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

Safety Risk .net

Humanising Safety and Embracing Real Risk

  • 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, Omicron) 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 and WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2021
    • 167 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
    • 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
You are here: Home / Compliance / You Don’t Want a Compliance Culture

You Don’t Want a Compliance Culture

March 2, 2018 by Dr Rob Long Leave a Comment

You Don’t Want a Compliance Culture

safety complianceI often get asked if I teach programs on compliance and I say no, I teach about learning cultures. The last thing organisations need is a compliance culture.

Compliance is most associated with adhering to standards or some regulatory requirement. Often compliance is associated with meeting minimal standards, doing what is required. However, there is a huge problem with seeking compliance. Laws and regulations are static, the human environment is not. Compliance standards are often based on history and can’t see forward to times of turbulence and change. Compliance to regulation shows that something has been learned historically but it doesn’t show what needs to be learned next. It is possible to comply with all standards and regulation and indeed be more unsafe.

Lets look at the following problem.

In my city in winter we experience the challenges of ‘black ice’ that is, ice on the road or surface that you cannot see but is treacherous. The speed limit in Canberra on the roads doesn’t vary because of weather conditions. In most parts the speed limit is 80-100 kms an hour. However, if there black ice is on the road, 50kph or less would be about right to drive safely. If drivers collectively slow down then visitors to our city tend to follow and so collectively we are kept safe. One could easily comply with 80kph and cause an accident. What is needed is much more than compliance. When we ask for people to drive to conditions we are going beyond compliance to human thinking, collective thinking and reflection on context. This is what is needed in a culture to enact safety. The maintenance of a thinking culture is much more effective than a compliance culture. Generally people learn by observing the ethos in a place and due to the social psychological pressure of belonging conform.

The greatest capability fallible humans have to tackling risk is adaptability. If a computer assisted car drove on the road with black ice and complied, it too would cause an accident. Goodness knows how a driverless car could ‘sense’ black ice.

A culture is best understood as ‘the collective unconscious’: what do humans do, think, believe, value and enact collectively without thinking? If a culture is made a compliance culture then non-thinking is encouraged. As long as one complies, one is safe. This is a false belief.

Human thinking is not the enemy of safety rather, critical thinking in context is a special human ability that makes situations safe. We don’t want to make cultures of unthinking people conditioned to blind obedience and compliance. Human sausages don’t make good meet. Sometimes we are much safer when we assess the situation and decide that breaking the rule is the safest option.

  • 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)

  • Linguistics, Language and Meaning in Risk - April 20, 2022
  • Is Safety A Virtue Signal? - April 18, 2022
  • Being Emotional and Being Safe - April 16, 2022
  • Understanding Real Risk - April 15, 2022
  • Understanding Humans and How They Tackle Risk - April 10, 2022
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)

Related

Filed Under: Compliance, Robert Long, Safety Legislation, Social Psychology of Risk Tagged With: compliance, safety compliance

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search and Discover More on this Site

Visit Count – Started Jan 2015

  • 23,916,627 Visitors

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 7,406 other subscribers

NEW! Free Download

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

Please take our 2 minute zero survey

Recent Comments

  • Raven on 500 BEST and WORST WORKPLACE HEALTH and SAFETY SLOGANS 2021
  • Rob Long on Understanding Real Risk
  • Musa SULEIMAN on Understanding Real Risk
  • Brian Darlington on Social Psychology Of Risk Workshops
  • Matt Thorne on Social Psychology Of Risk Workshops
  • Rob Long on Is Safety A Virtue Signal?
  • John Davey on Is Safety A Virtue Signal?
  • Kenny on 15 Safety Precautions When Working With Electricity
  • Rob Long on Being Emotional and Being Safe
  • simon cassin on Being Emotional and Being Safe

FREE eBOOK DOWNLOADS

Featured Downloads

  • Supervising Children Around Water (8648 downloads)
  • Zero-to-HRO.docx (1961 downloads)
  • Public-Event-Risk-Management-Checklist-HD.doc (3737 downloads)
  • WHO-recommended Handrub Formulations (1676 downloads)
  • Risk Intelligent Tract March 2017 (842 downloads)
  • Linz Workshop-17_18-Jan.pdf (1585 downloads)
  • CLLR-SPoR-Unit1.pdf (1474 downloads)
  • EPS Procedure (514 downloads)
  • Deck_and_balcony_safety_guide.pdf (3846 downloads)
  • Toolbox Talk Fact Sheet (6213 downloads)
  • Supervisor-Induction-Checklist.docx (1006 downloads)
  • Blowin'-in-the-wind-03092019 (1094 downloads)
  • Safe Work Method Statement NSW - Word doc (7038 downloads)
  • What_it_means_to_be_an_OHS_professional (9025 downloads)
  • Risk-Life-Poster-SPoR.pdf (1212 downloads)

Recent Posts

  • Linguistics, Language and Meaning in Risk
  • Social Psychology Of Risk Workshops
  • Is Safety A Virtue Signal?
  • Being Emotional and Being Safe
  • CLLR–Quarterly Newsletter–April 2022
  • Understanding Real Risk
  • Understanding Humans and How They Tackle Risk
  • How to Know if Safety ‘Works’
  • Programming for Safety, the Performance Myth
  • Complacency, Consciousness and Error in Safety

What is Psychological Safety at Work?

Footer

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 7,406 other subscribers

AUTHORS

  • Alan Quilley
    • Heinrich–Industrial Accident Prevention
    • The Problem With ZERO Goals and Results
  • Bernard Corden
    • After the goldrush
    • The Internationale
  • 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
    • Psychological Core Stability for Wellbeing in Workers Comp
    • In search of plan B in workers’ recovery
  • James Parkinson
    • To laugh or not to laugh
    • People and Safety
  • John Toomey
    • In it for The Long Haul – Making the most of the FIFO Lifestyle
    • Who is Responsible for This?
  • 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
    • Safety Culture–Hudson’s Model
    • Culture – Edgar Schein
  • Peter Ribbe
    • Is there “Common Sense” in safety?
    • Who wants to be a safety professional?
  • Phil LaDuke
    • Professional Conferences Are A Sleazy Con
    • Hey Idiots, You’re Worried About the Wrong Things
  • Admin
    • Social Psychology Of Risk Workshops
    • CLLR–Quarterly Newsletter–April 2022
  • Dr Rob Long
    • Linguistics, Language and Meaning in Risk
    • Is Safety A Virtue Signal?
  • Rob Sams
    • The Learning (and unlearning) that Revealed my Vocation
    • I’m just not that into safety anymore
  • Barry Spud
    • Things To Consider When Developing And Designing Your Company SWMS
    • Bad Safety Photos
  • Sheri Suckling
    • How Can I Get the Boss to Listen?
  • Simon Cassin
    • Safety values, ideas, behaviours and clothes
  • 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?

Most commented on

The Unconscious and the Soap Dispenser

Forecasting Safety

The Banned Objects Index – A New Development in Safety Culture

Dumbs for Safety

The Real Barriers to Safety

Safety as Faith Healing

Who Said We Don’t Need Systems?

Why Safety Controls Don’t Always Work

How to use signs, symbols and text effectively in communicating about risk

Safety Should NOT Be About Safety

FEATURED POSTS

Suffering – Sometimes There Is No Reason

The Common Sense Fallacy

Third Group Commences the Graduate Program in The Psychology of Risk

Toilet Roll Safety

Safety and The Sunk Cost Fallacy

A Great Comparison of Risk and Safety Schools of Thought

Cognitive Dissonance and Safety Beliefs

Culture About Much More Than Structure

Shock and Fear in Safety

cut finger

Confirmity in Conformity

The New Leadership – Risk and Safety

By What Method?

I Wasn’t Thinking Mr Spock

European Tour Dr Long 1-5 June 2020

In Honour of George Robotham and Geoff McDonald

Is Safety the Empire of Non-Sense?

The Hero Myth in Modern Management

Calculators, Matrices and Mumbo Jumbo Risk Assessment

The Fallible Factor and What to Do About It

The Problem with Zero Harm

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 7,406 other subscribers

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

 

How To Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer

 

 

How to Make your own Covid-19 Face Mask

 

Covid-19 Returning To Work Safety, Transitioning, Start Up And Re Entry Plans

 

How’s the Hot Desking Going Covid?

imageOne of the benefits of the Covid-19 epidemic is a total rethink about how we live and work (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-28/coronavirus-could-reshape-how-australians-work-forever/12097124 ).

Expertise by Regurgitation and Re-Badging

One of the fascinating things about the Coronavirus pandemic is watching Safety morph into epidemiology expertise. I would like a dollar for every flyer, presentation, podcast, powerpoint, checklist template, toolbox talk and poster set that had jumped into my inbox… Read the rest

The Stress of Stasis

One of the challenging things about the Coronavirus crisis is stasis. For those without work and confined to home, for those in self-isolation, it’s like life is frozen in time. ‘Stay at home’ is the mantra. The trouble is, in… Read the rest

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.