TM I added "perceived" to the text you quoted, because of course the ultimate aim is passenger safety, but that is not achieved by appeasing the passengers' view of what is safe and what is not.
These days, one is not allowed to conduct a "flamboyant" departure or arrival offshore without passengers, on the grounds that the deck crew might see it and somehow feel it was "cowboy flying" thus reducing the standing of the Operator in their eyes. This is the sort of level we have descended to (and did so a good few years ago). We are reaping the rewards of that sort of attitude IMO. A badly-run FDM programme also acts as a funnel that ensures pilots never depart from the tramlines even without passengers, and even during training sorties to some extent.