This issue of the Community Eye Health Journal is about patient safety. Ironically, when the focus of our day-to-day work is on improving the eye health of patients, it can be easy to overlook the central importance of safety. It is everyone in the eye team’s responsibility to ensure that the day-to-day care we provide is safe and also patient-centred, so that patients will not just be safe, but also feel safe. Mistakes will happen – we are human, and humans make mistakes – but our task is to create systems and practices that reduce the risk of such ‘critical incidents’ taking place, and help us to learn from them if they do. This can only happen if everyone feels safe enough to report problems as they arise. We hope that this issue will help you to take time out from your daily routine to reflect on safety in all its aspects.