I had pictures sent to me today of a supposed ‘new innovation’ in safety. You couldn’t make this up: taped exclusion zones around doors so that opening doors don’t harm people. This is like the sign on doors that state: ‘beware of opening door’. This pic is a good example of hyper-safety.

Unfortunately, I can’t publish the photos sent to me because of the fear of recrimination. This is the culture of Safety, knowing that something is silly but afraid to talk about it. The same applies to the thousands of safety people who can’t speak up about zero, because they will lose their job. All of this silence simply enables the power of dumb down safety and safety fear (https://safetyrisk.net/zero-the-recipe-for-anxiety-fear-shame-and-blame/).

And in the grand Safety tradition of ‘This Toaster is Hot’ (https://safetyrisk.net/this-toaster-is-hot/) we have further evidence of an industry that doesn’t know what to do, is poorly educated and thinks that a bump on the head is the end of the world. When you live in the real world there is nothing more certain than you will be harmed, regularly and often.

Unfortunately, the standard safety curriculum creates this crazy attitude that Safety must prevent any accident. Indeed, this mindset is driven by the silly mantra of ‘all accidents are preventable’. This is the religious mantra that sits of the global safety=zero website:

When you talk nonsense to people and fill their heads with zero, swiss-cheese, injury rate ratios, silly pyramids, Heinrich nonsense and curves, no wonder Safety seeks out any space with which to demonstrate its lack of risk intelligence.

The first belief anyone in safety should affirm is that ‘all accidents are not preventable’. That’s why we call them accidents. That’s why we purchase insurance. That’s why we don’t deny fallibility but we live with risk in Everyday Social Resilience (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/everyday-social-resilience-being-in-risk/).

Putting safety tape over doorways is the height of dumb down safety (https://safetyrisk.net/risk-intelligence-and-the-quest-to-dumb-down-safety/ ).

The fixation of hyper-safety is alive and well in the safety industry. Just jump on any of these safety podcasts sites and listen to Safety talk to itself about how great it is. Safety podcasts are the grand echo chamber of mono-disciplinarity (https://safetyrisk.net/echo-chambers-and-thinking-about-risk/). And it’s all the same old stuff: systems, productivity, hazards, self-congratulation, ego-centrism, controls and performance. And if you like, you can cover it over with the rhetoric of ‘new view’.

Here’s a list of the top 10 sites you should NOT listen to: https://fluix.io/blog/safety-podcasts. Even when Safety tries to be ‘different’ and call its podcast ‘punk rock safety’ it’s just all the same old stuff, preoccupied with itself, talking to itself about what it thinks is important. Just as well only Safety listens to this stuff.

The message in these podcasts is often about FIGJAM Safety (https://safetyrisk.net/figjam-safety/). And the message is this: ‘only Safety can see risk’, ‘only Safety knows safety’, ‘only Safety can save’ or ‘only Safety knows best’.

Of course, the research shows that hyper-safety creates much greater risk (Taleb, Amalberti). Nothing is more damaging to the meaning of safety than safety gurus, safety crusaders, safety heroes and safety nerds filling the air-space and work-space with their own psychosis about themselves.

We also know that any minor accident, bump on the head, broken arm or twisted ankle doesn’t create legal liability when it comes to risk (https://vimeo.com/showcase/3938199).

Unfortunately, the insidious presence of Safety actually contributes to making Safety a laughing stock with people who know about high risk. We know that 90% of safety people don’t believe in zero (https://safetyrisk.net/update-on-zero-survey-just-believe/) yet it rules the safety airwaves. It took ‘centre stage’ at the zero conference in Sydney in 2023.

The last thing safety needs to establish credibility are gurus, nerds, heroes and crusaders preoccupied with safety. The world doesn’t live through the lens of safety. Hyper-safety is a mental illness. Even when you are a thousand kilometres from nowhere in Australia you will find Safety has been present on a bush toilet stating ‘mind your step’. Putting that sticker on a bush toilet says so much more than the message of the sticker. When you are a thousand kilometres from no-where the last sign I want to see is that ‘Safety has been here’. I don’t need silly safety in my life. I don’t need crusader safety invading every space it can put a silly sign.

Unfortunately, much of this crusading is about the fear of harm and then when I get all this silly safety stuff sent to me, it’s about the fear of recrimination. Poor olde Safety afraid to speak up and afraid of harm. No wonder so many consider leaving the occupation (https://safetyrisk.net/ohs-voices-from-the-resistance-rosa-carrillo/).