What is safe?
When was the last time you took some time to consider what 'safe' is? What does the word mean to you as an individual?
I’ve been asking this question of people for years. In boardrooms, during audits, in conversations with peers, and whenever the opportunity arises.
The answers fall broadly into three camps.
Those who answer a different question, usually ‘what is safety?’
Those who respond with a variation of ‘being protected’ or ‘the absence of harm’, and finally, those who are right.
“OK, that is a confident way to start, Mick. I thought you were all about nuance and avoiding binaries?”
It is a fair criticism, one of many I hope you will have during your time inside my head, but let me explain.
I’m not saying those who have other ideas aren’t also right, just that they are missing something vital.
Safe, based on my own experience, is fundamentally an emotional state.
I cannot tell you to feel safe; only you know when you are in an environment or even a mindset that makes you feel that way.
Whether you feel safe will depend on countless factors outside of my control. Your sex, your gender, your size, your place of birth, your education, your friends, your family, your entire existence, and every experience and interaction you have ever had will have contributed to when you feel safe.
But that's not all. Whether you are hungry, thirsty, the temperature, what you are wearing, what you have in your pockets or the things you forgot to bring, will also affect your perception. You might, to the outside world, appear safe, but how you feel is only known to you.
To some people, the presence of a tiny, harmless spider is enough to remove the ability to feel safe in their own house.
Evolution has built into our psyche countless default responses that were critical to survival when our brains developed to keep us alive, which remain, even though, in the modern world, they can now do more harm than good.
So yes, safe is the absence of harm, but that statement assumes that we are rational beings with Vulcan like logic and clarity of thought.
Safe, if it is, as I believe, fundamentally an emotional state, then a safety role can’t be focused on individual safety. I cannot make you think that an enormous, hairy spider you find in your shoe is harmless if your entire life experience tells you otherwise. If I approach you with said spider, you will, rightly from your perspective, tell me to fuck off.
The other side of the coin is that you might be free climbing, the frankly ridiculous activity of rock climbing, where only sinew and skill prevent the practitioners from becoming human jam. From what I have read and seen of these brave souls, it is clear that although they are aware of the risks, they manage to control their fear to the point of almost being relaxed.
I don’t think I have met anyone who would say free climbing is safe, but to those possessing the geko gene, it is almost a meditative activity.
So, if safety isn’t making people safe, then what is it, and how does that affect how the safety profession should operate?
My position, at the time of writing, is that what has become known as Health and Safety or Health Safety and Wellbeing (or wellness if you are a fan of Goop*) is a facilitation role.
Safety people are not, and should not be encouraged to think of themselves as:
Saving lives
Compliance officers
Auditors
Gurus
The only ones who care
The lone voice of reason
Heroic
Policy writers
Box tickers
PPE suppliers
Or indeed essential.
Occupational Safety professionals, at least those of us who consider ourselves generalists, should be pragmatic facilitators of discussions.
I define the role of a health and safety professional as this:
“The act of facilitating an environment where positive interactions between those with influence and those who are exposed to risks are observed, resulting in effective work design and a mutually beneficial working environment.”
We should focus on developing this as our craft.
This is achieved through practical exposure to work, repeated failures, and a thorough exploration of the context and its impact on how work is designed, managed, and how knowledge is captured.
I know that all sounds very lovely, but I can hear you saying, “yeah, the weather must be nice on your planet, but down here that's not how it is”, and you have a point. The sad fact, however, is that the safety profession only has itself to blame for how it is viewed and what it does.
We are the reason people have for their perception of us, and the current trend of self-promotion based on personal branding, where individuals and consulting organisations attach themselves to a particular model or approach as it becomes a potential revenue stream, is becoming tiresome, and if the data is to be believed, failing those who trust us to help.
There has to be a better way, and I think there is, but that’s for another day.
*the home of a strangely scented candle