AI isn’t solving your safety challenges. The problem isn’t your technology—it’s your culture. Here’s what 20 years of research tells us.
In boardrooms across the world, leaders debate which AI safety solution to implement next. Predictive analytics, smart sensors, incident reduction software—the options multiply by the month, each promising transformation. Yet incident rates plateau, near-misses persist, and the promised ROI remains elusive.
After working with over 500 companies since co-founding Great Place to Work Europe in 2005, I’ve discovered a fundamental truth: organizations investing millions in safety AI while seeing minimal returns are missing the essential multiplier—the human factor, human intelligence (HI), perhaps.
The pattern is unmistakable. Companies that implement sophisticated safety technology without addressing culture see marginal improvement in incident rates. Meanwhile, organizations that build strong safety cultures before deploying technology experience up to 70% fewer reportable incidents. The difference isn’t in the quality of their AI—it’s in the mindset of their people.
Why AI Alone Fails
The answer isn’t found in code but in neuroscience. When people operate with a fearful mindset at work, their brains enter what is known as “Helpless/Hopeless” or “Stuck/Unsafe” territories. In these states, the brain’s threat response activates, reducing blood flow to the prefrontal cortex—the very part responsible for rational thinking and innovation.
This biological response creates a devastating cycle. People feeling stuck or unsafe won’t report near-misses. They won’t volunteer insights about potential hazards. They won’t engage meaningfully with safety processes. And without this human input, even the most advanced AI systems starve for the data they need to function properly.
It’s a simple equation: AI + fear = wasted investment.
The Happy Shifting Model: A New Lens on Safety
Over two decades of research, I’ve developed the Happy Shifting Model, which maps how people navigate mindset territories in organizations. In safety contexts, people move between four distinct mental states.
Imagine a map with two critical dimensions that determine how people engage with safety in your organization. The vertical axis represents sense of control: essentially your feeling of agency and ownership over outcomes. At the bottom of this axis, people believe they have little influence over what happens; they see themselves as powerless observers in a system they can’t change. At the top, people experience strong agency—they believe their actions directly impact results, they take ownership of problems, and they feel capable of shaping their environment.
The horizontal axis represents explanatory style: how you interpret and explain events around you. On the left side lies pessimistic thinking, where challenges are seen as permanent, pervasive, and personal failures. On the right is optimistic thinking, where challenges are viewed as temporary, specific, and opportunities for growth rather than indictments of capability.
These two dimensions create four distinct psychological territories that explain why identical safety technologies yield dramatically different results:
Helpless/Hopeless Territory (bottom left: low agency, pessimistic outlook) In this territory, people feel they have no power to influence safety outcomes while simultaneously believing problems are permanent and unchangeable. This toxic combination creates a state where employees mentally check out—”Why even try when nothing I do matters and things will never improve?” They see safety as entirely someone else’s responsibility since they believe their actions won’t affect results. Near-misses go unreported because “management won’t do anything anyway.” The prevailing attitude is “It’s not my job to worry about that” or “Nothing ever changes around here.” In this territory, sophisticated safety AI starves for input because people don’t believe reporting makes any difference.
Stuck/Unsafe Territory (top left: high agency but misdirected, pessimistic outlook) Here, people attempt to assert control but through a lens of pessimism and fear. Their sense of agency manifests as rigid rule-following or micromanagement rather than creative problem-solving. They’ll say, “Just tell me exactly what I need to do to avoid getting in trouble”—focusing on personal protection rather than system improvement. They follow procedures mechanically because they believe bad outcomes are inevitable unless every rule is followed perfectly. This territory produces superficial compliance that looks good on paper but fails under pressure. Safety technologies receive bare-minimum engagement, precisely according to procedure but without the contextual insights that make data truly valuable.
Resilient Adaptation Territory (bottom right: low agency, optimistic outlook) In this territory, people believe things can improve, but don’t see themselves as the primary agents of that improvement. They have a positive attitude—they’re hopeful about safety and believe progress is possible—but they lack a sense of personal ownership. They adapt well to established protocols and genuinely appreciate their value, but they don’t feel empowered to go beyond compliance. They might say, “These safety measures make sense, and I’m happy to follow them,” but they’re unlikely to identify gaps or propose solutions. They’ll use safety technologies correctly but passively, providing required inputs without the additional context or insights that would make those technologies truly powerful.
Active Hope Territory (top right: high agency, optimistic outlook) This is where safety excellence happens. People combine strong ownership with optimistic thinking—believing both that their actions directly impact outcomes and that improvement is always possible. They see problems as specific and solvable rather than permanent and pervasive. This psychological state transforms safety from requirement to mission. Employees proactively identify risks, suggest improvements, and report concerns without fear, saying things like, “I spotted something that could be dangerous, and I know my input will help make us all safer.” They don’t just comply with safety protocols; they improve them. They don’t just input data into systems; they ensure that data is high-quality, contextual, and actionable. They become active partners with technology rather than passive users.
This explains why identical AI safety systems produce radically different outcomes in different organizations. When your workforce primarily operates in the lower-left territories, even the most sophisticated technology receives inadequate, low-quality data and minimal engagement. When people function in the mindset Active Hope territory, that same technology becomes exponentially more effective because it’s fed with rich, contextual information and continuously improved through engaged human partnership. And growth follows.
The multiplier effect comes from moving more people up and to the right on this map—creating the mindset conditions where technology becomes a powerful ally rather than an underutilized tool.
The 3B Transformation: Belief, Belonging, Behavior
The path to transforming safety culture follows what I call the 3B Formula. This isn’t theory—it’s the pattern I’ve observed in every successful safety transformation across five continents during more than 25 years:
First, start with Belief. People don’t change their actions until they change their convictions. When employees genuinely believe in safety values—not just compliance with rules but the deeper why behind them—everything changes. Research from the Aberdeen Group shows organizations with a strong shared belief system see 312% more employees actively participating in safety initiatives.
Voluntary reporting skyrockets. Engagement with technologies improves dramatically. In a recent study tracking 15,000 safety reports across 27 organizations, those with strong belief systems saw 8.4 times higher quality reporting—including crucial contextual details that made AI analysis significantly more effective.
Building belief means connecting safety to personal values, not just company policies. It means sharing stories of impact, not just statistics. It means helping people see safety not as bureaucracy but as care for human life. In one energy company I worked with, shifting the narrative from “compliance requirements” to “going home safely to your family” increased safety reporting by 267% within three months.
Second, cultivate Belonging. Humans are social creatures. We perform at our best when we feel part of something bigger than ourselves. Teams with the right mindset report hazards five times more frequently than those without it. According to Harvard Business School research, they share knowledge more readily and adopt innovations more quickly—increasing the speed of safety improvement 2.8 times over teams with low belonging.
Creating belonging means building environments where speaking up is rewarded, not punished. Where questions are welcomed, not dismissed. Where making a mistake is seen as an opportunity to learn, not a reason to blame. The right mindset becomes the invisible infrastructure upon which all other safety systems depend.
A petrochemical company in my research tracked belonging scores alongside safety outcomes and found a direct correlation: for every 10% increase in belonging scores, they saw a 23% decrease in reportable incidents. This wasn’t coincidence—it was causation, as confirmed by multivariate regression analysis.
Third, model the Behavior. What leaders do matters infinitely more than what they say. Organizations where leaders visibly prioritize safety—not just in crisis but in daily decisions—experience dramatically better outcomes. According to research published in Safety Science, their employees show 71% more initiative, engage 83% more deeply with safety technologies, and experience 64% fewer serious incidents.
Behavior modeling means leaders stopping production when safety is compromised, even when it’s inconvenient. It means celebrating those who report problems, not just those who solve them. It means consistently demonstrating that when safety and productivity seem to conflict, safety wins—every time.
In one aerospace manufacturer, when executives began conducting safety walks that focused on learning rather than inspection, participation in voluntary safety improvement teams increased by 219% within six months. Their safety AI system, which had been gathering dust, suddenly became the most-used digital tool in the organization.
This 3B Formula—Belief, Belonging, Behavior—creates the psychological conditions where technology can truly deliver on its promise. Without it, even the most advanced AI becomes just another underutilized tool.
From Theory to Transformation
Implementing the 3B Formula isn’t complicated, but it requires commitment. Start by measuring which psychological territories your people currently occupy. If a significant portion function in Helpless/Hopeless or Stuck/Unsafe territories, technology investments will consistently underperform until this foundation is addressed. Build mindset safety first. Not through grand announcements but through countless small interactions where leaders demonstrate that speaking up about safety concerns leads to positive change, not negative consequences.
Identify and develop cultural ambassadors—people who naturally model Active Hope thinking—and empower them to influence others. These internal champions translate abstract safety values into concrete daily practices far more effectively than management directives ever could. In a global mining company, ambassador-led teams outperformed traditionally managed teams by 341% on safety improvement metrics.
Finally, create visible feedback loops that clearly connect employee input to organizational improvement. When people see their voices making a difference, they move from passive compliance to active engagement. Organizations using structured feedback systems saw a 487% increase in voluntary safety suggestions compared to those without such systems.
The Bottom Line
The data is conclusive: Organizations achieving world-class safety performance invest nearly equally in technology and culture. Those struggling with safety outcomes typically overinvest in technology while neglecting the human element that determines whether that technology succeeds or fails.
In one global manufacturing organization I worked with, this rebalancing reduced serious incidents by 90% while simultaneously increasing productivity by 23%—results that technology alone had failed to deliver for three consecutive years.
A comprehensive analysis of 230 safety transformation initiatives found that companies integrating mindset development with technology implementation achieved 3.7 times greater ROI than those focusing solely on technological solutions. Perhaps most compelling, a longitudinal study tracking safety outcomes over five years found that organizations addressing mindset first saw technological improvements compound annually, while those implementing technology without mindset work saw diminishing returns after the first year.
The future of safety isn’t just AI. It’s AI multiplied by culture—creating the conditions where technology and human potential amplify each other. Start with the 3Bs—Belief, Belonging, and Behavior—and watch as your existing technology investments suddenly deliver the return you’ve been waiting for. The multiplier isn’t a new algorithm. It’s the psychological foundation that makes all algorithms work.
Montserrat Ventosa
Global Culture Strategist | Neuroscience-Based Change Expert | Senior Lecturer, HCT UAE
A pioneering culture strategist who has transformed workplace performance across 500+ organizations on three continents, impacting over 2 million professionals. As co-founder of Great Place to Work Europe and creator of the neuroscience-based Happy Shifting model, Montse brings a unique approach that bridges brain science with practical business applications.
Her groundbreaking 3B Formula (Belief, Belonging, Behavior) provides organizations with a clear roadmap for culture transformation that delivers measurable results. Currently serving as a Senior Lecturer in the Business Division of Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE, Montse continues to advance her work in human sustainability and organizational culture. Recognized among the TOP100 Women Leaders in Spain and as MujerTec in Mexico, she combines academic expertise as an MBA, Gestalt Psychotherapist and Organizational Psychologist with real-world business impact. Montse’s approach reveals how culture acts as the essential multiplier that determines whether technological investments deliver their promised returns.
About the Author:
Montserrat Ventosa Garcia Morato is a distinguished organizational psychologist, educator, and global culture strategist with over 25 years of experience in transforming workplace cultures. She is the co-founder of Great Place to Work Europe and the creator of the neuroscience-based “Happy Shifting” model, which guides organizations in fostering positive cultural change. Currently, she serves as a Senior Lecturer at the Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE, where she continues to influence the next generation of leaders.
