Videos on Zero, Grab Your Bucket
There are 24 videos on the site, all premised on statements of faith/belief, all ‘framed’ by the first two animated logo videos ‘We believe’. Yep, you have it, the Trinitarian logo of zero is framed by ‘statements of belief’. The first two animations presented on at https://visionzero.global/videos and are all about ‘belief statements’. Every stated belief in the videos sits in denial of fallibility, human frailty and finiteness even though every animated character is portrayed in such a way.
I was tempted to write commentary analysis on each video but the drivel is overwhelming and the more you watch the cult the more you dry reach.
We have already seen the Spirit of Zero (https://safetyrisk.net/the-spirit-of-zero/) but there more. How amazing all this rubbish because Safety doesn’t know how to escape the binary nonsense of zero.
Maybe watch the animation on hazards where a hazard is identified as a demon ghost. Or, videos on targets, results and goals that are not about targets, results or goals. Then again maybe you will like how many of the animations portray workers as dumb. (BTW none wearing PPE, including the animated executives).
The 7 golden rules videos are classic standard safety stuff, two on slips and trips. (Don’t you love the use of 3, 7 and 10 in zero and never 6, the devils number). Only zero could trot out more of the same and then call it ‘new’ or innovative when all of this stuff is tired old safety stuff – telling, dumb workers, boring repetition and believe in zero.
You might then wander down to other videos on numerics and statements of faith/belief starting with Hans-Horst Konkolewsky — President International ORP Foundation, Vision Zero Ambassador (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=preheDbNb1Y). Then follow a range of personal ‘testimonies’ of belief all indoctrinated with the ideology of zero. The only testimony learned in these stories is the sad tale of no critical thinking in the cult of zero. How strange this campaign on zero when practitioners don’t believe in it (https://safetyrisk.net/take-the-zero-survey/).
Of course, if you want to move away from zero so that safety improves (https://safetyrisk.net/moving-away-from-zero-so-that-safety-improves/) you need to reject all this propaganda by Zero and adopt something that works. A better way to do safety is documented in the latest book: It Works! A New Approach to Risk and Safety. (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/it-works-a-new-approach-to-risk-and-safety/)
rob long says
Hi Olivier, yes I was aware of the origin of these animations and it is interesting that Zero uses them as an anchor, particularly as they are so appalling and demeaning to workers. Also interesting that they are full of so many errors and problems. Like many things in safety and safety 2, there is lots to use as a study of what NOT to do. I’m positive none of thse people know anything of semiotics or poetics nor about messaging and the unconscious. Most of the stuff Safety trots out simply doesn’t consider many of the embedded trade-off and by-products of what they do, remarkably dumb and simplistic most of it. As for ‘golden rules’ of course, none of these are ‘golden’ or of much value except to distract from the most significant issues about tackling risk. Like all the other marketing like sexy sophie, Hazardman, Meerkats, Mums for Safety, Gekins etc just appalling messaging and once again Safety handing over any sense of developing meaning to dumb down nonsense produced by a marketing firm with no idea of what is needed to humanise risk.
As for the cult, these animations are right in the slot of cultic practice which is why Zero has adopted them.
Olivier says
Hi Rob, The 3D animated videos are issued from an European initiative started about 25 years ago. The first clip was released in 1998 so far. https://www.napofilm.net/en/ (btw look at the list of languages)
Each movie is a succession of short clips focusing an OHS topic. When working in steel industry, I used such clips as a starting point for a team discussion where each could share his/her own experiences about an actual risk in the shopfloor and together increase our knowledge and look for paths to improve the situation. I found useful the bit of humor in it, it helps free speech (that is not coming so easily within a team when using only serious policing media). Maybe it’s something of poetics…
Thanks to your article I see that “vision zerooo” is using a few of them to illustrate their “golden rules”. At least there is no matters of cult and no zeros in these clips – but I didn’t see the most recent ones yet 😉
See you soon,
Olivier