Safety Superhero

by Fargy

Every group has someone that performs risk assessments more carefully and talks about safety more than others. These people become Safety Champions.

Safety Superheros, more than meets the eye. Let's examine what makes a safety superhero.
It's often the case that people who are safety conscious are overly risk averse, we see parodies of that, and have probably run into that in our own lives.
Everybody does Safety, but we don't all vocalise it, and we don't all examine what Safety is and why we are doing what we do.

What is a superhero?

Why isn't a normal hero enough?

There is one over-riding quality of super-heros.

They are safer.

Superman is safer than we mere mortals.  He is invulnerable to our mortal coils.

We are in awe and we aspire to that condition.  To be immune to dangers, to be safe.

Other super heroes are like-wise safe.

Iron Man has a suit of armour to keep him safe.

Hulk is immune to our woes by becoming other than human.

It may be one reason why masked super heroes are popular, they become anonymous so we can more easily identify with them and become them.

Become safe inside our new identities.

Back in the real world it does take bravery to sponsor Safety, you will be accused of trouble-making, of being a whinger and increasing costs for no reason.

Sadly, nobody is going to call you a hero.

Which is another trope of superheroes.  They are unappreciated.

And so will you be when advocating Safety.  By the way, don't wear a cape, it only makes it worse.

 

 

 

A peek at superheroes.

Public Safety Heroes.

We honor our fallen.

Men and women who died to save others, to keep others safe.

The dangers in our lives are diverse and we take up roles in our efforts to control these dangers.

But the roles don't make us brave.  They don't make us super heroes.

We do.

We make choices on the spur of the moment that defy all of our history and all of our training.

They are not foolish decisions, they are based on valuing other people over our own selves.

We hope that our training and preparation help, but they are no guarantee when a fire is raging or some other danger storms out of control.

But these heroes are not alone.

Back in the offices and meeting rooms there are other dangers to beware of.

If we don't think through what we do in our planning, we are likely giving others the chance to be heroes in the future.  We should avoid giving them that opportunity.

When paperwork seems onerous, when regulations seem trivial, that is also a test of heroes.

Safety is a chaotic system.  Things always change and we need to measure and manage that.

If you can do that heroically, again you will not be thanked, but you will be a hero.

You will be keeping the public safe, but you won't get any publicity.

Good luck out there, be safe.

Other articles by the same author.

We think we are rational, but we don't act like it. Safety is the control of risks, and we assess risk through emotional filters. We can't help it.
Safety has a boring reputation, when it's really a wild child of the imagination.
Why is a safety match called a safety match? Why should we not play with matches? Fire is the embodiment of the dual nature of Safety/Risk.
Safety evolves not only in our personal lives and experiences but in our societal structures. Our rules of the game as it were. Each rule is paid for in blood.
Updated: 09/30/2013, Fargy
 
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