In any organisation, safety outcomes are only as strong as the thinking behind them. While many safety programs focus on behaviours, tools, or safety compliance procedures, it’s our hidden assumptions—those quiet, unquestioned beliefs—that often pose the greatest risk.

One of the most persistent threats to effective safety leadership is confirmation bias: the tendency to seek or favour information that supports our pre-existing beliefs. This cognitive shortcut affects everyone—from frontline employees to executive leadership—and it silently undermines safety culture when left unaddressed.

At Demoura Lawson Consulting, we’ve prioritised this issue in our Behavioural-Based Safety (BBS 2.0™) and Lead to Inspire™ leadership development programs, as well as during the delivery of the NEBOSH Safety Leadership Excellence Program in partnership with RRC across the Middle East.

As Adel Lawson shared during a recent NEBOSH workshop in Riyadh:

“Confirmation bias isn’t just a cognitive quirk—it’s a leadership risk. If leaders can’t see past their own assumptions, how can they expect their teams to raise concerns or challenge unsafe norms?”

Shaping Bias-Aware Leaders

During our recent NEBOSH workshops we organized in partnership with RRC, we worked closely with senior leaders to help them identify moments where their default thinking might override evidence. We challenged them to ask deeper questions, pause before concluding, and, most importantly, create environments where dissenting views are welcomed, not dismissed.

This approach transforms routine safety practices, like toolbox talks and incident investigations, into opportunities for learning.
Instead of asking, 

“Who made the mistake?” 

leaders begin to ask,

“What assumptions did we make, and what did we miss?”

This mindset shift is key to building not just compliant organisations—but learning organisations.

BBS 2.0™: Seeing Behaviour Through a New Lens

Our BBS 2.0™ program takes these insights to the ground level. Traditional behavioural safety models tend to focus heavily on what people are doing. We’ve expanded that to look at why—and how bias plays a role.

Our observers are trained not just to identify at-risk behaviours, but to question the stories behind them:

• Was a shortcut taken because the worker didn’t care?
• Or did time pressure, lack of training, or unclear safety procedures create the risk?

We use visual tools, comic strip scenarios, guided discussions, and practical coaching, that help teams recognise the role of unconscious bias in how they interpret behaviour and assign meaning to risk. When observers understand the context behind decisions, their feedback becomes transformational rather than transactional.

From Blame to Curiosity

Unchecked bias creates fertile ground for blame culture—a major barrier to proactive safety performance. When incidents are viewed only as individual failures, we miss the broader systemic risks.

Instead, we teach leaders to approach investigations with curiosity:

“What system pressures contributed to this event?”
“What could we improve to prevent this risk in the future?”

This shift is central to our Lead to Inspire™ program, where we work with executive teams to create psychological safety across all levels of an organisation. Because when people feel safe to speak up, question norms, and admit uncertainty, risk is surfaced earlier—and culture starts to shift.

Training and Development for Safer Organisations

Improving safety leadership isn’t just about awareness—it requires structured training programs and real-world application. Our programs align with international best practices, integrating behavioural psychology, leadership coaching, and safety management systems.

This hands-on approach equips leaders and employees alike with the tools to:

• Spot early warning signs of risk
• Recognize cognitive traps like groupthink and bias
• Communicate safety concerns without fear of retribution
• Design preventative safety initiatives that go beyond compliance

Building Safer Cultures Through Thoughtful Leadership

Ultimately, safety excellence is not built on policies or inspections alone, it’s built on thinking. And thinking, like any skill, must be trained, challenged, and evolved.

Our goal at Demoura Lawson Consulting is to build organisations where bias is not ignored but understood. Where leadership isn’t about having all the answers, but about creating space for better questions. Where frontline workers are not just monitored, but listened to. And where safety is not a system we manage—but a culture we live.

Because the truth is: the biggest hazard in any workplace is the one you’ve convinced yourself isn’t there.