If you take a moment to think it through, you'll see

"Why did you do something like that?"
Have you ever found yourself scratching your head after an accident at a worksite, trying to figure out why the victim acted the way they did?

For example, when heavy materials being hoisted lose their balance and are about to fall, you might instinctively reach out to catch them—only to end up getting crushed beneath them.
Or, while standing on a stepladder or scaffolding, a worker might lean out to prevent materials or tools from falling—only to lose their balance and fall themselves.

Such behavior,Looking back on it calmly, it’s obvious that “my life is more important than material possessions.”Anyone can see that.
However, in real-world work situations, there are moments when people end up valuing the tools and materials in their hands more than their own lives.

The cause of this human error lies in a human trait known as the “situational behavioral instinct.”

1. “Situational Behavioral Instinct”

A situational behavioral instinct is,An instinct that causes one’s attention to focus instantly on a single point, making one lose sight of the surrounding situation and safety—which should actually be the priority—and act reflexively.That's what it means.

When people are faced with sudden incidents (such as objects falling or things toppling over), their brains enter a state of panic or extreme concentration, and thatAll my attention ends up being focused solely on resolving the "situation."。

This phenomenon is particularly common among new employees who are unfamiliar with their duties and feel overwhelmed; it is also said to occur frequently when individuals are juggling multiple tasks simultaneously and their brain’s processing capacity is at its limit.
It wasn't that the person intended to "break the rules," but rather,Errors that people make unintentionally due to human instinct(It is) a mistake.

2. Let’s take roof waterproofing work as an example

What about a situation where “waterproofing material is being laid while walking backward on the roof”?

Laying a waterproof sheet straight and wrinkle-free requires intense concentration. Workers focus all their attention on the waterproofing material right in front of them. What is happening in their brains at that moment?

• Extreme narrowing of visual field and consciousness

  • Since most of one's attention is focused on one's hands, there are virtually no resources left for perceiving the surrounding space.

• Failure to Provide Guardrails (Parapets)

  • Before starting work, he must have known in his head that “the edge of the roof is dangerous.” However, because he was so absorbed in the task at hand, the very fact that “the parapet was right behind him” completely slipped his mind.

• Crash

  • Believing that “there’s still a slab there,” he moves backward, stumbles over the parapet, loses his balance, and suffers a catastrophic fall.

As has happened in the past, this incident shares the same pattern as others—such as a worker falling while backing up to try to capture the entire worksite in a photograph, or an accident in which a backhoe operator, so focused on spreading crushed stone that he failed to notice a worker behind him, struck the worker while reversing.
In both cases, the trigger was “focusing on the task at hand.”

3. “Inattention” occurs naturally

When an accident occurs, many people at the scene tend to view it as an individual failure, attributing it to “worker negligence” or saying, “You need to be more careful.”

However, from a human factors perspective, “no one works just to do a poor job.”
If we simply dismiss it as “a lack of attention on the person’s part,” the more serious the person is, the more...Next, another person (a conscientious person) performing the same task causes the exact same accident due to the exact same situational behavioral instinct.The likelihood increases.

As I mentioned at the beginning, in order to do a good job,Attention becomes focused on a single point, making it difficult to perceive the surrounding situation or safety considerations that should take priority, and instinct kicks in, causing us to act reflexively.

4. Strategies for Dealing with “Situational Behavioral Instincts”

There are limits to suppressing human “instincts” through sheer willpower and education alone. That is precisely why, from the perspectives of systems, hardware, and management,The premise that “humans are creatures who focus so intently on one thing that they lose sight of their surroundings”We need to establish a system based on this.

If the workers' "eyes" aren't functioning properly, we'll implement measures that rely on their "feet" or "ears" instead.
If a physical handrail is installed in front of the parapet, people will realize that going any further down is dangerous.
As long as it's a distance where you won't fall even if you trip and fall, even a simple rope should be enough to alert them.
In addition, mechanisms that stimulate the senses to forcefully bring one’s awareness back to reality—such as placing warning blocks that can be detected by touch at one’s feet or installing sensors that sound an alert when one approaches a boundary—are effective.

Furthermore, when tasks such as “working backward” or “having no choice but to focus on a single point” arise, it could be said that the very act of performing them independently (the procedure itself) is what leads to errors.
It is also effective for the team to supplement the workers’ field of vision by, for example, establishing a system that includes supervisors to monitor and direct the surrounding area.

Safety does not mean “people never make mistakes.”

Safety does not refer to a “state in which accidents do not occur,” but rather to a “state in which organizations and systems are able to adapt flexibly to dangerous situations that change on a daily basis.”

"Situational behavioral instincts" are also evidence that one is taking their work seriously.
To everyone in charge on-site: Instead of just saying, “Pay more attention”—which is just empty rhetoric—"Is the system designed to ensure safety even when people are focused?"Wouldn't it be a good idea to consider this perspective?