One of the first signs of distress in role conflict is loss of sleep, sleep disorder or psychosocial fatigue. We know that in whatever you do – The Body Keeps the Score (Van De Kolk ).

As much as behaviourists and the great safety con might want to tell you, humans are not bodies driven by a brain-as-computer. This metaphor is one of the most dangerous myths in all of the risk, safety and resilience world.

If you are not well psychosocially/mentally, you don’t ‘re-wire the brain’ to get well. This metaphor is founded on complete mythology and ignorance about embodied being. Similarly, ‘brain-fitness’ is a myth just as is the metaphor of ‘bounce back’. All of this language is unhelpful in dealing with distress that is triggered by social context. For example, bullying is not a brain activity but a social activity, harassment is a social activity and shame is a social activity. You don’t tackle social issues with brain re-wiring!

Similarly, all of the silly stuff about ‘brain-safety’, ‘habit-safe’ and ‘safety neuroscience’ is just more mythology. Myths are not fairy-tales but beliefs people construct symbolically to make their own reality. None of this stuff is much more than a con. None of it is supported by research in neuroscience (https://safetyrisk.net/essential-readings-neuroscience-and-the-whole-person/). Most of it is the marketing of a solution by engineers and behaviourists, looking for the next sale. Ah yes, let’s be 1% safer!

We know from recent research (https://neurosciencenews.com/sleep-circadian-rhythm-mental-health-25633/) that there is a strong link between sleep disorders, circadian rhythms and mental health.

One of the things the standards on Psychosocial Health gets right is that social structures and social arrangements at work are critical for mental health. The rhythms of life and living, sleeping, diet, work climate and exercise are just as important as what your brain does. When you go to the doctor the first thing a doctor does is monitor your heart, not put an instrument on your brain.

I have a friend who was caught up in Canberra in the whole ‘Mr Fluffy’ situation (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-14/mr-fluffy-asbestos-buyback-canberra/10355300). Many homes in Canberra were built in the 1970s using a very dangerous loose ‘fluffy’ form of asbestos for insulation. In 2014 the government decided to buy back and demolish these homes. The program lasted for 8 years that many describe as a ‘fiasco’ (https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/backgroundbriefing/5649508). My friend like many had their home demolished, payment made but they couldn’t afford to rebuild in the same location and so had to move. In the case of my neighbour, his relocation was about more than losing a home. He lost 30 years of identity, belonging, neighbours, history and belonging. The trauma of the Mr Fluffy saga and trauma is ongoing (https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/5998323/mr-fluffy-trauma-still-being-felt-and-will-be-for-long-time-to-come/ ). In the end all of this upheaval and distress resulted in a heart attack. My friend was fit and not overweight.

Van der Kolk’s book (2014) demonstrates (supported by extensive research) that distress and trauma is an embodiment problem not a brain problem.

What the research shows is that your social supports, community, friends and family connections are critical for resilience. We document this in our 14^th free book in SPoR: Everyday Social Resilience.

What happens in role conflict in safety, is that safety people in the workplace are left ‘high and dry’ with little workplace support.

I often hear from Safety people who are isolated both by management and workers because of what they are asked to do. No-one on site welcomes the policing of hazards and no-one in management wants to hear about your ‘passion’ for safety! Particularly, if that view conflicts with production. More so, when safety people are not educated in the skills of communicating or in understanding workplace politics. Most of the skills safety people need to thrive in the workplace are not a part of any safety curriculum across he globe.

People in safety are often stuck in the in-between, in role conflict and, this is distressing as well documented by Rosa Carrillo (https://safetyrisk.net/ohs-voices-from-the-resistance-rosa-carrillo/). This is one of the main causes of ‘burnout’. Rosa found in her research and from interviewees that 50% of people in safety contemplate leaving their job!

Burnout is described as: ‘a job-induced syndrome combining emotional exhaustion, depersonalization/cynicism, and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment’.

Maslach and Leiter (2016) state:

‘Burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job. The three key dimensions of this response are an overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. The significance of this three‐dimensional model is that it clearly places the individual stress experience within a social context and involves the person’s conception of both self and others’.

You can research more on burnout here: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA400/RRA428-1/RAND_RRA428-1.pdf

What can be done about the threat of burnout?

• The first thing to do is to jettison the many myths of safety locked into brain-centrism.
• The second thing to do is dump the marketing cons floating about safety about ‘habit-safe’, ‘brain-safe’ and ‘safety neuroscience’.
• The third thing to do is focus on everyday social relationships, building community and moving away from the ideology of zero that fixates on numerics not persons.

In SPoR, we offer help and methods to do all three (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/spor-and-semiotics/). In SPoR, we don’t just talk about ‘doing’ we provide powerful positive methods that work in transforming the way organisations tackle risk. In SPoR, we provide methods that enable safety people to care and help, without policing.

If this is of interest then you can register here for the next free online SPOR Introduction workshops: matthew@riskdiversity.com.au