21/01/2026
14/30 🧀
I picked this theory up working on oil rigs.
It’s called the Swiss cheese model.
Basically… bad stuff usually doesn’t happen because of one big thing.
It happens when loads of small protections fail at the same time.
Think about leaving your house empty for a holiday.
You lock the door.
Set an alarm.
Tell a neighbour.
The more you have in place, the more likely a burglar thinks nah, too risky.
Each one isn’t perfect, but together they help.
Workplaces already do this really well for physical safety in e-learning style,
Fire safety training.
Slips and trips.
Manual handling.
All have awareness barriers in place.
But we don’t do this for the mind 🧠
When I looked back at my own mental health, I realised
I had almost no barriers.
No early awareness.
No warning signs explained.
Nothing until I was already in trouble.
That’s a cultural issue.
Physical health gets taken seriously.
Mental health doesn’t.
Even though it’s all just health.
That gap is what I’m trying to fix.
Think of it like this:
Each slice of cheese = a barrier
Each hole = a weakness
When the holes line up, the bad thing gets through.
For physical safety, we stack loads of slices:
training
procedures
checks
alarms
For mental health, most people only get a slice after things go wrong.
What’s missing is the early slices.
Awareness.
Education.
Knowing what the holes even look like.
