Moving the Needle in Safety Performance- It's All in Your Brain
When incidents occur, the common reaction is to blame the worker. But blaming the worker leads to “easy fixes” like re-training or disciplinary action. While these corrective actions may be necessary in some cases, most incidents involved good, knowledgeable and capable workers. Therefore, fixing the person is just not an acceptable solution.
Given the complex, dynamic nature of the work environment in heavy industries, it is important to understand how we are wired as people. Simply hiring great people, re-training workers or disciplining workers will only continue to mask the underlying human performance issues and not truly reduce potential for human error to result in undesired events.
If the industry truly wants to transform the current safety performance, it is imperative to understand how we are wired, how our brains work, and how brain-centered hazards play a role in human error.
The white paper, “Moving the Needle in Safety Performance – It’s All in Your Brain” by DEKRA OSR Principal Consultant Matt Hargrove explores:
- The human factor in safety and what it can tell us about protecting workers.
- How the brain operates and the difference between the Fast Brain and the Slow Brain.
- Why “fixing” the worker is not an acceptable solution when errors occur and why focusing on the human brain will lead to more satisfactory results.
- How neuroscience provides a new understanding of why mistakes occur and what must be done to protect against them.
- The role visual recognition plays in reducing exposure and practices companies can implement today to increase visual recognition among their workers.