What drives your safety method? Of course, it’s what you believe and value?

If you believe persons are objects in a system, then your methods will reflect that. This will be evidenced by a priority on counting, measurement, systems and the language of ‘performance’. These are often masked by slogans and linguistic gymnastics but when you dig below the surface the philosophy is just behaviourism, measurement and the actions end up being dehumanising. This is despite all the spin about ‘no blame’, ‘just culture’ and ‘difference’. Don’t listen to the spin, follow the money trail, who gets the money?

I noted a week ago that Hollnagel posted ‘RIP for Resilience Engineering’. What an amusing post. How long does it take to realise one is living in a delusion?

I find it so amusing and sad, those who concoct such silly discourse as ‘pre-accident investigations’, ‘safety 2’, ‘1% safer’ and ‘safety differently’ and have no declared methodology or method and yet, people fall for the con. It’s so easy to con this industry with a few slogans and meaningless spin. Then throngs of lemmings run around madly trying to work out how to operationalise spin and hype.

Of course, if you criticise any of this stuff, you’re greeted with emotive territory protection not critical thought. Similarly, there’s no engagement, questioning or intelligent enquiry.

If you want to know what all of this is about just chase the money.

After the conference entertainment has died down and the spin and reframing of discourse has gone, in the end there is no new method. Back to the same old systems, performance, measurement and slogans. But, where did the money go? Who benefits by it?

The trouble about all of this sloganistic discourse in safety is that it is misleading and dangerous for an industry that is yet to learn how to think critically.

When you finally declare the demise of silly language like ‘resilience engineering’, think of all who have been misled by such discourse. Resilience can never be ‘engineered’ (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/everyday-social-resilience-being-in-risk/). I get dumbfounded just how easily it is to con Safety to follow such nonsense. Then once committed to the con, create more conferences parading some ‘passion’ for trying to operationalise a slogan or locate some substance for a myth.

All it takes to expose any of this stuff as delusional is a few critical questions and Critical Discourse Analysis.

• Where is the substance?
• Where is the method?
• What ethic drives the discourse?
• Where is the money?
• Who holds the power?
• What are the beliefs?

These are the kinds of questions one learns to ask from a simple study of philosophy (https://safetyrisk.net/philosophy-for-risk-and-safety-free-workshops/). If you want to improve your critical thinking skills you can register here for free: admin@spor.com.au

No wonder ‘resilience engineering’ was declared dead, it was a nonsense idea from the beginning.

 Why is it that Safety would rather expend all its energy on a delusion or some slogan rather than give any attention to a simple method that works? (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/it-works-a-new-approach-to-risk-and-safety-book-for-free-download/).

We know why. Deep down Safety doesn’t want change. Safety would rather keep to its systems, behaviourism, performance, duty, traditions, myths and concepts where everything is comfortable and nothing has to be ‘unlearned’.

Safety would rather be entertained than move from what it knows, anchored securely to its traditional values, beliefs, the security of compliance and its myths (https://safetyrisk.net/rejecting-what-we-dont-understand-in-risk/). And don’t be critical, just comply, just follow, this is the message.

Follow the money and you will find out quickly what this is all about.

If however, you want to learn how to tackle risk, away from the noise of these slogans and hype, you can start by registering for the free workshop on philosophy and safety: https://safetyrisk.net/philosophy-for-risk-and-safety-free-workshops/ or register here: admin@spor.com.au

Or if you are unsure then download any of the free resources here: https://www.humandymensions.com/shop/