Another brick in the wall An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern Tony Benn 1 Almost all education has a political motive, which promotes national, religious or social group interests at the expense of its detractors. It determines the subjects taught, the knowledge provided or suppressed and the customs and conventions students […]
Zero Harm
Right and Wrong in Safety
Right and Wrong in Safety Safety is fundamentally a moral and ethical activity. Any desire for a ‘good’ or a virtue, necessitates an ethic. Unfortunately, even in how Safety shapes its own identity it doesn’t know nor consciously articulate an ethic. Even the brand of ‘professional’ demands an ethic. (It ought be remembered too that […]
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No Moral Compass in Zero
No Moral Compass in Zero ‘Humans by nature are social animals that are intended to co-inhabit in a polis’ William Bennett (1996) The Moral Compass, Stories of a Life’s Journey. Ethics is the study of moral philosophy and moral systems. Without an ethic one cannot have an understanding of the core principles that guide behavior. […]
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No Help for Mental Health in Zero
No Help for Mental Health in Zero I came into work in the safety industry after many years in various professions including Community Services, not-for-profit services, Social Work, Education, Youth Services, Youth Detention, Pastoral Counselling, EAP and Corrections. In all of these professional service cultures a core value is tolerance. You never know who will […]
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A Parallel Universe in Safety
A Parallel Universe in Safety I remember as a kid listening to my mother speak to other people about her marriage and often saying habitually ‘never a cross word’ (between her and Dad). I used to wonder if we lived in the same household because, that was not the reality. I am sure my Mum […]
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Making Language in Safety Meaningful
Making Language in Safety Meaningful Kakutani (The Death of Truth) helps us understand the power of confusion and doubt with the strategy of ‘fake news’ in the common era (https://www.amazon.com/Death-Truth-Notes-Falsehood-Trump/dp/0525574824 ). This was captured splendidly in the documentary Merchants of Doubt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqiCLuOtXts&pbjreload=10). Merchants of Doubt should be compulsory viewing for all safety people. One doesn’t […]
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No Alcohol for the True Believers
No Alcohol for the True Believers We know that zero vision and zero harm are all about belief, this was displayed proudly at the World Congress on Safety (https://safetyrisk.net/zero-vision-as-propaganda/ ). Zero Vision and Zero Harm are ideologies based on absolutes for fallible people. Well here is one for the cult of zero harm. Let’s see […]
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Zero Vision but Purchase Insurance
Zero Vision but Purchase Insurance One of the realities of maturity in fallibility is understanding finiteness, vulnerability and risk. The profession of infallibility is a sign of a mental health problem. It’s because we don’t talk non-sense to ourselves that we purchase insurance. It’s because we know human life is random and not in our […]
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Safety’s Garden of Eden Complex
Safety’s Garden of Eden Complex One of the enduring myths of the risk and safety industry is the naive belief in paradise. Paradise is that mythical place where no-ne will be harmed. We see this nonsense yearning for utopia demonstrated in the Bradley Curve and the ideological nonsense of zero harm. The yearning for a […]
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Petty, Pissy Zero Harm
Petty, Pissy Zero Harm Just when you thought Zero couldn’t get any more unprofessional and stupid, out come some classics this week. Here is an ad for the Head of Zero Harm. I wonder what the KPIs for that job are? Do you get sacked for the first harm? Do you get sacked for the […]
