefs. There is no connection between the regurgitation of slogans and safety outcomes. They are as effective as touching the foot of David Hume and hoping for an outcome.
Most rituals in safety are quickly made ‘sacred’ (https://safetyrisk.net/the-sacred-and-profane-rituals-and-semiotics-a-lesson-for-safety/) and are politicised so that they become beyond criticism. When any belief in safety is made sacred, any criticism is deemed anti-safety. What a wonderful way to create myths and quash critical thinking and debate. This is why Safety seeks sources in safety engineering for research in ethics, culture, learning and neuroscience. And this makes as much sense as touching the foot of David Hume and hoping for an outcome.
If however, you are interested in an approach to risk and safety that works (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/it-works-a-new-approach-to-risk-and-safety-book-for-free-download/), that is founded in extensive evidence that is practical and positive, you can write here for more information: admin@spor.com.au
Dr Rob Long
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Brian says
Great Blog Rob, always a good read every morning.