An original Barry Spud satire. The five-year review rule  requires every procedure to be reviewed whether it still serves a purpose or not. Sadie Tater arrived in my office carrying the COVID folder. Not a folder about COVID. The folder. It required a trolley and obstructed the doorway, which Sadie immediately identified as somebody else’s… Read More Sadie Reviews the COVID Procedures: Bringing Control Back to Work

Sent in by a subscriber An organisation launches a psychosocial safety campaign. Workers complete another survey, supervisors attend another briefing, and everyone receives a reminder to look after their mental health. Meanwhile, staffing remains inadequate, deadlines remain unrealistic, and the person who raises concerns is described as having a poor attitude. This hypothetical workplace has… Read More Psychosocial Safety – Are We Improving Work or Just Adding More Compliance

An original satire by Barry Spud, with conference coordination by Sadie Tater. The conference, sponsors, speakers and extravagant credentials below are fictional, apart from references to Dr Rob Long and his published work. Sadie and I are delighted to announce the inaugural annual Safety Tomorrow: Exactly Like Yesterday Summit. It is our seventh inaugural event.… Read More The Future of Safety: Same Speakers, Same Sponsors, More Letters

An original Barry Spud satire. I was delighted to discover the concept of 1% Safer. Finally, a safety slogan with a number attached. All the reassurance of mathematics without the inconvenience of specifying what we’re measuring. The underlying idea involves making practical improvements. Naturally, I could see room for improvement. Why do one useful thing… Read More Why Settle for 1% Safer? Barry Spud’s Fast Track to 110% Before Lunch

You have to love this one from Safety: Do Safety Slogans Still Serve a Purpose? And you have to remember in safety, its most important to have no expertise in what you are writing about. And this piece is no exception. The most important part of this story is to ensure you don’t define what… Read More Sloganeering, Indoctrination and Propaganda in Safety