Process Safety and Betteridge’s Law

Betteridge's Law of Headlines states,

Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word ‘No’.

The Law derives from the assumption that if the writer of an article were confident that the answer was ‘Yes’ they would have presented it as an assertion; by presenting it as a question, he or she is not accountable for whether it is correct or not.

In general, if I see a headline that ends in a question mark I skip that article. Not only do I expect the writer to have come up with a conclusion, I suspect that the headline is merely clickbait.

Most articles or posts to do with process safety do not fall into the Betteridge trap. Nevertheless, it is something to watch out for. Here are a few examples.

‘Could This Refinery Explosion Have Been Prevented?’
becomes,
‘Refinery Explosion Could Have Been Prevented with Better Hazards Analysis’

‘Is Your Plant Vulnerable to Cyberattack?’
becomes,
‘How to Reduce Plant Vulnerability to Cyber Attack’

‘Can Safety Culture Be Measured?’
becomes,
‘Techniques for Measuring Safety Culture’

‘Is This Just Another Near Miss?’
becomes,
‘Near Miss Provides the Following Warning Signs’