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Armed National Guardsmen greeting airline passengers in airport terminals in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is a scene that Bruce Schneier describes in his book, Beyond Fear, as an example of what he calls security theater. The concept of security theater describes security countermeasures intended to provide feelings of improved security while doing little or nothing to actually improve the reality of security. In this example, the presence of armed troops at the airports did little to reduce the actual risk of terrorism, but it provided visible reassurance to the traveling public regarding their safety.
A corollary to security theater could be the concept of safety theater in which safety-related activities are intended to provide feelings of improved safety but do little or nothing to actually make conditions safer or reduce the risk of injuries or illnesses.
Prime examples of safety theater are safety poster or slogan campaigns that try to improve the feelings of safety but actually do little to reduce risk and may simply alienate a skeptical workforce. Dave Johnson (2011) observed that safety mottos do not always motivate employees and may be "only BandAids patched over a cracked culture."
Another example of safety theater occurred during the uproar over a potential bird flu epidemic and the resulting urgency to deploy containers of hand sanitizers in just about every conceivable work location. No...