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E60: Psychology of risk and motivating less risky decisions · Safe As Podcast

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  Hey everyone, welcome to the next quickest so to save as
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  today, we're diving into the psychology of risk from the late
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  Gerald wilde's book target risk 3.
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  Wilde argues that to achieve a lasting reduction in accident
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  rates, we must look beyond traditional solutions like
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  engineering and enforcement and instead focus on human
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  motivation. Wilde is probably best known for
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  risk homeostasis, and while risk homeostasis doesn't have a
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  strong empirical basis, but behavioural adaptation does.
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  More broadly, his book has a lot of other really good insights
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  and with me sidestepping the the risk homeostasis issue.
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  It's argued that if we want people to adopt safer and
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  healthier lives, we must motivate them to reduce their
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  risk tolerance. Note this is far more broad than
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  health and safety and extends across society.
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  Wilde suggests that there are four factors that influence
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  risky behaviour. Expected benefits of risky
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  behaviour, like speeding. Expected costs of cautious
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  behaviour, like time lost by driving at a lower speed.
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  Expected benefits of cautious behaviour like fewer accidents
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  or traffic tickets, and expected costs of risky behaviour like
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  more tickets. Hence, we need to focus on the
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  perceived utilities, the benefits and costs associated
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  with both safe and risky behaviours, with four key
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  motivational tactics being discussed in the book Tactic A
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  Increase the perceived benefit of cautious behaviour.
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  This tactic involves rewarding individuals for desirable
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  outcomes like maintaining good health habits.
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  This approach has been found to be significantly more effective
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  in real life settings than punitive measures.
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  The goal is to reward the desired ultimate outcome rather
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  than rewarding specific safe acts which can be offset by
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  riskier behaviours elsewhere. An example is offering
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  incentives for accident free driving, such as discounts in
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  insurance premiums, like in the case of California who offered a
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  free one year licence extension for accident free driving, which
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  results in a notable 22% reduction in the accident rate
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  among participating drivers. Tactic B Decrease the perceived
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  cost of cautious behaviour. This tactic seeks to make safe
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  behaviours easier, more comfortable or less expensive.
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  By reducing the expected costs of caution, which might include
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  time, inconvenience or social stigma, people are more likely
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  to integrate safe behaviours into their routines.
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  Examples include introducing flexi time so employees are less
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  compelled to rush to work, or offering subsidies for public
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  transport. Tactic C Increase the perceived
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  cost of risky behaviour. This involves increasing the
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  financial, social or physical price of engaging in risky
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  actions. While punitive measures like
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  enforcement fall into this category, it's noted that
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  punishment tends to be marginal or transient in effect, and
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  actually can provoke reactants where individuals willfully
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  disobey commands seen as limiting their personal
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  freedoms. Examples could include increased
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  penalties for traffic violations or increased taxes on tobacco,
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  and tactic D decreased the perceived benefit of risky
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  behaviour. This tactic targets the gains
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  people expect to achieve from risky behaviour, such as saving
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  time or increasing production. A classic example is changing
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  compensation structures. Instead of paying workers such
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  as, you know, taxi drivers per kilometre driven, they're paid
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  per unit of time. This removes the incentive to
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  speed or Dr riskily to maximise profits in the shortest time
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  possible. Similarly, in the West Ray coal
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  mine disaster, a high production bonus scheme motivated the
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  miners to undo safety precautions for immediate
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  financial gain. So in all the motivational
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  approach like those mentioned here, I suggested as the art of
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  effective safety management because they're specifically
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  designed to incentivize the behaviours we want and increase
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  the cost of less desirable behaviours.
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  When you broaden this from just motivation of people to
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  organisational design strategies, you can see the
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  potential system leverage points for influencing behaviour.
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  That's it on Safe has.