Fundamentals of Psychology and Human Development

The course addresses the fundamentals of psychology applied to occupational safety, highlighting the importance of understanding human behavior in a comprehensive way. Historically, responsibility for accidents was placed on the worker, but the modern model, such as James Reason’s “Swiss Cheese” model, shows that human error is often a symptom of latent systemic failures. Neurophysiology also directly influences performance, with structures such as the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system being affected by stress, noise, and sleep deprivation, showing that workers under pressure do not fail due to carelessness, but because of physiological overload.

The course also explores how risk perception varies throughout a worker’s life and experience. Young people and adolescents have a still-developing prefrontal cortex, which leads to impulsiveness and a sense of invulnerability, requiring practical training and real-life examples. Workers in full maturity deal with chronic stress, while senior professionals face challenges related to overconfidence and automatic behavior, highlighting the need for continuous awareness programs adapted to each stage of human development.

Finally, the course emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships and organizational learning in transforming technical knowledge into effective prevention. Safety effectiveness depends on the internalization of training, assertive communication, active listening, and conflict mediation, as well as positive leadership based on reference rather than coercion. The analogy of the worker as a “corporate computer” illustrates this integration: genetics and physiology are the hardware, personality and mental health conditions form the operating system, and social relationships constitute the connection network, with the prevention professional acting as the administrator, ensuring that the “human machine” operates in harmony and safety.