By Montserrat Ventosa Garcia Morato
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 globe, leaders are eagerly debating which AI-powered safety solution to implement next. From predictive analytics to smart sensors and incident reduction platforms, the choices grow by the month—each promising transformation. Yet despite all this innovation, incident rates remain flat, near-misses persist, and the return on investment (ROI) often fails to materialize.
After working with over 500 organizations since co-founding Great Place to Work Europe in 2005, I’ve uncovered a fundamental truth: companies spending millions on AI without significant improvement in safety outcomes are overlooking a crucial multiplier—the human factor. The missing ingredient isn’t more tech—it’s mindset.
Why AI Alone Fails
The failure isn’t in the code. It’s in neuroscience. When employees operate from fear, their brains enter stress responses like “Helpless/Hopeless” or “Stuck/Unsafe” territories. These states activate the brain’s threat response, pulling blood flow away from the prefrontal cortex—the region responsible for logic, innovation, and decision-making.
This biological reaction has far-reaching consequences. Employees who feel unsafe or stuck don’t report near-misses, don’t volunteer observations, and don’t engage with safety processes. As a result, even the most advanced AI lacks the human-generated input it needs to function effectively.
The equation becomes simple and damning:
AI + Fear = Wasted Investment
The Happy Shifting Model: A New Lens on Safety
Over two decades of research, I developed the Happy Shifting Model, which maps how people move through different mindsets in organizational cultures—especially in relation to safety. It’s built on two psychological dimensions:
Sense of control (vertical axis) – how much influence people feel they have.
Explanatory style (horizontal axis) – whether people interpret events with optimism or pessimism.
These axes form four psychological territories that determine how effectively employees engage with safety systems, including AI:
- Helpless/Hopeless Territory (Low control, pessimistic thinking)
Here, employees believe they can’t influence safety outcomes and that problems are unchangeable. They disengage completely. Reporting stops. Innovation halts. People think, “Why bother? Nothing ever changes.” - Stuck/Unsafe Territory (High control, pessimistic thinking)
People try to exert control but are driven by fear. They rigidly follow rules, hoping to avoid blame. Compliance is surface-level. They ask, “Just tell me what to do so I don’t get in trouble.” - Resilient Adaptation Territory (Low control, optimistic thinking)
Employees believe things can improve but don’t see themselves as change agents. They follow procedures but don’t take initiative. They’re passive contributors—not disruptors or innovators. - Active Hope Territory (High control, optimistic thinking)
This is the sweet spot. People feel ownership and believe improvement is possible. They speak up, collaborate with tech, and engage meaningfully. In this state, AI becomes a powerful tool rather than an underutilized dashboard.
Organizations thriving in the Active Hope territory experience up to 70% fewer reportable incidents. Not because their AI is better, but because their people are.
The 3B Transformation: Belief, Belonging, Behavior
To move more people into the Active Hope mindset, organizations need a cultural shift. This transformation follows a pattern I call the 3B Formula:
- Belief
Change begins with conviction. When people believe in the why of safety—not just rules—they become proactive. Aberdeen Group research shows companies with shared safety beliefs see 312% more engagement.
In one energy company, reframing safety from “compliance” to “going home to your family” boosted safety reporting by 267% in three months.
- Belonging
Humans thrive in communities. When people feel psychologically safe and part of a team, they report hazards 5x more often. Harvard Business School research found these teams adopt innovations 2.8x faster.
In a petrochemical firm, every 10% increase in belonging led to a 23% drop in incidents. That’s not correlation—it’s causation, proven through multivariate analysis.
- Behavior
Leaders must model safety in action. Words aren’t enough. Organizations where leaders demonstrate safety values daily see employees take 71% more initiative, interact 83% more deeply with AI systems, and suffer 64% fewer major incidents.
In one aerospace company, leader-led “learning walks” (instead of inspections) drove a 219% increase in voluntary safety team participation. Their underused AI platform suddenly became the most-used tool in the org.
From Theory to Transformation
Transformation doesn’t require massive restructuring. It requires consistency and commitment:
Diagnose where your employees currently sit on the Happy Shifting map.
Elevate those in Helpless/Hopeless and Stuck/Unsafe states with targeted cultural actions.
Identify cultural ambassadors—those who already live in Active Hope—and empower them.
Create feedback loops to show employees their voices lead to real changes.
In one mining company, empowering ambassador-led teams resulted in 341% better performance on safety metrics than traditionally managed teams.
The Bottom Line
The most successful safety-focused organizations balance investments in technology and culture. Those that fail often lean too heavily on AI, forgetting that without human trust, insight, and courage, AI has nothing to learn from.
A global manufacturing firm I supported saw a 90% reduction in serious incidents and 23% productivity growth—but only after prioritizing culture alongside AI. For three years before that, tech alone didn’t move the needle.
A study of 230 safety initiatives showed that organizations pairing mindset work with tech saw 3.7x greater ROI. Another 5-year study found tech-only approaches plateaued quickly, while culture-first approaches compounded gains annually.
The Future of Safety
The future of safety isn’t just AI. It’s AI multiplied by culture.
It’s technology amplified by trust.
Data supercharged by belief, belonging, and behavior.
Want AI to work for safety? Start with the 3Bs. Build the culture first—so when the machines show up, your people are ready to lead them.
