Event Safety Insights Issue Three | Spring 2017 | Page 27

Another point to highlight is that workplace stress is increasing
and has significant health and financial impact. To further this Wikipedia defines normalcy bias as a mental state people
point, research has shown chronic stress contributes to a re- enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underesti-
duction in brain size and function. Becoming more conscious mate both the possibility of a disaster and its possible effects.
of the impacts stress has on our ability to think and function is This may result in situations where people fail to adequately
paramount if we want change. prepare. It can result in the inability of people to cope with a
disaster once it occurs.
Another problem the human brain has is bias. But why do we
become bias and how will this affect our thinking regarding People with normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to some-
safety? thing they have not experienced before. People also tend to
interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible.
We are influenced by many different biases and not all biases
are the same or influence every thought we have. But they Most of us have experienced normalcy bias to some degree
play such an important role in our thinking and if we hope for and its beginning can be very subtle and we may not even
change we need to become more conscious of the effects of know it is happening. Many times our experience with nor-
our bias. malcy bias does not end up in a disaster but the makings are
there. For example, how many times have we downplayed
Our thinking becomes bias for many reasons. Our family, the the weather only to put ourselves in harm’s way and not re-
people we work with, where we live, social media, the news alize the real danger until we are in it but yet lucky to live
and simply our years of experience all contribute to bias our through it without incident? This experience only adds to re-
thinking. Experience shapes our beliefs and habits which in inforce the bias. How many incidents/accidents in our indus-
turn will affect our thinking, emotions and resulting actions. try have been related to weather? In some of those incidents
For example, our everyday, ordinary lives are not typically it would be fair to argue that timely decisions were not made
filled with real emergencies or crises which creates experi- in part because of normalcy bias. The decision makers may
ence of normalcy. This can create beliefs and habits that result not have viewed the situation as serious as it was. Nor did they
in normalcy bias. This will influence our thinking, restrict our imagine their decisions or hesitation in action would result in
awareness and can inhibit us during an emergency to take ap- such horrific injuries. If they were aware of the impending ca-
propriate and timely action. tastrophe they certainly would have done more than they did.
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