Continuing our series on Safety Myths – see them all here
If there was ever a dumb invention to desensitize Safety to safety it was the ‘safety moment’. Whoever thought this was a good idea knew very little about human neuropsychology.
This strange mythology supposes that starting every meeting with a ‘safety minute’ or whatever it is called demonstrates ‘safety first’ mentality. It doesn’t.
What safety moments demonstrate is absolutely no cognizance of how humans or safety works. Such is the inability of safety to understand the basics of trade-offs and by-products (https://safetyrisk.net/target-trade-offs-and-numeric-goals/).
What quickly develops from the so called ‘safety moment’ it its opposite. People quickly become desensitized to real safety and real risk (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/real-risk/) and this starts the embarrassing concoction of every petty safety nonsense reported to fill the safety air.
An obsession with safety is not a demonstration of safety (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-as-a-mental-health-disorder-obsession/). Obsession is demonstration of a mental health disorder.
Of course, once Safety sacralises a myth, it then cannot be jettisoned. Any rejection of a safety myth is interpreted as being anti-safety. So, looks like poor olde safety is lumbered with this nonsense myth of the ‘safety moment’ for the next millennia.
This is what happens when a myth/symbol is created. It is quickly given sacred status and then cannot be eradicated. This is what happens when one is convinced by the delusion of ‘safety saves’ (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-people-dont-save-lives/). The myth then becomes the new symbolic truth and yet again we have a new thing thrown into the paperwork mix along with the other collections of mythical nonsense like swiss-cheese, white cards and risk matrices.
The safety moment has many religious parallels that are ‘meditative’ in nature, like most invocations and mythical ‘spells’. Like saying ‘grace’ before a meal or praying before undertaking a risk, this is how the ‘safety moment’ works. This is how myth/symbol work as puritanical rituals. We have known about this for centuries, but not Safety.
So, here is your chance. Download all your safety moment templates and help desensitize people to safety: