Human error, workplace accidents and neuroscience: why are experienced operators often the most at risk? Understanding autopilot mode to strengthen occupational risk prevention.
There is a persistent belief in companies: the more experienced an employee is, the safer they are. So when a workplace accident affects a seasoned professional, the incomprehension is total. Their manager doesn’t understand it. They themselves don’t understand it. Yet neuroscience applied to occupational risk prevention offers a precise explanation — and once understood, it’s hard to forget.
The Brain: An Energy Manager, Not a Danger Detector
The brain faces a permanent challenge: it accounts for 2% of our body mass but consumes nearly 20% of our energy. Its solution? Delegate as much as possible. It creates automatisms — those “neural highways” that allow complex tasks to be carried out without conscious effort. Driving, typing on a keyboard, climbing stairs: everything that is learned and repeated eventually shifts to autopilot. This mechanism is brilliant. And it is also where the trap for workplace safety lies.
The Paradox of Experience: Routine as a Blind Spot
Here is what most safety training programs have not yet incorporated:
The brain does not activate conscious vigilance in the face of danger. It activates it in the face of novelty.
The first time an operator manoeuvres a forklift, their brain is fully alert: it analyses, anticipates, checks. After the hundredth manoeuvre in the same environment? Everything happens without conscious effort — and therefore without active vigilance.
In 80% of workplace accidents linked to human error, the person involved is experienced and in a routine situation (Rousset, Moll & Amalberti, 2011). This is no coincidence. It is a neurological property — a structural human factor, not an individual failing.
The formula coined by neuroscientist Dr. Isabelle Simonetto has become a reference in risk prevention:
Experienced person + routine activity = autopilot = tenfold risk.
Marc and the Manhole: The Invisible Human Error
Marc is managing an unplanned electrical intervention — his brain is fully engaged. A colleague nearby opens a manhole cover. Marc finishes, turns around… and falls in. The hole was visible. He didn’t “see” it.
This is what neuroscience calls focused attention: when the conscious mind is saturated by a priority task, the rest of the environment is filtered by automatisms — that is, by habit, not by vigilance. A form of human error that neither sanctions nor instructions alone can prevent.
"I Only Perceive What I Have Learned to Perceive"
A seasoned operator does not scan their environment like a novice. They see what they expect to see. Whatever falls outside their usual patterns may not be registered — even if it is visible to the naked eye.
This also fuels overconfidence bias: after years without a workplace accident, the brain learns that “things go fine” and unconsciously lowers its alert level.
What This Means for HSE, HR and Managers
This paradox is not meant to blame experienced workers. It is meant to rethink occupational risk prevention — which is too often calibrated for novices.
- Target experienced workers too — and especially — in safety talks They are the ones who operate most on autopilot. Messages that acknowledge their expertise while pointing to the human factor of routine will have far greater impact.
- Introduce breaking points into routine tasks Checklists, self-questioning, formalised key actions: these human reliability tools force a return to conscious awareness where the brain would otherwise rush ahead.
- Encourage the reporting of near-misses A senior worker who reports a near-miss demonstrates that their safety culture is still functioning. This should be actively encouraged.
The Good News: The Brain Is Adaptable
Dangerous automatisms can be reprogrammed. Safe behaviours can become new reflexes, provided they are practised regularly and intentionally. This is the aim of approaches such as BBS (Behaviour-Based Safety).
The challenge for HSE professionals is not to monitor experienced workers. It is to design environments and routines that keep their brains active where the risk of a workplace accident is real — even when everything seems familiar.
Conclusion
Would you like to integrate neuroscience into your occupational risk prevention approach? C2D Prévention offers workshops and support programmes to sustainably embed safe behaviours.
Sources :
Simonetto, I. (2020). Neurosciences et sécurité — Éviter les erreurs humaines au travail. Éditions Mardaga.
Rousset, Moll & Amalberti (2011). Study on human errors in professional environments.
Prevenscope.com — Neuroscience in the service of good safety practices (2022).