October is apparently ‘safety month’, a great idea to generate tokenism compared to other months. This year I see the ‘SafeTea chat’ initiative. Sounds like a great idea for open conversations and trusting-listening, hmmm, not likely. Even the expression ‘WHS discussions’ is use but?
None of this is about listening. The word listening gets no mention anywhere in the pages of any of the resources.
- How much listening will there be? Zero!
- How much conversation is expected? Zero!
- How much engagement will there be? Zero!
- The perfect answer for the lovers of zero is? Zero!
Little did you know, a ‘SafeTea’ is obviously another ‘zero event’. (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-as-zero-the-perfect-event/). Proudly brought to you by your zero lovers at the ‘zero event’ in Sydney in November (https://safety2023sydney.com/sponsorship).
People don’t understand, if you anchor to zero, you anchor to a numeric. If your semiotic is a metric then you become incapable of being person-centric. If your god is zero, then your worship is injury rates and your method is ‘telling’.
There is even a place where you can download a ‘plan’ for your ‘chat’ and, also a ‘SafeTradie checklist’. So, I downloaded the checklist and it says nothing about listening, open questioning or any of the essentials of conversation. Instead, it reads like an agenda put together by a chemical engineer safety inspector.
But hey, you can even get ‘creative’ and download the ‘National Safe Work Month campaign kit’. So, I downloaded that too and it’s just a set of posters. The best thing about these posters is that they have no silly safety memes (like ‘safety is a choice you make’ or’ all accidents are preventable’) or, meaningless slogans like zero.
BTW, Safe Work Australia (https://safetyrisk.net/validating-endorsing-and-supporting-zero/) are secret lovers of the great safety delusion – Zero (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/). But, back to the ‘SafeTradie checklist’. I wonder if challenged they will claim agnosticism? (https://safetyrisk.net/the-global-zero-event-this-is-safety/).
But, let’s persevere.
So, to start the ‘discussion’ roll the downloadable ‘discussion dice’ and start ‘talking’ about ‘WHS matters’. Yep, there’s the agenda and you can even download a Safe Work Australia topic list. Just what every tradie wants to talk about! But it gets better.
Next you take ‘notes’ as ‘action items’. Great, what a motivator to every tradie. Let’s have a WHS chat and have a notebook and pen handy. Can you imagine the confessions and frank discussion about truths on site oozing out of every tradie. BTW, do any of you want to report a psychosocial ‘hazard’ (https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/model-code-practice-managing-psychosocial-hazards-work ). What a sure-fire recipe for silence, hiding, deceit and fraudulence, the perfect description of a zero event!
What’s next?
Then you take your photos and post them on social media. What a great idea, not!
Of course, sitting in the corner of your downloadable checklist is a bold banner reminding you of your legal obligations and a caveat that ‘SafeTea chats’ could form part of WHS consultation under the ACT.
You couldn’t make this up (unless you were a safety engineer).
Only Safe Work Australia, the zero champions, could make up a checklist to ensure no one talks to each other. Maybe it was put together by a mechanical engineer?
So, you’ve downloaded your posters, checklists, discussion dice (safety agenda) and all the other zero goodies put forward by the lovers of zero (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/for-the-love-of-zero-free-download/) and what have you got. Nothing to motivate any person or tradie to talk anyone about anything, perfect (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-as-zero-the-perfect-event/ ).
If you actually want to learn about conversations, communications, listening, helping, care, engagement and methods that work to create engagement in risk (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/it-works-a-new-approach-to-risk-and-safety-book-for-free-download/), you could start by exploring the basics of SPoR (https://vimeo.com/showcase/4233556) or any of the fundamentals of conversation because there is nothing about any of this in this nonsense put forward by Safe Work Australia.
None of the basics of communication, conversation or engagement are present in any of this material put forward as a ‘SafeTea chat’. Another zero event. What is very clear is that safe Work Australia don’t consult when it comes to the basics of conversation.
brhttps://safetyrisk.net/have-you-had-a-drink-of-safetea/
Prompt