Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist but have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once or twice! This is my take on why “safety affirmations” like “Safety is #1“, “Safety is our top priority,” etc. fail time and again.
Most everyone has heard of “affirmations.” These are the daily and deliberate things one says to oneself to change one’s mindset. If we say it repeatedly, we will begin to believe it, and thus, our attitude and behavior will reflect this newfound belief in ourselves. The science behind self-affirmations is a hotly contested debate in science. But there is one part of self-affirmations that most can agree on…
For them to have a chance at working, the person MUST WANT TO CHANGE.
We also see a form of “affirmations” in team sports. Coaches use their “sayings” and “chants” repeatedly until they begin to take hold within the team dynamics. Coaches, at least the great ones, build cultures within their programs; most focus on “hard work pays off” type cultures, but also on the “there is no I in team” approach.
It seems industrial safety has attempted to shape cultures using affirmations such as “Safety is #1“, “Safety is our top priority,” etc. But there is one massive problem with this approach in industrial safety…
