“I’ve done this a thousand times.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“Accidents happen to careless people, not experienced workers like me.”
**𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀—𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸.**
Research shows that 90% of people believe they’re above-average drivers. Similarly, experienced workers systematically underestimate their personal risk while accurately assessing risks for others. **𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲—𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 “𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝘂𝗰𝗸𝘆” 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 “𝗜’𝗺 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁.”**
**𝗜𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝘀:**
**𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻:** “I’ve worked on live panels for 20 years. I know when it’s safe to skip lockout.” (Forgetting that expertise can breed overconfidence)
**𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰:** “I can feel when a machine is properly secured. I don’t need all those tags and locks.” (Not recognizing that feel isn’t failsafe)
**𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻:** “Those new safety rules are for rookies. I’ve never had an incident.” (Not recognizing that past success doesn’t predict future immunity)
**𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀:**
– Experience creates confidence, which can override caution
– Success breeds familiarity, which reduces perceived risk
– Expertise leads to automaticity, which reduces conscious attention
– Seniority creates informal permissions to bend rules
**𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘅:** The more skilled someone becomes, the more vulnerable they may be to optimism bias. **𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 “𝗹𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗹𝘆” 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 “𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗹𝘆.”**
**𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀:**
– Regularly discuss near-misses and close calls
– Share stories of experienced workers who had incidents
– Create systems that don’t rely on individual risk perception
– Acknowledge that confidence and safety aren’t synonymous
– Foster cultures where following procedures shows wisdom, not weakness
**𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹:** Help experienced workers channel their expertise into better safety practices, not justifications for bypassing them. **𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀.**
Understanding these mental patterns helps create more effective approaches to safety training and culture development, approaches that work with human psychology rather than against it. These cognitive biases are core topics in comprehensive behavior-based safety education.
Do your most experienced workers make the smartest safety decisions, or just the most confident ones?.
𝗪𝗵𝘆 “𝗜𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗲” 𝗜𝘀 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹’𝘀 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲
