PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN HIGH-RISK ENVIRONMENTS
“Empowering Teams to Speak Up, Collaborate, and Perform Under Pressure Without Fear”
Course Schedule
| Date | Venue | Online |
|---|---|---|
| 24 – 28 Mar 2025 | Online
(Live Virtual) |
USD 1500 per delegate |
Course Introduction
In high-risk industries—such as construction, energy, aviation, and emergency services—psychological safety is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. When team members feel safe to speak up, challenge assumptions, and report near misses without fear of judgment or reprisal, accidents are prevented, innovation is enhanced, and lives are protected.
This powerful five-day online course explores the intersection of safety leadership, culture, and human psychology. Participants will discover how to assess and build psychologically safe environments, lead by example, respond constructively to errors, and foster the trust required to manage complexity and risk effectively.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Understand the concept and science of psychological safety.
- Recognize how fear, silence, and blame culture increase operational risk.
- Facilitate open communication and feedback in hazardous or high-pressure environments.
- Model behaviors that build trust, reduce fear, and promote learning.
- Respond to failure and error in ways that encourage reporting and recovery.
- Align psychological safety with safety systems, leadership, and culture initiatives.
Key Benefits of Attending
- Build high-performing teams that can speak up and manage risk collectively.
- Learn frameworks and language for discussing safety culture and behavioral risks.
- Strengthen your leadership credibility and emotional intelligence under stress.
- Prevent incidents caused by silence, groupthink, or cultural fear.
- Align team psychology with your organization’s physical safety protocols.
Intended Audience
This program is designed for:
- HSE leaders, safety managers, and safety officers
- Plant, operations, and engineering supervisors
- Emergency and response coordinators
- HR, culture, and wellbeing professionals in hazardous industries
- Team leaders and line managers responsible for operational risk
Individual Benefits
Key competencies that will be developed include:
- Emotional intelligence and safe communication
- Risk leadership and human factors understanding
- Psychological safety facilitation and influence
- Listening, coaching, and conflict navigation
- Post-incident debrief and learning culture advocacy
Organization Benefits
Upon completing the training course, participants will demonstrate:
- Stronger reporting, early-warning, and feedback behaviors
- Fewer unspoken risks and hidden errors across teams
- More engaged, accountable, and resilient workforce
- Enhanced collaboration across departments and disciplines
- Increased safety outcomes and compliance
Instructional Methdology
The course follows a blended learning approach combining theory with practice:
- Virtual Instructor-Led Sessions – Interactive modules via Zoom or Teams
- Case Discussions – Global case studies of cultural and psychological failures
- Tools & Templates – Safety check-ins, trust assessments, conversation scripts
- Self-Reflection – Behavior mapping and self-assessment exercises
- Group Exercises – Virtual simulations, chat-based roleplay, and peer feedback
- Resource Kits – Post-course reading and team facilitation tools
Course Outline
Detailed 5-Day Course Outline
Delivery Format: Online (Live) | Platform: Zoom, WebEx or Microsoft Teams
Day 1: Foundations of Psychological Safety
Module 1: What Is Psychological Safety?
- Amy Edmondson’s research and industry application
- Difference between trust, safety, and comfort
- High-risk environments: why safety culture is not enough
Module 2: Costs of Silence and Fear at Work
- Human error, fatal assumptions, and speak-up culture
- Case study: disasters linked to unsafe team dynamics
- Common myths and misinterpretations of “psych safety”
Module 3: Building the Case for Psychological Safety
- Linking safety to performance, innovation, and retention
- Safety climate vs. safety culture
- Business case development for team engagement
Module 4: Exercise – Team Fear Mapping
- Virtual collaboration to identify where silence lives in your team
Day 2: Enabling Safe Communication and Feedback
Module 5: Leading with Vulnerability and Inclusion
- Leadership styles that encourage or shut down dialogue
- Vulnerability loops and leader modeling
- Inclusion and belonging in mixed-risk environments
Module 6: Encouraging Dissent, Reporting, and Feedback
- Feedback scripts and permission-setting tools
- Listening without defensiveness
- Psychological safety in multicultural teams
Module 7: Managing Emotions and Responding to Error
- The “learning zone” vs. the “anxiety zone”
- Non-punitive responses to mistakes
- Reframing blame and building confidence
Module 8: Practice – Leading a Difficult Safety Conversation
- Breakout groups roleplay and real-time feedback
Day 3: Safety Leadership and Team Dynamics
Module 9: Safety Leadership Behaviors
- From compliance enforcer to trust builder
- Psychological safety as a performance enabler
- Promoting risk dialogue in daily routines
Module 10: Psychological Safety Across Roles
- Creating safety from top-down, bottom-up, and across teams
- Empowering introverts, juniors, and diverse perspectives
- Managing disagreement constructively
Module 11: Safety Debriefs and After-Action Reviews
- Turning post-incident reviews into learning experiences
- Open debriefing models: REDI, LDIR, HOTWASH
- Avoiding blame, denial, and emotional shutdowns
Module 12: Simulation – Safety Meeting Roleplay
- Peer-led meetings to reinforce check-in and safety norms
Day 4: Measurement, Integration & Change
Module 13: Measuring Psychological Safety
- Using surveys, audits, and behavior metrics
- Leading indicators vs. lagging indicators
- Interpreting results meaningfully
Module 14: Integrating Psych Safety into Safety Systems
- Linking toolbox talks, SOPs, and learning management
- Building cross-functional ownership
- Embedding practices into induction and onboarding
Module 15: Communicating Change and Building Buy-In
- Case-making and storytelling
- Coaching senior leaders on psychological safety
- Designing rituals, routines, and reminders
Module 16: Group Project – Drafting a Culture Change Plan
- Action teams propose interventions and share plans
Day 5: Practice, Reflection, and Commitment
Module 17: Real-World Applications
- Highlighting global companies implementing this well
- Pitfalls in implementation and how to avoid them
- Peer consulting: tackling barriers in your own context
Module 18: Team Safety Agreements and Peer Norms
- Defining team behaviors and expectations
- Facilitating psychological safety agreements
- Accountability and feedback loops
Module 19: Final Practice and Leadership Planning
- Participants deliver their safety leadership vision
- Receive structured feedback and coaching
Module 20: Course Wrap-Up and Certification Briefing
- Final Q&A, self-assessment, and team planning
Certification
Participants who complete the program will receive a Certificate of Completion in Psychological Safety in High-Risk Environments, recognizing their readiness to lead, model, and embed safe communication and learning cultures in high-pressure, safety-sensitive industries.