Just yesterday I was told, again, that if If don't believe in zero harm then I must want people to get hurt and therefore have no right to be in safety! Our recent article on the problems with “fire and brimstone safety” stirred up some debate about the ineffectiveness of negative safety stories and … [Read more...] about Safety as Faith Healing
Zero Harm
Stop the Train I Want to Get Off
Stop the Train I Want to Get Off I accepted a job this week to research amongst other things; suicide, near miss and other events in rail (good luck Dumb Ways to Die). I am working with a provider who has all the National data on the subject. As with any research project one must start with … [Read more...] about Stop the Train I Want to Get Off
Safety Leadership
Safety Leadership is not the Basics – 20 Suggestions of Where to Start A very popular one from the archives When you do a search on the internet for 'safety leadership' the first hit that comes up is a QLD Government handout, a ‘toolkit for safety leadership’ Can you imagine what the zero harm … [Read more...] about Safety Leadership
Safety as Avoidance
Safety as Avoidance The language of ‘error’ is unhelpful when it comes to understanding human judgment and decision making. One can assemble pyramids of ‘unsafe acts’ and ‘unsafe conditions’, fault trees of ‘active and latent failures’, maps of ‘violations’, ‘slips’ and ‘missed barriers’, sets of … [Read more...] about Safety as Avoidance
Supernatural Safety
Supernatural Safety Talking about the supernatural is not in vogue these days. The membership of the church is in rapid decline, there’s no longer ‘scripture’ in schools and the history of unethical behaviour by the clergy has put religion ‘on the nose’. So there’s not much talk of miracles, … [Read more...] about Supernatural Safety
All Death is Preventable
All Death is Preventable The tall building looked like a church with four high Corinthian columns and marble foyer. I walked inside, through the stained-glass doors and down some stairs. I was greeted by the Master who produced a large key from his pocket and opened a 3 metre high sponge … [Read more...] about All Death is Preventable
Don’t Play Footy, You Might Experience Harm
It’s footy season in Australia and time for tackling (sorry the pun) the unpredictability and risk of harm in sport. Of course, if you want to kill the fun, entertainment and enjoyment of footy, why not ask Safe Work Australia over to share the time in from of the TV with a few beers? This from … [Read more...] about Don’t Play Footy, You Might Experience Harm
Why Have Some Freedom in Safety When a Dose of Fear and Guilt Will Do?
Why Have Some Freedom in Safety When a Dose of Fear and Guilt Will Do? I was sent a rather sickening poster this today, another one of those pithy senseless aphorisms that now populate Linkedin. The poster read: ‘The person who choses safety is a person of conviction, character and caring’. This … [Read more...] about Why Have Some Freedom in Safety When a Dose of Fear and Guilt Will Do?
A Comparison of Safety Paradigms
A paradigm is a distinct set of concept and thinking that result in distinct practices. In recent times it has occurred to coroners at inquests, auditors and government that poor safety culture has a central role in normalising unsafe practice. Inspectors and auditors are now ever mindful that … [Read more...] about A Comparison of Safety Paradigms
The Problem With Zero
It’s a fascination how zero poses huge problems for mathematicians but causes no problems for safety (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRRolKTlF6Q). It’s fascinating how zero can mean many things for linguists (In football zero is ‘Nil’, in a telephone number its Oh, in decimals its ‘naught’ … [Read more...] about The Problem With Zero