Seven Threats to New Safety Movements

Many of us find ourselves in several communities when it comes to our professional work. We are of course members of professions, such as psychology, human factors/ergonomics, engineering, occupational health and safety, and front-line professional roles. But many of us are also often somehow associated with communities with more philosophical or ideological takes on work, and related goals such as safety and quality. These tend to be rooted – at least historically – in scientific disciplines but ultimately can become ‘movements’, connected but often no longer fully integrated into disciplines. Somehow, movements exist in a third space, related to, but distinct from, disciplines and professions.

In safety-related industries, I call these New Safety Movements (NSMs): collective and loosely-organised action rooted in belief systems, to achieve particular goals related to safety, or to use particular approaches to achieve goals. New Safety Movements may aim to introduce (or resist) a perspective, set of principles, ideology, theory, method or intervention. New Safety Movements are a catalyst for reflection, dialogue, and change, but often introduce or exacerbate tensions, resistance, and struggles within a community.

Some examples of New Safety Movements, include the following: behavioural safety, crew resource management (various forms and iterations for different sectors), hearts and minds, high reliability organisations, human and organizational performance, just culture, patient safety, psychological safety, resilience engineering, safety-II, safety culture, safety differently, threat and error management, and vision zero/zero accident/zero harm. Most of these are not ‘new’ or even very recent, but once were (even if most or all were rooted in ideas much older, but further developed and popularised). Some NSMs spring splinter movements (as has happened in the history of psychology, and other disciplines).

There are many other other movements related to system performance (such as agile, scrum, devops, and leadership movements) and human wellbeing (such as community development movements, human potential movements, self help movements, recovery movements, and wellness movements). In some cases, there may have been no intention to ‘start a movement’, but that is what ultimately happened. For others, there was a clear intention to start a movement (sometimes with hidden commercial intent).

I have researched many ‘movements’ from more banal self-help or wellness movements, to various high control groups (such as religious and ‘personal development’ cults). In some cases, movements can become counterproductive, for adherents and for society. This tends to be when movements shift too far away from disciplines, professions, or indeed the perspectives of ordinary citizen outsiders, in terms of what seems reasonable and ethical.

So, this series outlines seven possible threats to New Safety Movements, based on my observation, listening, reading, and reflection over many years, concerning a wide variety of other movements: religious, social, health, and business. Not all threats apply to all New Safety Movements, but most of the threats seem to apply to most of the movements, to varying degrees. The seven threats below will each feature in subsequent posts (this post will be updated with summaries and links to each threat).

1. Over-commercialism – Over-commercialism has been evident in many previous movements, with signs including perpetual marketing and advertising, unusually high fees, frivolous trademarking and opportunistic domain name acquisition, and low value training programmes. In more recent years, social media has exacerbated these problems. To safeguard the integrity of New Safety Movements and practitioners, ethical principles and practices must be prioritised over commercialisation and commodification.
2. Egotism and leaderism – Egotism and leaderism have had a a toxic effect on many movements, and are evident in self-proclaimed grandiose titles and dubious ranking systems, celebritism and fanaticism, excessive use of self for branding, and dubious awards. New Safety Movements should beware of the signs and reject egotism and leaderism, focusing instead on  egalitarianism, humility, diverse perspectives, transparency, and the collective good.
3. Simplism and populism
4. Dogmatism 
5. Ethnocentrism and neocolonialism (coming soon)
6. Unprofessionalism (coming soon)
7. Cynicism (coming soon)

My hope is that we can be mindful of each of these threats, and reduce – as far as possible – the destructive potential of each. This way, the positive potential that may exist in some of the various New Safety Movements can be realised without too many unintended consequences or otherwise unwanted effects.