After 25 years in construction safety, I've seen every technological advancement, every regulatory update, and every new compliance framework that promised to revolutionise workplace safety. Yet here we are in 2025, and the statistics tell a sobering story: mental health compensation claims have skyrocketed 97% over the past decade, and 70% of workers report feeling disengaged from their work.
The problem isn't that we lack safety systems or technology. The problem is that we've forgotten about the human being at the center of it all.
The Day I Realised Everything Had to Change
Back in 2010, my business partner James Kell and I ran a pilot program on Australia's first Apple Store fitout. Instead of the usual compliance-heavy approach, we tried something different: printed scratch cards that rewarded workers for positive safety behaviours. The results were immediate and remarkable – workers actually wanted to engage with safety.
Fast forward ten years, and when James asked me what had progressed in safety rewards since that pilot, my answer was a bit devastating: "Nothing."
That conversation sparked Scratchie, but more importantly, it crystallised something I'd been observing throughout my career. We'd been treating safety as a compliance problem when it's fundamentally a human psychology problem.
The Great Disconnect: When Rules Don't Equal Results
Here's what keeps me up at night: we've never had more safety regulations, more sophisticated monitoring systems, or more comprehensive training programs. Yet psychological injuries are projected to double by 2030 without intervention. Recovery times have increased 24% since 2009, despite fewer claims overall.
Why? Because we've created safety programs that work against human psychology rather than with it.
Traditional safety approaches rely on what psychologists call "controlled motivation" – do this or face consequences. It's the safety equivalent of teaching a child to ride a bike by threatening them with punishment if they fall. Sure, they might stay on the bike, but they'll never love cycling.
The Three Psychological Needs We've Been Ignoring
Through our work at Scratchie, we've applied Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to workplace safety. SDT identifies three fundamental psychological needs that, when satisfied, lead to genuine engagement and sustained behaviour change:
1. Autonomy: People need to feel they have choice and volition in their actions. When safety feels imposed rather than chosen, engagement plummets.
2. Competence: Workers need to feel capable and see their skills developing. When safety training is a box-ticking exercise rather than skill development, it fails.
3. Relatedness: Humans are social beings who need connection. When safety is individual compliance rather than collective care, we miss its true power.
The Psychological Safety Revolution Is Here
The most significant shift I'm seeing in 2025 is the recognition that psychological safety isn't just an HR concern – it's a fundamental safety risk. With new legislation elevating psychosocial hazards to critical compliance requirements, organisations are finally waking up to what frontline workers have always known: you can't separate mental and physical safety.
But here's where most organisations get it wrong. They treat psychological safety as another compliance checkbox rather than understanding it as the foundation for all safety engagement. When workers feel psychologically safe – when they can report near misses without fear, suggest improvements without ridicule, and admit mistakes without punishment – that's when real safety culture emerges.
From Compliance to Genuine Care
I've walked countless construction sites where workers could recite safety rules perfectly but still took shortcuts when no one was watching. The gap between knowing and doing isn't bridged by more rules or better monitoring – it's bridged by intrinsic motivation.
When we implemented gamification in safety training, we saw participation rates jump 50% and workplace incidents drop significantly. But the magic wasn't in the games themselves. It was in how gamification satisfied those three psychological needs:
- Choice in how to engage with safety (autonomy)
- Clear feedback on skill development (competence)
- Team challenges that made safety social (relatedness)
The Remote Work Wake-Up Call
The shift to hybrid work has exposed another uncomfortable truth: when you remove direct supervision, compliance-based safety falls apart. You can't watch someone's ergonomic setup through a webcam 8 hours a day. You can't enforce break-taking through surveillance.
What you can do is create intrinsic motivation for self-care. When workers understand how proper ergonomics affects their long-term health, when they're recognised for modeling good work-life boundaries, when they feel connected to their team's collective wellbeing – that's when remote safety works.
The Path Forward: Making Safety Human Again
After decades in this industry, I'm more optimistic about workplace safety than ever before. Not because of new technologies or regulations, but because we're finally addressing the human element.
Organisations that understand this are seeing remarkable results. When one manufacturing plant shifted from punishment-based to recognition-based safety, compliance scores climbed from 65% to 87% in just six months. When companies encourage open communication and actively seek employee feedback, workers become willing partners in safety improvement rather than reluctant participants.
The future of workplace safety isn't in more sophisticated monitoring or stricter compliance. It's in understanding that every safety decision is made by a human being with psychological needs, motivations, and desires. When we design safety programs that work with human psychology rather than against it, we don't just get compliance – we get genuine care.
Three Actions You Can Take Today
- Audit your safety program for autonomy: Where can you give workers meaningful choice in how they engage with safety? Even small choices can significantly impact motivation.
- Create competence pathways: Move beyond compliance training to skill development. Let workers see their safety expertise growing.
- Make safety social: Shift from individual compliance to collective care. Celebrate when teams support each other's safety and wellbeing.
The safety revolution of 2025 isn't about technology or regulations. It's about recognising that behind every statistic, every incident, and every near miss is a human being who wants to go home safe – not because they have to, but because they want to.
That's the future we're building at Scratchie. One where safety isn't something done to workers, but something they own, value, and champion. Because when you tap into intrinsic motivation, you don't just change behaviour – you change culture.
And that's how we'll finally see those statistics move in the right direction.
Garry Mansfield is the Co-founder of Scratchie, a safety rewards platform that uses behavioural psychology and gamification to improve workplace safety outcomes. With over 25 years in construction safety management, Garry is passionate about transforming safety culture through human-centered approaches. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
