Selfies and Safety - a modern phenomenon
Laura Aucott
Associate Director for HSE Recruitment. Client-facing, focused on networking, building relationships, and helping to make Safety and Recruitment better.
Another unsettling story hit the news this week as Madalyn Davies, a young model and make-up artist, unfortunately died at a beauty hot spot in Australia - apparently in pursuit of the "perfect selfie".
The Australian authorities were unfortunately all too aware of the dangers of the area, and had erected barriers to try and prevent an incident occurring - however selfie lovers seemed to be climbing over these barriers to get closer to the dramatic backdrop of Diamond Bay.
This also seems to be a growing trend currently. A worrying statistic complied by a study by the U.S National Library of Medicine showed that there had been 259 deaths of young people between 2011 and 2017 alone, in the pursuit of the "perfect" selfie.
However, the researchers claim that the actual number of selfie deaths could be even higher than this because they are never named as the cause of death.
So how do we get people thinking about their own personal safety when out and about?
The Royal Society for the prevention of accidents has recently launched a new award, the Safe@work Safe@home award, in conjunction with L'Oreal, specifically designed to recognise companies who have demonstrated excellence and innovation in promoting safety outside of the workplace, in the home and in local communities.
I think this is a great way of getting employees to take practices and principles that they have learnt in the office, and apply them to their everyday life, and could be a great way to help prevent incidents like this (and other accidents in the home) from occurring (especially considering that accidents in the home kill around 40 times more people than accidents in the workplace.)
So do we think that we have our own personal responsibility to keep ourselves safe, or is the responsibility on the authorities who look after local beauty spots (such as Diamond Bay where Madalyn unfortunately died) and ensure that appropriate safety measures are in place?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Business owner (Master consultant)
4 年I was once told that these kind of 'stupidity accidents'? are nothing more than bleach in the gene pool.
Seems to me that your safety should be your responsibility first before it becomes the responsibility of authorities or any institutional guidelines. After all, those authorities and guidelines will continue to live on if you carelessly get yourself killed in the process of taking that perfect selfie. The crux of the matter is actually the addiction to selfies, if we can kill that addiction,it will be easier putting safety first in this (and other) contexts.?
Occupational Safety/Industrial Hygiene Operations Leader EMEAI Region
4 年Sadly, but ultimately, we (parents, teachers, friends, family, society) can only educate people to a particular point on these issues then Darwin does the rest for us and these examples become sad lessons for others.
Reformed Safety Jedi, now trying to bring balance to the force. 3 decades as a Motorcycle Instructor, safety rep and professional driver, I’m #MadeByDyslexia – expect creative systemic thinking & creative spelling.
4 年So is the hyper compliance also going to be applied to rock climbers??
Safety & Quality Adviser, Food Safety Trainer & DGSA
4 年I am more than happy for people to put themselves in danger in pursuit of narcissism.