What if......

What if......

Just wondering what would happen if we erased the word safety, and possibly even safe from our collective vocabulary.

It's thrown around wily nily and added at the front or rear of other words to maybe to emphasise the importance of the phrase or words. But has the word safety been so overused now it really means nothing?

Moreover in business should safety be naturally incorporated in everything we do already? Do we really have to distinguish between everything else we do in business from safety?

And do workers even have any respect or belief in terms that start or end with the word safety?

Imagine what would happen if the word vanished overnight. No more safety data sheets, just data sheets, so more safety walks, just walks, no more safety advisors or officers, just advisors and officers.

No more safety management systems, just management systems, no more safe operating systems, just operating systems. No more safety briefings, just briefings. No more safety training, just training.

How much simplier would life be?

Murray Ritchie MSc

Author Seven Bad Habits of Safety Management... keynote speaker, hands on facilitator helping organisations transform their Safety Committees from compliance chasing to proactive Learning Teams.

1 年

I think it’s a great idea. Especially use as an adjective. You have my vote. Let’s replace it with “effective”.

Jeffery Lyth

Consultant, Facilitator, Author

1 年

There is always a better and more accurate word or term for what you’re trying to convey.

Jon Mann

Safety Professional RNLI Lifeboats

1 年

Absolutely Tom Bourne ! If presenting for example, I try to do the whole thing without mentioning the ‘S’ word, especially for non operational teams like sales or adimistration roles. Thanks for the post.

Phil Douglas

MD at Oracle Safety Associates, Safety Consultant, Safety Speaker, Safety Training Course Designer, Managing Director.

1 年

Completely removing the word could reduce focus and lead to more injuries and accidents. I don't believe life would necessarily be simpler if we erased the word and replacing it completely may shift the complexity elsewhere rather than gain simplicity. Someone posted last week about ‘survival’ as an alternative to ‘safety’ While I understand the intention behind this view, I didn’t believe "survival" an appropriate objective or mindset when it comes to managing workplace H&S. ?? What would happen if we replaced ‘safety’ with “survival’? We drop the pursuit of ‘safety culture’ and instead pursue ‘survival culture’. Instead of SOP’s the workforce get a ‘survival operating procedure’. PPE like a safety helmet’ becomes known as a ‘survival helmet’ Advisors such as ‘H&S Managers’ became ‘Health and Survival Managers. Safety training becomes survival training - teaching workers how to try to stay alive in hazardous contexts rather than hazard prevention. Job hazard analysis and risk assessments aim to evaluate likelihood of survival rather than implementing the hierarchy of controls. Leading safety metrics like injury rates are replaced by survival rates, recording how many workers endure unsafe conditions.

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