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  • The Safety Anarchist

  • Relying on Human Expertise and Innovation, Reducing Bureaucracy and Compliance
  • By: Sidney Dekker
  • Narrated by: Sidney Dekker
  • Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (35 ratings)

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The Safety Anarchist cover art

The Safety Anarchist

By: Sidney Dekker
Narrated by: Sidney Dekker
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Summary

Work has never been as safe as it seems today. Safety has also never been as bureaucratized as it is today. Over the past two decades, the number of safety rules and statutes has exploded, and organizations themselves are creating ever more internal compliance requirements. Bureaucracy and compliance now seem less about managing the safety of workers, and more about managing the liability of the people they work for.

At the same time, progress on safety has slowed. Many incident and injury rates have flatlined. Worse, excellent safety performance on low-consequence events tends to increase the risk of fatalities and disasters. We make workers do a lot that does nothing to improve their success locally. And paradoxically, the tightening of safety bureaucracy robs us of exactly the source of human insight, creativity and resilience that can tell us how success is actually created, and where the next accident may well come from.

It is time for Safety Anarchists: people who trust people more than process, who rely on horizontally coordinating experiences and innovations, who push back against petty rules and coercive compliance, and who help recover the dignity and expertise of human work.

©2018 Sidney Dekker (P)2018 Sidney Dekker

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What listeners say about The Safety Anarchist

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great accompany with the book

The book is inspiring and provoking when possible, Dekker's style is one you'll like or hate: not much gray area.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • AB
  • 27-01-19

Thought provoking if a bit odd and soporific delivery.

It’s classic Dekker, lot of crazy stuff surrounding nuggets on impressive philosophy. If you don’t know Dekker I wouldn’t start here. The performance is unfortunate. He’s a very passionate engaged speaker normally but I suspect he’s been told to talk slower and clearer for this. Unfortunately it loses engagement and the monotone is that of a bedtime story. Listen at 1.25 or 1.5 speed.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Quite Philosophical

Having previously consumed Dekker's Field Guide and much of the felt available media he is featured in on YouTube, this was much more of an examination of a particular world view and it's impact on society.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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A MUST READ FOR HEALTH & SAFETY PROFESSIONALS

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a really beautifully written book demonstrating how we need to change how we manage safety in our organisations. Relevant examples are given, and it will be hard for any safety professional out there not to take on board some of Sidney's valuable insights. He shows safety up for what it has become, an overly controlling and bureaucratic function, that is detracting rather than adding value to businesses in many cases. What is great is that Sidney doesn't just show us where we are failing, he guides us in the direction of good principles, bringing us back to why health and safety came about in the first place - to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of people within our organisations. Absolutely brilliant...

Have you listened to any of Sidney Dekker’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I am a big fan of Sidney Dekker's, and have many hard copies of his books. To have the audio versions is brilliant, especially when Sidney was the narrator.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

classic book for the safety practitioner

A must listen, though unfortunately the delivery is flat and not in Dekker's usual enigmatic style.

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Smarter Safety

States how simple safety should be and can be, with cold-face discussions and no bull.

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Focus more on solutions

I really wish the whole book had been more like the last two chapters with focus on solutions and what you can practically do to change the system.

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