This article explores why unsafe behaviours persist in high-risk workplaces despite strong safety systems, policies, PPE, inductions, and mental health initiatives. Drawing from neuroscience, behavioural psychology, and Professor Robert Sapolsky’s neuro-determinism, it argues that unsafe behaviour is not simply a result of individual choice or non-compliance, but the predictable output of how the human brain responds to stress, reinforcement history, pressure, fatigue, culture, and system design. Integrating insights from leaders in safety science—Sidney Dekker, James Reason, Amy Edmondson, Karl Weick, Diane Vaughan, and Andrew Hopkins—the article challenges traditional approaches that focus on procedure and blame, advocating instead for neuro-informed, psychologically safe, and behaviourally intelligent safety systems. It repositions safety as a product of environment, cognition, and design—not just training and enforcement—and outlines a practical approach to building workplaces where safe behaviour becomes the brain’s most natural and rewarded default.
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