Many of us, in our roles, have personal experience of conducting or contributing to incident reviews. Others may have studied major industrial incidents from the past 30-40 years—think Piper Alpha, Texas City or Deepwater Horizon.
At some point in those studies or reviews, we inevitably focus on the specific actions taken by a worker or operator at the centre of the incident and ask ourselves:
Why did they do that?
Why did they think that was safe?
These questions sit at the heart of how we understand behaviour.
Many years ago, I was privileged to be involved in a Middle East-based project—one of the largest of its kind—with a very proud safety record.
A typical safety performance trajectory would have resulted in multiple fatalities over the life of the project. Yet, due to the proactive work undertaken by leaders on this project to build a high performing safety culture, it became one of the safest in the region's history and for the company involved.
Nevertheless, there was one deeply tragic loss. A Banksman/Flagman who tragically lost his life after being crushed beneath a road roller.
The investigation confirmed that he had stepped into the line of fire while trying to prevent a collision. We cannot exactly know what happened, but in that split second he clearly perceived that this was the right thing to do. He did not see the danger.
And that is the point.
People act based on what they perceive—not necessarily on objective reality.
Why does this happen? Because perception shapes behaviour.
One explanation is that we can all look at the same situation—the same data, the same workplace, the same set of risks—and see something entirely different.
Take a look at the picture below. What do you see? Some people see a snow blizzard, others a country or a map, others nothing at all.
At GYST, we have heard many different answers over the years! If I told you to stand back and look for the cow in the picture, then can you see that? For some, it becomes obvious very quickly, for others it may take time. But typically, in a room of people when you ask this question you will get several different responses. And so, we have all looked at the same set of data and come up with very different answers.
This simple exercise consistently produces multiple interpretations from the same image. The data has not changed — only the perception.
Another excellent example is the selective attention experiment commonly referred to as the Invisible Gorilla experiment. Participants are asked to count basketball passes between players in white shirts. Many miss the person in a gorilla suit walking across the screen entirely.
The lesson?
When attention is directed one way, perception narrows. And what we don't perceive, we don't act upon.
It is important to understand that people take actions based on their perceptions and not necessarily the facts. Sometimes their perception will be accurate and match the facts, and sometimes not as we have seen.
This can play out in many ways in an organisation on a day-to-day basis.
At one level, this might be the perception of safety of an individual task or activity.
At another broader level, it influences whether someone believes it is psychologically safe to speak up:
Leaders may genuinely believe they have created a psychologically safe environment. But if people perceive it differently, then opportunities to learn and correct unsafe acts or conditions will be missed.
In safety leadership, perception is often more powerful than intention.
If behaviour is shaped by perception, then gently guiding and shaping those perceptions becomes a powerful way for leaders to support safer choices and better outcomes.
Here are practical ways to recognise and positively influence perceptions in the workplace:
It can require work and practice for many leaders to move away from "right/wrong" into enquiry about what is really happening, but this is an area where breakthroughs happen.
Simon Giffin is a senior facilitator and program lead with GYST. With over 35 years' experience in implementation consulting, he brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding to his client programs. Simon has a passion for developing leaders and teams to be the best they can be and inspiring the people around him. He is a recognised business expert who analyses business processes and systems, builds compelling business cases and then implements lasting improvements across the operational value chain. He has worked across a variety of sectors including healthcare, energy, chemicals, utilities, manufacturing, construction, mining and metals, shipping, paper and packing and cement. Has spent much of his career working globally, with periods living and working in the Caribbean and Middle East.