A fresh look at safety management, drawing on Han Feizi's wisdom.

We are now in the era of the AI ​​revolution.
All the value systems and systems that have existed so far are collapsing.
Things that were once safe are being pushed to the edge, and things that were once looked down upon are now being treated well.
The struggles of those being driven out are witnessed everywhere.
It's a revolution.
The period of greatest uncertainty and confusion in history was the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
We look back on the present state of safety and crisis management and prepare for the future through the Legalist thought that brought an end to the chaos.

Unless safety drives performance, it will remain a matter of controversy rather than a focus for growth.
And controversy always only increases confusion.
Therefore, safety should be addressed not to legal experts, but to practitioners who have sweated and struggled in the field.
They convey the truth with harsh language rather than flowery language.
However, because his voice is not refined, he is often ignored.
This is similar to the situation that Han Fei was in.
Hanbi was slow to speak.
What makes Han Fei's Legalist thought different from that of his teacher Xun Zi is its practicality.
Ideas always shine in times and spaces where change occurs.
Safety management must also be based on practicality and reality.
It must start not with flashy banners and slogans, but with voices learned from the field.
--- p.23

In addition, safety insensitivity is always like a 'licorice' in the cause analysis of accidents after a major accident occurs.
The view is that safety insensitivity is a matter of someone's will.
However, insensitivity is a psychological phenomenon.
The chronic problem of looking at psychological phenomena only from a rational perspective still persists.
Being ignorant and being insensitive or dull are two very different things.
If we do a risk assessment and analysis, we can see that the risks are repetitive and regular enough to be predictable.
However, it is unclear when that risk will become a reality.
Eventually, the tension cannot be sustained, or our body's algorithm begins to recognize and react to the tension in a way that relieves the burden on the body at some point.
This is why safety is not addressed in the clear-cut realm of science.
--- p.48

There are two main types of lies in safety management.
One is about cause and the other is about effect.
As for the cause, it is to hide the cause of the accident.
It is a general cause rather than a specific cause that carries responsibility, or it is disguised as a cause whose subject is unclear.
For example, falsely reporting the cause of an accident due to unsafe behavior as an unsafe condition, social environment, or personal defect of the victim.
The results are related to the number of accidents and accident rates.
The number of accidents that are not officially reported as industrial accidents is being omitted.
--- p.63

So how can we elevate our desire for safety to the level of our needs for recognition, benefit, or esteem? According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, safety is the most basic, lower-level need.
The need for safety is always less intense than the desire for achievement or respect.
According to Han Feizi's logic, we must use a positive strategy in pursuing our desires.
Rather than trying to suppress the motivation for achievement, we must integrate the motivation for safety and the motivation for achievement so that safety becomes achievement.
In short, it proves that “safety equals money” or “if you are good at safety, you will be promoted.”
--- p.81

From this perspective, advanced safety countries or advanced safety companies are not places where risks have been eliminated, but rather places where risks are controlled at an appropriate level.
Ultimately, we arrive at the word 'appropriateness'.
The question is who will determine its appropriateness and how.
Regarding this ambiguous part, Han Feizi provides a fairly clear standard.
The act of blowing hair with one's mouth to find skin is considered excessive.

For a while in our country, when asked “What is political retaliation?”, the answer was “targeted investigation,” which is similar to what Han Feizi said about “chwimoguheum.”
The emphasis on safety management has never won over the excuse of 'reducing corporate activities'.
When a new management team takes over, the theory of justification may initially seem to have the upper hand, but as time passes, it quickly loses its momentum.
This problem can only be overcome through social consensus among all members.
--- p.99

Safety management is also fundamentally a matter of conflicting values.
The values ​​of increasing profits and pursuing convenience and the value of respecting life are always in conflict.
True safety management begins with the choice to always prioritize the common value of "life" when various values ​​collide.
Safety becomes established as a system and culture only when an organization remains unshaken and maintains the philosophical determination that "life is a non-negotiable value."
--- p.116

Hanbija says to 'control' the external system.
Han Feizi accepts as an unchangeable fact that humans are beings who pursue profit and avoid harm.
He had no expectations whatsoever of individual morality (Mencius) or enlightenment (Zhuangzi).
For him, the only subjects of solution are the state and the monarch.
Han Feizi's solution is to acknowledge human selfish desires, but to redirect those desires toward the benefit of the nation through a clear legal system of rewards and punishments.

--- p.152

Although communication tools such as smartphones and social media have developed, the most difficult thing is actually communication.
I've received so much communication training, but it doesn't improve at all.
Rather, as we focus on formalities, the essence of communication is obscured or hidden.
The conversations we have are not really about life and death.
So there is no trace of intense agony in it.
The same goes for safety communication.
Communication can easily become superficial, even when it comes to life-or-death matters or injury-or-non-injury issues.
A representative space for safety communication is safety education time.
In this respect, the stories of the guests introduced in Hanbija have great implications in terms of safety education and safety communication.
--- p.170

In fact, the role of a third party is very important in most of the problems that arise in our lives.
From a management perspective, a third party is a consultant, i.e. an external expert.
This is where their opinions are needed.
Reflection is taking a step back and looking.
But it is not easy to take a step back and look at yourself.
But you absolutely must see it.
Only then can you clearly understand yourself.
Only by understanding the current situation can we improve the problem and turn the risk into an opportunity.

--- p.201

The messages of death left behind by countless people who died in the disaster are disappearing.
It may be an attempt to uncover the cause of the accident and prevent further casualties.
It may have been meant to say that he did his best for his beloved family.
It may be that he cannot bear to say that a momentary mistake or oversight of his own caused such a huge accident.
Anyway, death has a message.
Leveraging it is more persuasive than anything else.
The dead speak not.
Because of this, the message is distorted, hidden, and concealed.
Death soon becomes a question of responsibility, responsibility becomes evasion, and evasion becomes a distortion of essence.
In the end, the message of death disappears.
80% of accidents occur at workplaces where accidents occur.
Workplaces where major accidents have occurred have a disaster rate five times higher than those where no accidents have occurred.
--- p.225

Ultimately, it's all about timing.
Decision making is about choice, and choice is about timing.
Time + Action (ing) = Timing, that is, performing an action at time.
Here, ing, that is, some action, we call choice.
Safety management is ultimately about making timely choices about risks.
The problem is that this choice conflicts with other areas.
The choice of the foreskin can be summarized as an act of seeking to gain profit through sacrifice and damage.
This would have caused much greater damage to the Jin and Jing states.
This runs counter to the essence of safety management, which is to prevent damage.
However, from my country's perspective, it can be seen that the effectiveness of my country's national security management was maximized in that it minimized losses by presenting a very appropriate timing.
--- p.244

Persuasion skills are not simply a list of methods.
As we can see from Hanbija, the problem is that we do not put in enough effort to manage safety despite knowing that it is difficult.
They work hard to secure a little more budget and try marketing.
But why don't they confidently attempt persuasion and negotiation when it comes to saving lives and preventing injury? Could it be because they lack confidence in the effectiveness of their actions? If so, it's a matter of skill.
It is difficult to achieve results if you lack confidence and skills.
And because we didn't define performance precisely.
--- p.270

Sometimes, things can lead to good results while you hesitate and cannot make a decision.
However, in risk areas, this is rare.
If you decide to take safety measures against a risk, but nothing happens, you may end up regretting it and thinking, "I did it for nothing!"
Conversely, if an accident occurs, you will bitterly regret not taking safety measures.
In the end, regret is unavoidable.
In that case, it is right to choose the option that minimizes losses.
There's one more thing needed here.
Legal regulations must be strengthened to ensure that losses exceed the costs of not taking safety measures.
Even if no accident occurs, failure to take the prescribed safety measures can result in significant losses.
This way, you will reduce the regret of ‘I spent money for nothing.’
The desire to ‘free ride’ must be eliminated.
--- p.296

Han Feizi tells us not to make the mistake of appointing intellectuals armed with brilliant rhetoric while neglecting those who can produce practical results.
As mentioned earlier, this is a passage that makes us think again about the lack of training of skilled personnel in the safety field.
From a national and social perspective, it is a serious problem that experts with no practical experience but only academic qualifications are using their positions to give weight to wrong opinions.
Especially when public opinion that accepts their opinions joins in, the essence is obscured and strange results are often produced.
We must create a society and organization where they are treated as top experts based on their practical skills, and where their voices are given equal power.
It is difficult to expect advanced results in this area where harmony is lacking.
--- p.316

Management should be measured and evaluated from a holistic perspective rather than short-term utility.
Approaching the realm of safety from a short-term and improvisational perspective only adds to the confusion.
This is precisely why, after several years, the cycle of reviewing from the beginning continues.
In the AI ​​era, sales volume is not important.
Productivity per capita becomes more important.
If you only consider safety as a cost, you cannot talk about performance.
We must make profits through safety.
‘Safety technology commercialization’ becomes important.
--- p.329

What we want in safety management is zero accidents.
What we have in hand is only formal safety training and wearing protective gear.
It's like a farmer holding a pig's foot and a cup of wine and praying for a good harvest and all kinds of blessings.
It is similar to King Wei, who requested reinforcements with 100 geun of gold and 10 carriages in a situation where the fate of the nation was at stake before war.
How much staff, budget, and time are devoted to safety? The size of your investment is everything.
--- p.353

To get people to listen when they don't want to, you need a different approach.
Google's '5-3-2 Rule' is an example.
This system allows employees to divide their working hours into two-week periods.
'5' means investing 50% of your working hours in your main tasks (core projects).
'3' means that 30% is used for joint projects or collaborative work designated by the company.
'2' means dedicating 20% ​​to personal projects or independent assignments that interest you.
Through this, the company encourages employees to achieve a balance of core performance, collaboration, and creativity.
The key is to go beyond saying, “We need to do things differently than we did yesterday,” and create the conditions that make it necessary to do things differently.
--- p.362

This same principle is also clearly demonstrated in the organizational culture of modern companies.
Southwest Airlines has led service innovation based on a culture that believes that "employee happiness equals customer satisfaction."
Unilever has placed sustainability and social responsibility at the heart of its corporate culture.
We created an environment where employees naturally participate in environmental protection and social contribution.
Edwards Lifesciences has a patient-centered culture of values.
We created an organizational culture where even new employees take it for granted to be considerate of patients.
The reason why even mugwort cannot grow like a horse is because the bad tiger has grown wings.
--- p.387

Life and history are ultimately about crisis management.
It is a trace of survival.
Because whatever our actions are, they are a game of risk, crisis, and danger.
How we respond to that risk or discomfort becomes a business and money for some.
They call it an opportunity.
Those who succumb to that danger become losers.
Sometimes that defeat turns into an opportunity.
Whether it's an individual, an organization, or a nation, the ultimate goal is sustainability.
Sustainability is ultimately about risk management.
This wisdom is undoubtedly best learned from those who lived through the most perilous of times. The AI ​​era is akin to the Iron Age civilization of the Spring and Autumn Period.
It's confusing and unpredictable all the same.
So, instead of guessing, we should learn from what already exists.

--- p.398