Replying to LO29261 --
Dear AM et al,
This thread reminds me of a university professor I met while studying
occupational hygiene.
He made the comment that he couldn't understand, why when he recommended a
change to work practises in a (factory) workplace, the practices reverted
back to the former, a very short time after he had left the site.
I asked him who he was dealing with, on these occasions, and he answered -
'the foreman'. He thus demonstrated a total ignorance of the effect of
the management hierarchy, and its resistance to change.
This professor is a highly paid academic, working in a complex field and
influencing Australian manufacturing industry. He has no conception of
what it is like to work in a factory (or probably any other normal
workplace), yet he is teaching students how to deal with safety management
in workplaces.
When you look at the sources of his information, most of the tomes he
woulde use as source material, are written by people similarly out of
touch, some are medical practitioners, many are similar academics. Most of
these people don't even understand the basics of occupational hygiene.
I realise I am probably making assertions which might seem a bit
incredible. If you don't believe me, ask a safety professional to define
the term 'safety'. My definition is 'a situation or condition where risk
is minimised to a level tolerable to all stakeholders'. Ask him what he
thinks 'operational risk' is. My definition is that there are four areas
which have tradeoffs between them (quality, safety, environment,
security), it is the risk associated with business processes. These are
not commonly accepted definitions within the profession (YET) !, and they
are not the answers you will get from most occupational hygienists or
managers.
I have a real problem with the education system (in Australia), I believe
the old German system where there are 'master tradesmen' teaching might be
better. I don't believe our current system is capable of turning out many
COMPETENT people.
I believe the old saying 'THOSE WHO CAN DO, THOSE WHO CAN"T TEACH' is
cynical and cruel, however there is an element of truth in it, and it
indicates a real problem. We need those who 'can', teaching.
Best Regards,
Alan Cotterell
--"Alan Cotterell" <acotrel@cnl.com.au>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.