Safety Lover or Safety Hater What a crazy title for a blog but it was sponsored by a comment made to another blog recently. Apparently criticism of Safety (the archetype – capital S) means you become a safety (lower case ‘s’) hater. How interesting that criticism seeking to improve safety is … [Read more...] about Safety Lover or Safety Hater
Psychological Health and Safety
Psychological health and safety is arguably the number one emerging issue for organisations. What are you doing to understand and support your people?
Why Safety is Attracted to Behaviourism
There is no doubt that simplistic back and white binary thinking and methods are attractive. Who wants complex or ‘wicked’ when a simple delusion will do. All you have to do is place such a worldview over reality and make it fit your assumptions and then ensure you never talk about any of the … [Read more...] about Why Safety is Attracted to Behaviourism
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
Myth and Symbols in Safety
A myth is not a fairy tale or fiction but a false belief made true by ‘anchoring' to a symbol. Myths/symbols are not historically or scientifically true but are made true by the mythical proposition of the symbol. We saw this in the last blog about posture. Despite dozens of safety text books that … [Read more...] about Myth and Symbols in Safety
Risk and Safety Matrices and the Psychology of Colour
Risk and Safety Matrices and the Psychology of Colour Artists, marketers and advertisers (https://www.helpscout.net/blog/psychology-of-color/ ), fashion designers, graphic and instructional designers, supermarkets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO9UPy04WMs ), therapists … [Read more...] about Risk and Safety Matrices and the Psychology of Colour
Risk and Safety as a Social Psychological Problem
Risk and Safety as a Social Psychological Problem By Dr Rob Long Image Source: HSE Myth Busters When one reads through the many resources and programs about risk and safety one could be forgiven for thinking that safety compliance would be much easier if it didn’t involve people. I often get … [Read more...] about Risk and Safety as a Social Psychological Problem
Proof of Safety is not Through Paperwork
The excesses of paperwork in the risk and safety industry is evidence of the mythology that paperwork demonstrates safety. Similarly the idea that numerics and metrics demonstrate safety is based on the same delusion. All data whether quantitative or qualitative is interpreted, there is no such … [Read more...] about Proof of Safety is not Through Paperwork
Wisdom Based Safety
In a appreciative response to a blog on A Philosophy of Safety John Phillips used the phrase ‘Wisdom-Based Safety ‘(WBS), what a wonderful expression. What a delightful expression and far better than the brutalism of BBS. More on WBS later. There are two most profound indictments of the … [Read more...] about Wisdom Based Safety
The Human Race…
The Human Race… It’s Christmas, a time of the year that can create both a feeling of community and togetherness (we) while (ironically) also drawing us easily into a world of ‘I’ and ‘things’ (me). Christmas, set within the Christian tradition, is a story about the birth of Jesus as a human on … [Read more...] about The Human Race…
Why We Need to Understand Emotions in Safety
The evidence shows that the emotions support and clarify rational thinking. The emotions are not opposed to rational thinking as projected by various Scientist/Behaviourist ideologies. The idea that rational thinking is located in the brain and the emotions are found in an irrational felt … [Read more...] about Why We Need to Understand Emotions in Safety
