One of the bizarre myths of the safety industry is that it is a discipline of measurement and science. We even have the use of language like ‘safety science’ when there is nothing scientific about it.

The reality is, most of what is paraded about by Safety are not about measurement but semiotics, attributed as measures. You only have to look at the curves, pyramids, dominoes, bow-ties, swiss-cheese and risk matrix to realise that Safety is NOT about measuring anything. All of these symbols are attributed as having some kind of value when at best they are just a collection of symbols.

The only thing Safety really measures is injury rates. And, we know from all the research and from practice, that injury rates are NOT a measure of safety.

It is so amusing to read publications about what Safety measures (https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/system/files/documents/1802/measuring-and-reporting-on-work-health-and-safety.pdf) and what it reports on. None of this is about measurement. Indeed, this is a publication about affirming Safety belief and faith in ideas such as the Hierarchy of Controls. Whilst the hierarchy of controls is adored by the industry it says nothing about how these ‘controls’ work. Similarly, it says nothing about what trade-ffs must be made to enact any control. There is no sense of by by-products are created by any control. This is because the hierarchy of controls is a semiotic that symbolises a belief in Safety. It is NOT a scientific method or tool for tackling risk.

We all know that risk cannot be measured and that if there are 10 people discussing an activity you will get 10 different ratings of the risk. This is because all risk is subjective and cannot be measured. Similarly, anything to do with culture cannot be defined or measured. Any assertion that culture can be measured is dishonest, unethical and delusional.

IF we return back to the publication by Safework Australia (Measuring and Reporting on Work Health and Safety), the document is loaded with semiotics more than anything to do with a science of tackling risk. Indeed, the presentation of graphs related to injury and hazard reporting have nothing to do with the presence of safety.

Indeed, we all live each day in houses with hosts of hazards and our children get injured yet, none of us freak out about the harm our children incur. Indeed, we accept harm to our children as a reality of living.

We had five grandchildren over yesterday with their parents present. And what kids do is they run, chase and play. It’s how they learn. After 4 hours we had two hits on the head, 3 falls, one cut needing band-aids, 2 grazed knees and several punches thrown. There is nothing special about this. All parents know this is normal. Zero harm is an insane delusion (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/).

It’s only the safety industry that tries to maintain delusion and believe it as normal, when the truth is the opposite.

So, when a kid comes in crying, holding their arm, no-one is surprised. Indeed, one parent at the start put a 10 minute time limit on it before they forecast an event would happen. They were close.

Does all this injury and harm infer we don’t love our kids? No!

Does any of this mean we have an unsafe house? No!

Is any event that happened a measure of incompetence, recklessness (Heinrich) or ineffectual care? No!

Indeed, we all recalled similar events about growing up.

The only industry that has never grown up is safety=zero!

We also have this from Worksafe Australia (https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/system/files/documents/1703/issues-measurement-reporting-whs-performance.pdf): ISSUES IN THE MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING OF WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE: A REVIEW, and it states (p.12)

So, we have all these semiotics of symbols and all this documentation of hazards and injury rates and none of it is a measure of safety.

So, with all the activity of Safety, all the noise on measurement, all the noise of science and all the madness of checklisting boxes and paperwork, what does safety measure? Nothing.

Safety is clearly a semiotic activity that collects symbols it attributes with meaning. Then the industry ensures it doesn’t study semiotics, so it can maintain its myths and sustain its self-deluding biases, symbols (https://safetyrisk.net/20-cognitive-biases-that-affect-risk-decision-making/) and beliefs. But none of it is about science or measurement.

Safety has become a belief system that attributes value to symbols that don’t work and claims outcomes that are not a measure of safety. Then proclaims and repeats the word ‘professional’ as often as possible.

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