It is nothing short of front row entertainment to watch consultants dance around the offensiveness of zero and act as if it has some skerrick of merit. The last thing we want to do is be harsh on zero or abrupt, we might lose business.
There is nothing good about Zero. Any absolute applied to fallible human beings (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/fallibility-risk-living-uncertainty/) can only ever be unethical and offensive. There is only one trajectory to zero – brutalism and corruption. It is no surprise that the main sponsors of this ‘zero event’ are under investigation and plagued with scandal (https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/workplace-safety-scandal-auditor-general-launches-six-month-investigation-into-failings-20221013-p5bphh.html; https://www.afr.com/politics/dominic-perrottet-s-icare-scandal-proves-slow-to-fix-20220807-p5b7wq ).
Zero is a blunt instrument and all of its demands are blunt. There is nothing in Zero that can compromise, no nuanced mood of conciliation, listening or movement. Zero doesn’t move but expects you to move to it. And many do. They think they can support a Zero Event and somehow not be identified with it. This is the fraudulence of consultants who want to ‘play’ in the poo game but not be stained by its stink. Reminds me of Televangelists who seek to preach the gospel about the taboos of sex by entangling themselves in sex scandals (https://www.essence.com/news/sex-scandals-christian-church-eddie-long/). Oh, didn’t you know, I was trying to influence and change them.
There is nothing gentle about Zero. It cannot be gentle. It demands absolutes for mortals and then presents videos about its own immortality (https://safetyrisk.net/the-spirit-of-zero/). This is zero ideology. It is a religious cult (https://safetyrisk.net/understanding-cults-and-safety-zero/). And, Zero describes itself cultically (https://safetyrisk.net/the-global-zero-event-this-is-safety/).
BTW, no safety practitioner believes in it (https://safetyrisk.net/take-the-zero-survey/).
But Zero doesn’t want to be made upset. It expects concessions, compromise and conciliation when it cannot offer the same. It expects people to tread around softly so that no one gets upset about their nonsense gobbledygook language (https://safetyrisk.net/believe-the-impossible-and-speak-nonsense-to-people/) and absurd methodology (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-experts-in-speaking-nonsense-to-people/ ).
- There is nothing more absurd that demanding zero of people but not of oneself (https://safetyrisk.net/hey-ceo-does-zero-apply-to-you/ ).
- Zero is the Great Safety Delusion (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/).
- But let’s not upset anyone. Let’s not ask the CEO if zero applies to them. Let’s act as if Zero has some merit when in reality it is the most offensive ideology of any industry.
In these days of political correctness, you better not preach zero at me because you will get a mouthful back. Don’t preach perfection at me, you won’t last long. Don’t tell me perfection is possible because my first questions will concern the perfection of the presenter. When one finger points at another, four fingers point back at you. Preaching zero to fallible people can only result in hypocrisy.
The truth is: Zero offers zero. Zero is a myth based on a myth.
The myth of injury rates as the measure of safety, created the myth that safety could be measured by injury rates.
This is why the only outcome of a ‘zero event’ can be zero. Except your bank balance will also be much smaller.
Thanks Heinrich (https://safetyrisk.net/deconstructing-the-myth-of-heinrich/). What is even more mythological (https://safetyrisk.net/the-meaning-of-myth-in-risk/) is that the industry continues to parade the concoctions of this 1930s charlatan of zero (https://safetyrisk.net/hoodwinked-by-heinrich/) and he still dominates safety texts.
- So, don’t ‘attack’ the myths of Zero (https://safetyrisk.net/myth-making-and-why-it-matters-to-safety/) it will be offended. Just act like this immoral ideology has some ethical value.
- Don’t name its by-products, it will be offended (https://safetyrisk.net/the-power-of-safety-myths/). Don’t talk critically about where zero ideology takes you.
- Don’t expose the religious ideology of zero, its faith-based thinking, religious rituals, fundamentalist extremism (https://safetyrisk.net/how-to-be-a-safety-extremist/ ) or salvation speak (safety saves https://safetyrisk.net/heaven-n-hell-and-the-safety-religion/), it will be offended.
- No, skirt around the edges, go to Zero Events, join in with the demand ‘just believe’ (https://safetyrisk.net/no-evidence-for-the-religion-of-zero/ ) and then cover your tracks with pretend justifications about wanting to make a difference.
Sorry folks, all of this ‘softly softly’ stuff is just a performance (https://safetyrisk.net/what-do-you-mean-by-performance/). Not in the safety measurement sense (https://safetyrisk.net/the-toxic-language-of-performance-and-risk/) (because there is no measure for discernment) but in the sense (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-as-ritual-performance/) of an ‘act’. And in Zero, the best act wins.
Dr Rob Long
Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)
- More Nonsense from the EHS Insight – Zero Injury Cultures??? - December 8, 2024
- Safety is an Art - December 7, 2024
- When Risk Doesn’t Make Sense - December 7, 2024
- How to Enable Unethical Practice in Safety - December 7, 2024
- Mapping an Ethic of Risk - December 6, 2024
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