Non-event

In this regard, the remarks of Nicholas Royle on surrealism and the uncanny are particularly relevant to alchemy and modernity. He writes People can always think of [surreaHsm] as an artistic movement which has had its day, or suppose that (in Jean Baudrillard s words) surrealism can only survive as folklore . . . could we not suppose that surreaHsm remains a strange non-event that has no proper place, but stiU haunts. . . precisely everywhere and nowhere (97-98). 

Searle suggests that objections to brain-to-mind causation result from a "flawed conception of causation", and he attempts to split the concept in two event-causation (a causal relation "between discrete events ordered sequentially in time"), and non-event causation which he illustrates with the example of the collective properties of the molecules of a table "causing" its apparent solidity. 

Best of all, although very toxic for microorganisms, it was not poisonous to humans. At the time, the medical community reacted coldly to this new discovery, however everyone thought that once a bacteria entered the body, nothing could be done, and penicillin was seen as a non-event. 

But as Hollnagel (2014 6) then goes on to state, this definition is very clever... but it introduces the small problem of howto count or even notice or detect a non-event, and this is where safety becomes challenged within safety management systems - how to manage something that is not actually happening ... 

As explored in Chapter 4, accidents and their statistics remain a key measure of safety, and as a result this continued focus on the numbers has somewhat inevitably led to the need to Target Zero. This approach also draws on understandings of cause and effect if all causes can be identified then all accidents can be prevented and therefore zero accidents can be achieved (Hollnagel 2014 63). Associating with ideas of safety as a non-event, zero therefore benchmarks safety in practice - no accidents making zero the true measure of safety. 

Situations will vary and are not predictable. Many high-risk calls resolve into a non-event, whereas routine calls can evolve into a life-threatening scenario. The key is for all responders to practice the same initial approach to calls regardless of the call s apparent nature. Every call or incident should be assessed in the same manner, with appropriate tactics practiced as needed. Any hazardous materials incident is a possible terrorist attack, especially if multiple casualties are involved. Also, any multicasualty incident that appears unusual, or any report of unusual casualties from an unknown source, should raise a red caution flag and be approached as a possible terrorist attack (Box 1-2). 

Outcome indicators are among those typically called lag indicators in safety science literature, as the outcomes always follow something they are the consequences arising from multiple other situational and contextual factors. Outcome indicators measure the outcomes of the socioteehnical system. However, it has to be remembered that safety is not an outcome and thus cannot be measured with outcome indicators. Safety is a dynamic non-event (Weick 1987) and non-events caimot be characterised or counted. Thus, we have to look at the term dynamic and seek to identify the way the non-event is created and acknowledge that we cannot ever capture the non-event itself... 

The cumulative effect of such reports was to establish predictions whose truth was guaranteed by the way in which the event, non-event or pseudo-event it referred to was reported. 

It is only when the outlines of such general frameworks have been discerned, that one can understand processes such as symbolization, prediction, the reporting of non-events and the whole style of presentation. The predictability of the inventory is crucial. So constant were the images, so stylized was the mode of reporting, so limited was the range of emotions and values played on, that it would have been perfectly simple for anyone... 

Table 2.11 shows the same for the elements of culture that contributed to this non-event. Those elements that are particularly pertinent to the Blackbeard event are italicized. Of these elements, the one that stands out is the leadership that was shown and the willingness to make difficult decisions. 

Safety and environmental information Based on available information, it seems apparent that information to do with this non-event was available in a timely manner, and that the information was transmitted to senior management quickly. Hence, the incident could be controlled before it got out of hand. 

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