{"id":162043,"date":"2026-08-18T16:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T15:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/?p=162043"},"modified":"2026-08-18T16:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T15:17:10","slug":"normalisation-of-deviance-why-safety-leaders-get-blindsided-by-drift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/","title":{"rendered":"Normalisation of deviance: why safety leaders get blindsided by drift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"Pegasus__Container w-full   relative h-fit  text-content-dark mobile-stacking-standard is-layout-flow wp-block-pegasus-container-is-layout-flow\" style=\"  padding-top:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20); \" >\n\t        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t        \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"relative h-full is-flex-layout flex flex-col justify-start  w-full\">\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Table of contents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Click on a specific section below to navigate to that area:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list no-bullet-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"#chapter-1\" type=\"internal\" id=\"#chapter-1\">1. What is normalisation of deviance?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"#chapter-2\" type=\"internal\" id=\"#chapter-2\">2. How safety complacency lets deviance become \u201cnormal\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"#chapter-3\" type=\"internal\" id=\"#chapter-3\">3. From small shortcuts to drift into failure<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"#chapter-4\" type=\"internal\" id=\"#chapter-4\">4. Normalisation of deviance is how safety drift begins<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"#chapter-5\" type=\"internal\" id=\"#chapter-5\">5. How to detect and reverse drift before it becomes an incident<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<style>.Pegasus__Container ul.no-bullet-list {\n    list-style-type: none !important;\n  }\n<\/style>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t        <\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"Pegasus__Container w-full   relative h-fit  text-content-dark mobile-stacking-standard is-layout-flow wp-block-pegasus-container-is-layout-flow\" style=\"  padding-top:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20); \" id=\"chapter-1\">\n\t        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t        \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"relative h-full is-flex-layout flex flex-col justify-start  w-full\">\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><strong><strong>What is normalisation of deviance?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Normalisation of deviance (NoD) happens when employees repeatedly break from standard procedures without any immediate negative consequences. Over time, they stop seeing the deviation as a risk. The shortcut becomes the new normal, and no one sees a need to question or challenge it anymore. At EcoOnline, we refer to this as Safety Drift.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>What is normalisation of deviance?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In January 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart just 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven crew members. The Presidential Commission formed to investigate the disaster eventually traced the technical cause to failed O-ring seals that let hot gas leak from a booster rocket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A more troubling discovery was made at an organisational level. NASA had known about the O-ring risk for years, yet still kept deciding to launch new space shuttles. This continued without incident until they drifted into failure with the fateful Challenger launch. The pattern of accepting known risk simply because nothing had gone wrong yet is what, through Diane Vaughan\u2019s work, gave rise to the term Normalisation of Deviance.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>Normalisation of deviance vs. simple rule-breaking<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Rule-breaking tends to be micro (focused on the actions of a specific individual or group), whereas normalisation of deviance is what happens when that rule-breaking becomes consistent and widespread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a sense, \u201crule-breaking\u201d is an oversimplification: the conversation around it tends to devolve into finding and assigning blame, because rule-breaking requires a rule-breaker. But once a pattern has drifted into normalisation of deviance, the people involved usually don\u2019t experience it as breaking a rule at all. It\u2019s simply how the work gets done.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rule-breaking is typically framed as a simple, individual act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A person or group consciously deviates from a known standard, and blame is assigned accordingly. Normalisation of deviance describes something different: the gradual, often collective shift in what a group starts perceiving as the standard itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the Challenger disaster, NASA had already flown 14 launches with the same flawed O-ring seals. As those O-ring failures were repeatedly accepted without consequence, they stopped being seen as anomalies at all. The deviance had become the norm.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, as deviations repeat without consequence, they stop registering as deviations in employees\u2019 minds altogether. This is what separates normalisation of deviance from simple rule-breaking. With rule-breaking, assigning individual blame is at least possible. With normalisation of deviance, it becomes difficult (and arguably misses the point entirely).   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See Rob Leech\u2019s example from our Safety Drift webinar below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"Pegasus__Container w-full   relative h-fit overflow-hidden text-content-dark mobile-stacking-standard is-layout-flow wp-block-pegasus-container-is-layout-flow\" style=\"  padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20); border-top-right-radius:32px;border-bottom-left-radius:32px;\" >\n\t        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"row-background absolute w-full bottom-0 left-0 z-0 h-full has-teal-background-color\" style=\"\">\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t        \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"relative h-full is-flex-layout flex flex-col justify-start  w-full\">\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-369791f678a7db20c296306cad208d8d\"><strong><strong>Safety Drift: Why Your Safety Program Is Working &#8211; Until It Isn&#8217;t<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns has-border-color has-secondary-border-color has-teal-background-color has-background is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-ca109620 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-top-right-radius:32px;border-bottom-left-radius:32px;padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center has-clay-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"border-radius:16px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\n<script src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/player.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><script src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/4zxmzmq7s6.js\" async=\"\" type=\"module\"><\/script><style>wistia-player[media-id='4zxmzmq7s6']:not(:defined) { background: center \/ contain no-repeat url('https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/4zxmzmq7s6\/swatch'); display: block; filter: blur(5px); padding-top:56.25%; }<\/style> <wistia-player media-id=\"4zxmzmq7s6\" seo=\"false\" aspect=\"1.7777777777777777\"><\/wistia-player>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns has-border-color has-secondary-border-color has-teal-background-color has-background is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-ca109620 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-top-right-radius:32px;border-bottom-left-radius:32px;padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-stretch has-teal-90-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"border-radius:16px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/calendar-icon.svg\" alt=\"Calendar Icon\" class=\"wp-image-130112\" style=\"width:auto;height:32px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:1vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-hi-vis-yellow-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7797711a2ebe831ea42286aad0cd53c2\" style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.469), 20px);\"><strong>Watch the full webinar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-white-color\">Discover how senior safety leaders can spot and correct weak signals, contractor risk, and supply chain blind spots before they turn into serious incidents.<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-9bedd9bf wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-teal-90-background-color has-background has-border-color has-hi-vis-yellow-border-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.info.ecoonline.com\/webinars\/safety-drift\" style=\"border-width:2px\"><strong>Watch now<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t        <\/section>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t        <\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"Pegasus__Container w-full   relative h-fit  text-content-dark mobile-stacking-standard is-layout-flow wp-block-pegasus-container-is-layout-flow\" style=\"  padding-top:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20); \" id=\"chapter-2\">\n\t        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t        \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"relative h-full is-flex-layout flex flex-col justify-start  w-full\">\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong>How safety complacency lets deviance become \u201cnormal\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As safety starts to drift, it becomes vital to understand the root causes that set everything in motion in the first place, before the incident. One of the key root causes is safety complacency \u2013 the shift in mindset and risk perceptions in the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Safety complacency is more likely to set in after a period of no serious incidents or fatalities in an organisation. The stronger the safety record (on paper), the more confident (and complacent) the workforce will become. This is what Steve Arendt and Mark Manton refer to as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icheme.org\/knowledge-networks\/communities\/special-interest-groups\/safety-and-loss-prevention\/resources\/hazards-conference-archive\/hazards-25\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cSuperman complex\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>The role of production pressure and \u201cnothing bad happened\u2026 yet\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Production pressure is one of the most common causes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/improve-safety-culture\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/improve-safety-culture\/\">safety drift<\/a>, especially in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/industries\/\">high-risk industries<\/a>. In the case of the Challenger launch, the project had already weathered multiple scrubbed launches, and pressure was mounting to finally get the shuttle off the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unless carefully managed, production pressure and safety can easily pull against each other, where gains in one come at the expense of the other. A worksite that ignores safety in favour of pure productivity won\u2019t last long. The direct opposite doesn\u2019t work either. The safest possible site is one where no work happens at all. The goal is a middle ground, where risk is reduced to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A common explanation employees give for why the rules and procedures weren\u2019t followed is a version of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-checkmark-list-orange\">\n<li>\u201cNothing bad\u2019s happened yet\u201d or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cWe\u2019ve always done it like this!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Both explanations are clear signs that safety has drifted in the organisation. With both statements, it\u2019s clear that work is being done differently from what was expected. Reasons why this is happening include:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-checkmark-list-orange\">\n<li>Risk normalisation \u2013 employees have started taking shortcuts (often in the name of productivity), and the shortcut didn\u2019t immediately result in an incident or other negative event.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New protective measures or systems being seen as perfect solutions rather than fail-safes for known issues. This can lead employees to think that previous safety rules and SOPs no longer apply. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s worth considering that risk normalisation and normalisation of deviance can compound. An employee can think of a workaround that saves them time (but endangers safety) which, if it doesn\u2019t lead to an incident, becomes normalised. Over time, the employee can invent another workaround on top of the previous workaround that has become normalised (\u201cwe\u2019ve always done it like this!\u201d), which increases safety drift even more, and ultimately culminates in a major incident.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The example above was also seen in the Challenger case, where the faulty O-rings had been used in several previous launches, during which nothing went wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>6 warning signs of safety complacency on your site<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list no-bullet-list\">\n<li>1. Production pressure is climbing, with a push to \u201cdo more with less\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2. Safety dashboards look great, with few warning signs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3. It\u2019s been a long time since the last (reported) incident<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4. There are bonuses tied to safety metrics such as the number of monthly safety observations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>5. Departments operate in silos, with little communication between them<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>6. Near-miss and incident reporting is slow and sluggish<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t        <\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"Pegasus__Container w-full   relative h-fit  text-content-dark mobile-stacking-standard is-layout-flow wp-block-pegasus-container-is-layout-flow\" style=\"  padding-top:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20); \" id=\"chapter-3\">\n\t        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t        \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"relative h-full is-flex-layout flex flex-col justify-start  w-full\">\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong><strong>From small shortcuts to drift into failure<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The core principle behind \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/1463922X.2013.856495\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">drift into failure<\/a>\u201d is that accidents and disasters never come out of nowhere. They\u2019re always preceded by a period of rising risk within the organisation (sometimes called the \u201cincubation period\u201d), during which that risk may or may not be recognised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over this period, several \u201clatent errors\u201d are allowed to accumulate, often taken for granted or simply going unnoticed in the organisation. It\u2019s this slow accumulation, not any single event, that drifts an organisation into failure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things <em>go<\/em> wrong because things <em>are<\/em> wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>Dekker\u2019s \u201cdrift into failure\u201d: why good systems fail slowly<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One key reason even good safety systems and organisations with a seemingly strong safety culture can drift into failure is the \u201cSuperman complex\u201d mentioned earlier. Success in safety (or more precisely, the absence of failure) tends to increase confidence in the organisation, usually without considering whether the underlying risk has decreased or not. This is also why researchers have argued that, in safety specifically, the past doesn\u2019t predict the future.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A long run without incidents tells you far less than it feels like it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>James Reason\u2019s Swiss Cheese model illustrates this well. All the components needed for an incident to occur can already exist within an organisation, but that doesn\u2019t mean the incident will happen today or tomorrow. The risk grows as more \u201choles\u201d line up over time, until eventually a trajectory opens right through the system and an incident becomes almost inevitable.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>What the research says: normalisation of deviance in high-risk industries<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Even high-risk industries aren\u2019t immune to normalisation of deviance or safety drift. Every organisation is a living organism, subject to shifting productivity pressures and budgets, workforce turnover (with the resulting loss of knowledge and experience), and a changing mix of contractors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Organisations in high-risk industries also tend to be complex by design. As Dekker &amp; Pruchnicki note, this complexity makes it difficult to predict how a change in one system will ripple through the rest of the organisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And while these organisations typically have strict safety policies in place, a recognised driver of normalisation of deviance is that shortcuts or altered ways of working often aren\u2019t born from production pressure at all. Instead, they emerge to fill gaps left by vague or unclear procedures. <\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t        <\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"Pegasus__Container w-full   relative h-fit  text-content-dark mobile-stacking-standard is-layout-flow wp-block-pegasus-container-is-layout-flow\" style=\"  padding-top:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20); \" id=\"chapter-4\">\n\t        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t        \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"relative h-full is-flex-layout flex flex-col justify-start  w-full\">\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>Normalisation of deviance is how safety drift begins<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Safety drift occurs for a number of reasons, with normalisation of deviance being one of the most significant. What\u2019s important to note (as mentioned earlier) is that normalisation of deviance doesn\u2019t need to happen knowingly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of why this drift is so hard to detect is that it rarely happens all at once. It\u2019s a gradual shift, occurring so slowly that even when employees do notice it, they often don\u2019t consider it significant enough to report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another reason is that as the risk becomes normalised, employees stop perceiving it as a risk at all. They stop connecting it to the organisation\u2019s safety policies. Over time, this way of working gets passed down from more seasoned employees to new recruits, who rarely have the experience, standing, or authority to question it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>The gap between work-as-written and work-as-done<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A useful mindset to adopt is that the gap between work-as-written and work-as-done can be closed entirely. That\u2019s not strictly true. A day without incidents doesn\u2019t mean tomorrow will look the same (the Superman complex), but treating it as an achievable goal is still the most sensible approach to long-term success in safety.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Something implied earlier is worth stating outright: work-as-written can often be more of the problem than work-as-done. As noted in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.info.ecoonline.com\/webinars\/safety-drift\">recent EcoOnline webinar on Safety Drift<\/a>, it\u2019s better to ask <em>why the procedure stopped being possible to follow, rather than simply asking why it wasn\u2019t followed<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s also common for the nature of the work to change while the standard procedure does not. When that happens, employees can easily start treating safety as a tick-box exercise, not out of carelessness, but because the safety procedure no longer reflects reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>Why your dashboard won\u2019t show you the drift<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The core issue with trusting safety dashboards and taking everything at face value is that the dashboard can\u2019t provide insights about information it never received. A common saying in safety circles is that near-misses are gold. They serve as strong warning flags for incidents and fatalities that could have happened and might happen in the future but haven\u2019t yet (remember Reason\u2019s Swiss Cheese model).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, your safety dashboard is probably not showing you all the safety drift happening across all your sites and departments, unless you\u2019re capturing 100% of incidents, near-misses, cases of non-conformance, and safety observations from your organisation.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t        <\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"Pegasus__Container w-full   relative h-fit  text-content-dark mobile-stacking-standard is-layout-flow wp-block-pegasus-container-is-layout-flow\" style=\"  padding-top:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20); \" id=\"chapter-5\">\n\t        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t        \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"relative h-full is-flex-layout flex flex-col justify-start  w-full\">\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>How to detect and reverse drift before it becomes an incident<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two parts to preventing safety drift. First, you need to get all the safety data into the system (because you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know). Second, you need to implement corrective actions to actually prevent safety from drifting in the future. While this is obviously easier said than done, this type of proactive safety is what most healthy organisations strive for.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>Make near-misses easy (and safe) to report<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As mentioned earlier, near-misses are gold. Every organisation should want to capture as much of this data as possible in their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/guides\/safety-management-systems\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/guides\/safety-management-systems\/\">safety management systems<\/a>. It\u2019s the difference between preventing incidents before they happen and simply reacting to the fallout once they have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make near-misses as easy as possible to report, the reporting process needs to be frictionless, transparent, and risk-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words: employees must find reporting easy and intuitive. They also need to see what happens as a result of their reporting. If they get no prompt feedback or sense of next steps from the organisation, they\u2019ll have little reason to report next time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, employees often perceive reporting as a negative act\u2014one they fear being punished for, directly or indirectly. Management needs to address that fear often, and clearly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:2vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><strong><strong>Turn leading indicators into an early-warning system<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As mentioned earlier in this article, things <em>go<\/em> wrong because things <em>are<\/em> wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What follows from that is you likely already have plenty of leading indicators within your organisation. The work is in surfacing and acting on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shifting your safety culture from reactive to proactive\u2014where every department stays on top of potential risks before they materialise\u2014requires a relentless focus on leading indicators that help flag blind spots and early signs of safety drift. While the work on safety is never finished, that\u2019s what keeps organisations ahead of incidents rather than reacting to them. <\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t        <\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"Pegasus__Container w-full   relative h-fit  text-content-dark mobile-stacking-standard is-layout-flow wp-block-pegasus-container-is-layout-flow\" style=\"  padding-top:0;padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20); \" id=\"faq\">\n\t        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t        \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"relative h-full is-flex-layout flex flex-col justify-start  w-full\">\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5vh\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"Pegasus__Container w-full   relative h-fit overflow-hidden text-content-dark mobile-stacking-standard is-layout-flow wp-block-pegasus-container-is-layout-flow\" style=\"  padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30); border-top-right-radius:60px;border-bottom-left-radius:60px;\" >\n\t        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"row-background absolute w-full bottom-0 left-0 z-0 h-full has-clay-background-color\" style=\"\">\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t        \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"relative h-full is-flex-layout flex flex-col justify-start  w-full\">\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong><strong>Frequently asked questions<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1766483421858\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong><strong><strong><strong>What is normalisation of deviance?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Normalisation of deviance is the gradual process where unsafe practices become accepted as normal because they haven\u2019t yet caused harm. Coined by sociologist Diane Vaughan after the 1986 Challenger disaster, it describes how small deviations from procedure slowly become \u201cthe way we do things\u201d \u2013 until an incident exposes the risk. <\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787046804627\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>What is an example of normalisation of deviance?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">The Space Shuttle Challenger is the classic example. Engineers knew the O-ring seals were flawed, but because earlier launches succeeded despite the flaw, the risk became normalised and was treated as acceptable. Everyday workplace examples include routinely skipping a checklist step, bypassing a permit, or not reporting near-misses because \u201cnothing ever happens.\u201d  <\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787046824262\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>What causes normalisation of deviance in the workplace?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Research points to four main drivers: production pressure, the absence of negative consequences, workplace culture, and gradual desensitisation to risk. When shortcuts save time and nothing goes wrong, they get repeated and normalised, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/resources\/health-and-safety-compliance-toolkit\/\">health and safety compliance<\/a> suffers. The deviation is rarely deliberate \u2013 people often don\u2019t realise the baseline has shifted at all.  <\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787046838335\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>How is normalisation of deviance related to safety drift?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Normalisation of deviance is the mechanism; safety drift is the result. As individual deviations accumulate across shifts, sites and contractors, the gap between written policy and actual practice widens. This is what EcoOnline calls safety drift \u2013 and because it\u2019s invisible in most dashboards, it\u2019s usually only discovered after an incident. Use our tool for calculating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/resources\/safety-roi-calculator\/\">Safety ROI<\/a> and how much your organisation will save by preventing normalisation of deviance and safety drift.   <\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787046853331\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>How do you prevent normalisation of deviance?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Prevent it by making deviations visible before they cause harm. That means encouraging near-miss reporting without blame, tracking leading indicators rather than just injury rates, verifying that critical controls are actually followed, and regularly comparing work-as-done to work-as-written. Visibility and psychological safety are the core defences. Visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/resources\/demo-videos-library\/\">demo video library<\/a> to see how our software solutions help tackle normalisation of deviance and safety drift.   <\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1787046866490\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>Is normalisation of deviance the same as complacency?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">They\u2019re related but distinct. Complacency is a general lack of vigilance \u2013 assuming things are fine. Normalisation of deviance is more specific: a particular unsafe practice becoming the accepted norm over time. Safety regulators list both as separate cultural threats, countered by vigilance, accountability and committed leadership.   <\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t        <\/section>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t        <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Normalisation of deviance explains how safe teams drift into failure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":153562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"category":[280],"tags":[],"item-type":[219],"class_list":["post-162043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-safety-en-nz","item-type-article-en-nz"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Normalisation of Deviance | EcoOnline NZ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Normalisation of deviance explains how safe teams drift into failure. Learn the warning signs of safety complacency and how to catch drift before it costs you.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Normalisation of Deviance | EcoOnline NZ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Normalisation of deviance explains how safe teams drift into failure. Learn the warning signs of safety complacency and how to catch drift before it costs you.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EcoOnline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-18T15:17:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-18T15:17:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1277\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Johan Hennius\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Johan Hennius\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Johan Hennius\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22787b96c92120e097dbfc849629392a\"},\"headline\":\"Normalisation of deviance: why safety leaders get blindsided by drift\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-18T15:17:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-18T15:17:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2552,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health &amp; Safety\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":[\"WebPage\",\"FAQPage\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/\",\"name\":\"Normalisation of Deviance | EcoOnline NZ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-18T15:17:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-18T15:17:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"Normalisation of deviance explains how safe teams drift into failure. Learn the warning signs of safety complacency and how to catch drift before it costs you.\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1766483421858\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046804627\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046824262\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046838335\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046853331\"},{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046866490\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1277},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/\",\"name\":\"EcoOnline\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"EcoOnline\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ecoonline-logo.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ecoonline-logo.webp\",\"width\":888,\"height\":613,\"caption\":\"EcoOnline\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22787b96c92120e097dbfc849629392a\",\"name\":\"Johan Hennius\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b89c9347e9e09bd67293022824d9f9ed322fc2fab9318747cd630353573e3052?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b89c9347e9e09bd67293022824d9f9ed322fc2fab9318747cd630353573e3052?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b89c9347e9e09bd67293022824d9f9ed322fc2fab9318747cd630353573e3052?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Johan Hennius\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1766483421858\",\"position\":1,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1766483421858\",\"name\":\"What is normalisation of deviance?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Normalisation of deviance is the gradual process where unsafe practices become accepted as normal because they haven\u2019t yet caused harm. Coined by sociologist Diane Vaughan after the 1986 Challenger disaster, it describes how small deviations from procedure slowly become \u201cthe way we do things\u201d \u2013 until an incident exposes the risk. \",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046804627\",\"position\":2,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046804627\",\"name\":\"What is an example of normalisation of deviance?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Space Shuttle Challenger is the classic example. Engineers knew the O-ring seals were flawed, but because earlier launches succeeded despite the flaw, the risk became normalised and was treated as acceptable. Everyday workplace examples include routinely skipping a checklist step, bypassing a permit, or not reporting near-misses because \u201cnothing ever happens.\u201d  \",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046824262\",\"position\":3,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046824262\",\"name\":\"What causes normalisation of deviance in the workplace?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Research points to four main drivers: production pressure, the absence of negative consequences, workplace culture, and gradual desensitisation to risk. When shortcuts save time and nothing goes wrong, they get repeated and normalised, and <a href=\\\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/resources\\\/health-and-safety-compliance-toolkit\\\/\\\">health and safety compliance<\\\/a> suffers. The deviation is rarely deliberate \u2013 people often don\u2019t realise the baseline has shifted at all.  \",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046838335\",\"position\":4,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046838335\",\"name\":\"How is normalisation of deviance related to safety drift?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Normalisation of deviance is the mechanism; safety drift is the result. As individual deviations accumulate across shifts, sites and contractors, the gap between written policy and actual practice widens. This is what EcoOnline calls safety drift \u2013 and because it\u2019s invisible in most dashboards, it\u2019s usually only discovered after an incident. Use our tool for calculating <a href=\\\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/resources\\\/safety-roi-calculator\\\/\\\">Safety ROI<\\\/a> and how much your organisation will save by preventing normalisation of deviance and safety drift.   \",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046853331\",\"position\":5,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046853331\",\"name\":\"How do you prevent normalisation of deviance?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Prevent it by making deviations visible before they cause harm. That means encouraging near-miss reporting without blame, tracking leading indicators rather than just injury rates, verifying that critical controls are actually followed, and regularly comparing work-as-done to work-as-written. Visibility and psychological safety are the core defences. Visit our <a href=\\\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/resources\\\/demo-videos-library\\\/\\\">demo video library<\\\/a> to see how our software solutions help tackle normalisation of deviance and safety drift.   \",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046866490\",\"position\":6,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecoonline.com\\\/en-nz\\\/blog\\\/normalisation-of-deviance\\\/#faq-question-1787046866490\",\"name\":\"Is normalisation of deviance the same as complacency?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"They\u2019re related but distinct. Complacency is a general lack of vigilance \u2013 assuming things are fine. Normalisation of deviance is more specific: a particular unsafe practice becoming the accepted norm over time. Safety regulators list both as separate cultural threats, countered by vigilance, accountability and committed leadership.   \",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Normalisation of Deviance | EcoOnline NZ","description":"Normalisation of deviance explains how safe teams drift into failure. Learn the warning signs of safety complacency and how to catch drift before it costs you.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Normalisation of Deviance | EcoOnline NZ","og_description":"Normalisation of deviance explains how safe teams drift into failure. Learn the warning signs of safety complacency and how to catch drift before it costs you.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/","og_site_name":"EcoOnline","article_published_time":"2026-08-18T15:17:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-18T15:17:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1277,"url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Johan Hennius","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Johan Hennius","Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/"},"author":{"name":"Johan Hennius","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/#\/schema\/person\/22787b96c92120e097dbfc849629392a"},"headline":"Normalisation of deviance: why safety leaders get blindsided by drift","datePublished":"2026-08-18T15:17:08+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-18T15:17:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/"},"wordCount":2552,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp","articleSection":["Health &amp; Safety"],"inLanguage":"en-NZ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":["WebPage","FAQPage"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/","name":"Normalisation of Deviance | EcoOnline NZ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp","datePublished":"2026-08-18T15:17:08+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-18T15:17:10+00:00","description":"Normalisation of deviance explains how safe teams drift into failure. Learn the warning signs of safety complacency and how to catch drift before it costs you.","mainEntity":[{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1766483421858"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046804627"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046824262"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046838335"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046853331"},{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046866490"}],"inLanguage":"en-NZ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-NZ","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/man-working-on-laptop-in-control-center.webp","width":1920,"height":1277},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/","name":"EcoOnline","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/#organization","name":"EcoOnline","url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-NZ","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ecoonline-logo.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/ecoonline-logo.webp","width":888,"height":613,"caption":"EcoOnline"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/#\/schema\/person\/22787b96c92120e097dbfc849629392a","name":"Johan Hennius","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-NZ","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b89c9347e9e09bd67293022824d9f9ed322fc2fab9318747cd630353573e3052?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b89c9347e9e09bd67293022824d9f9ed322fc2fab9318747cd630353573e3052?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b89c9347e9e09bd67293022824d9f9ed322fc2fab9318747cd630353573e3052?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Johan Hennius"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/"]},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1766483421858","position":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1766483421858","name":"What is normalisation of deviance?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Normalisation of deviance is the gradual process where unsafe practices become accepted as normal because they haven\u2019t yet caused harm. Coined by sociologist Diane Vaughan after the 1986 Challenger disaster, it describes how small deviations from procedure slowly become \u201cthe way we do things\u201d \u2013 until an incident exposes the risk. ","inLanguage":"en-NZ"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046804627","position":2,"url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046804627","name":"What is an example of normalisation of deviance?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Space Shuttle Challenger is the classic example. Engineers knew the O-ring seals were flawed, but because earlier launches succeeded despite the flaw, the risk became normalised and was treated as acceptable. Everyday workplace examples include routinely skipping a checklist step, bypassing a permit, or not reporting near-misses because \u201cnothing ever happens.\u201d  ","inLanguage":"en-NZ"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046824262","position":3,"url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046824262","name":"What causes normalisation of deviance in the workplace?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Research points to four main drivers: production pressure, the absence of negative consequences, workplace culture, and gradual desensitisation to risk. When shortcuts save time and nothing goes wrong, they get repeated and normalised, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/resources\/health-and-safety-compliance-toolkit\/\">health and safety compliance<\/a> suffers. The deviation is rarely deliberate \u2013 people often don\u2019t realise the baseline has shifted at all.  ","inLanguage":"en-NZ"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046838335","position":4,"url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046838335","name":"How is normalisation of deviance related to safety drift?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Normalisation of deviance is the mechanism; safety drift is the result. As individual deviations accumulate across shifts, sites and contractors, the gap between written policy and actual practice widens. This is what EcoOnline calls safety drift \u2013 and because it\u2019s invisible in most dashboards, it\u2019s usually only discovered after an incident. Use our tool for calculating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/resources\/safety-roi-calculator\/\">Safety ROI<\/a> and how much your organisation will save by preventing normalisation of deviance and safety drift.   ","inLanguage":"en-NZ"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046853331","position":5,"url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046853331","name":"How do you prevent normalisation of deviance?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Prevent it by making deviations visible before they cause harm. That means encouraging near-miss reporting without blame, tracking leading indicators rather than just injury rates, verifying that critical controls are actually followed, and regularly comparing work-as-done to work-as-written. Visibility and psychological safety are the core defences. Visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/resources\/demo-videos-library\/\">demo video library<\/a> to see how our software solutions help tackle normalisation of deviance and safety drift.   ","inLanguage":"en-NZ"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046866490","position":6,"url":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/blog\/normalisation-of-deviance\/#faq-question-1787046866490","name":"Is normalisation of deviance the same as complacency?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"They\u2019re related but distinct. Complacency is a general lack of vigilance \u2013 assuming things are fine. Normalisation of deviance is more specific: a particular unsafe practice becoming the accepted norm over time. Safety regulators list both as separate cultural threats, countered by vigilance, accountability and committed leadership.   ","inLanguage":"en-NZ"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162043"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162046,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162043\/revisions\/162046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=162043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162043"},{"taxonomy":"item-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoonline.com\/en-nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-type?post=162043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}