Understanding the "blues of safety professionals"

Int J Occup Saf Ergon. 2023 Dec 28:1-29. doi: 10.1080/10803548.2023.2298561. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTAbstractSomething is not right in the safety profession. Many books written by professionals in the 2010s express a strong discontent. These professionals are highly critical of their situation, practice, role and identity. In these books, they express what this article describes as the "blues of safety professionals". Although varying in writing style, tone, theoretical inspiration, emphasis, and experience, they address similar issues which relate to practices corresponding, in their eyes, to outmoded, inadequate, or even perverse ideas. The aim of this article is to introduce, summarise, explain, and problematise the significance of this literature. Following a methodological section, the 'safety professional blues' is introduced. It is argued in another section that the 'blues' pinpoints what these authors consider to be flawed assumptions about many of the core ingredients of the safety profession. The roots of this discontent are the topic of another section, while a final section problematises the 'blues'.PMID:38153757 | DOI:10.1080/10803548.2023.2298561
Source: International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Source Type: research