Why Do We Do This?

As Sidney Dekker, professor and director of the Safety Innovation Lab, says: "People don't break rules because they want to get hurt. They break them because they don't see the threat in doing so."

Rarely does anyone come to work thinking, "Today I'm going to get injured or die." Yet, every year, millions of people around the world violate industrial safety rules — not out of malicious intent, but because of how their brains are wired. The question "Why do people violate safety requirements?" is one of the key issues in HSE. The answer lies not in moralizing or blaming, but in science: cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, and sociology.

The Brain vs. Safety: Six Cognitive Traps

Our behavior in the workplace is an extension of our daily lives. We use the same mental filters, the same simplifications, and the same perceptual biases. Here are six typical situations and the scientific mechanisms behind them.

1. "It's faster" — Prioritizing Productivity We overestimate immediate benefits and underestimate distant risks. This is the immediate gratification heuristic — a cognitive bias well-studied in behavioral economics. Saving two minutes feels real, while the probability of an electric shock feels abstract, so the brain chooses "faster."
2. "We've always done it this way and nothing happened" — Normalization of Deviance When a dangerous action is repeated without consequences, it becomes the "norm." Three biases are at play here: the illusion of control ("I have everything under control"); survivorship bias (we only see those who got "lucky"); and confirmation bias ("I've done it 100 times, so it must be safe").
3. "Rules aren't for real life" — The Gap Between Instructions and Practice If rules seem illogical or imposed from above, psychological reactance kicks in: a person consciously breaks them to maintain a sense of autonomy.
4. "Why do I need this?" — Loss of Meaning Without understanding the purpose, the brain shuts down motivation. This is the "goal blindness" effect: if a rule seems like a mere formality, it gets ignored. Plus, there's the illusion of personal invulnerability: "That won't happen to me."
5. "Everyone does it" — The Power of the Group People tend to conform to group norms, even contrary to common sense. This involves conformity and the false consensus effect: we overestimate how widespread risky behavior actually is.
6. Lack of Feedback If a violation goes without consequences — no punishment, not even a remark — the brain learns: "This is acceptable." This is a basic principle of operant conditioning: behavior is reinforced if it meets no resistance.

What Should We Do? Understand, Don't Blame

As Albert Einstein wrote: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." If we continue to punish violations without changing the system, we are doomed to repeat our mistakes. Instead, here are five scientifically backed steps:

1. Don't blame — investigate. Every violation is a signal of a problem in the system, not in the person.
2. Involve workers in creating rules. People follow what they helped build.
3. Explain the "why," not just the "how." Tie the rule to a real story: "These boots saved John's toes in 2022."
4. Make safety convenient. If the safe way is the easiest, fastest, and most encouraged, it will be chosen.
5. Create psychological safety. People must be able to speak up about risks without fear of judgment.

Conclusion: Safety is About Trust, Not Control

Industrial safety is not about prohibitions; it's about understanding human nature. As research shows, mistakes are not a sign of stupidity, but a consequence of how our brains cope with uncertainty, pressure, and routine. When we stop seeing the violator as the "guilty party" and start seeing them as a human being operating within their cognitive limits — that is when true safety begins.

"Safety isn't what you do when people are watching. It's what you do when no one is watching." — Unknown author, but very accurate.